Elevated Classic

Sited on historic Burt Farm in Cashiers, North Carolina, and originally built in 1880, the 2016 Cashiers Designer Showhouse was brought into the 21st century by design industry leaders from across the Southeast

Maria McLaurin

Maria McLaurin’s serene, inviting outdoor living room at Burt Farm brought tears to the eyes of the former owner’s granddaughter. “She wished her grandmother could see it now,” the designer says. With skillful attention to detail, McLaurin’s update to the conservatory-like covered space kept the focus on the views and greenery. She pulled in classic and new McGuire furniture, fit for adults and children, that appear to have accumulated over the home’s 100 years and emphasize multigenerational moments. Georgia architect and artist Brandon Godwin’s feather fabric line inspired the peaceful palette. “That’s why you go to the mountains: comfort and serenity,” says McLaurin.

FURNITURE Barbara Barry for McGuire; Thomas Pheasant for Baker FABRICS Brandon Godwin and Perennials RUG Bunny Williams Home PILLOWS AND ACCESSORIES B.D. Jeffries


Meg Harrington and Ann Huff

“We fell madly in love with the guesthouse the minute we walked in,” says Meg Harrington of Huff Harrington Home. “It needed a major face-lift but nothing that a little imagination and Sherwin-Williams Alabaster paint couldn’t fix.” She and business partner Ann Huff created a collected feel by layering romantic pieces—a glass and Lucite coffee table from the 1970s, eye-catching circular wooden chairs, and a sleek white resin waterfall console topped with a spectacular 19th-century Louis mirror—that evoke decades of styles and hint at Huff Harrington’s trademark French sensibilities. To make the space feel even more open and light, the duo skipped window treatments, allowing natural light to illuminate the high-beamed room. “It felt very appropriate to ditch anything covering the windows,” says Harrington.

SOFA Stanford through Huff Harrington Home PILLOWS, WOODEN CHAIRS Square Feathers through Huff Harrington Home COFFEE TABLE Antique through Huff Harrington Home RUG BS Trading Co. through Huff Harrington Home WATERFALL CONSOLE Port 68 through Huff Harrington Home TIBETAN LAMB BENCH Outpost through Huff Harrington Home ALL DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES Huff Harrington Home ALL ARTWORK Huff Harrington Fine Art


Patricia McLean

Patricia McLean embraced the long, narrow living room with a series of vignettes harmonized by her signature layering of antiques and fabrics. “There’s a place for quiet. There’s a place for interaction,” says McLean, the 2016 showhouse’s honorary co-chair. Her designs typically emanate from textiles, and the showhouse is no exception. A serpentine Lee Jofa fabric with reds, pinks and browns features on a custom table hiding a heat register, as well as the draperies, chairs and pillows. The tree-of-life pattern joins fabrics from Duralee, Brunschwig & Fils and Pindler, and timeless accessories like tortoise. Creams and caramels on the walls and ceilings capture natural light in a space truly meant for all ages.

SOFA Pearson with fabric by Duralee FABRICS Lee Jofa, Brunschwig & Fils and Pindler RUG Moattar WING CHAIRS Holland & Company LAMPS Circa CHAIR PILLOWS B. Viz Design TRIM Scalamandré NICHE CHAIR Fortuny


Liz Williams

Inspired by Burt Farm’s lush grounds—visible just outside the dining room’s bay window—designer Liz Williams brought the outdoors in, decorating the space with floral prints and pops of fresh green. Thibaut’s Nemour fabric, used on the drapery and dining chairs, combines both of these elements. “It seemed fitting for the mountains because it is a traditional floral but with unusual and updated colors mixing green and gray,” says the designer. To balance the room’s low ceiling and add interest, Williams covered the walls with a woven wallcovering showcasing a geometric pattern, which serves as the backdrop for an assortment of artwork.

FABRIC AND WALLPAPER Thibaut through Duralee RUG Sullivan Fine Rugs DINING TABLE, BUFFET AND CONSOLES Holland & Company CHANDELIER Foxglove Antiques LAMPS Edgar-Reeves FLATWARE, PLACE MATS, NAPKINS AND DINNER PLATES Erika Reade Ltd. MIRRORS AND VINTAGE through Liz Williams Interiors


Ginger Brewton

Ginger Brewton turned the challenge of the low 8-foot ceiling in the master bedroom into a solution. With the question “What’s calming and peaceful when you’re lying in bed?” in mind, the Charleston, South Carolina, designer evoked sky views and embraced the Southern tradition of painting the ceiling—along with the walls—a restful blue. Her version of cozy, modern-meets-traditional design incorporates less ornate detailing in favor of clean lines. A custom slim, four-poster mahogany bed and the proportions of the warm gold mirrors and lamps accomplish her goal of not overpowering the space. “You still feel like there’s breathing room,” she says.

BED Reid Classics CHAIRS Bruce Andrews CHEST, MIRROR AND WINDOW TREATMENTS Ginger Brewton Interiors LIGHTING Circa RUG Elizabeth Eakins Inc. ART Laura Lloyd Fontaine through Francie Hargrove HARDWARE Iron Studio NIGHTSTAND WebbMarsteller BEDDING Peacock Alley TABLE Dovetail Antiques


James Wheeler

Much of the home’s original architecture is present in this bedroom, including the stone fireplace and the paneled walls, ceiling and floor. “Because the room was dark from all of the stained wood and stone, my initial vision was to create a layered guest room that used fabrics and furnishings to lighten the space while enveloping its guests in total luxury with rich, layered textures,” says designer James Wheeler, who juxtaposed modern touches with the home’s rustic elements, using off-white, textured fabrics to add lightness. A floor-to-ceiling panel of wool curtains adds a contrasting softness and conceals a nonfunctioning closet in the middle of the wall, another original architectural element.

CURTAIN WALL Joseph Noble Inc. through Paul + BED Custom through Bjork Studio BED LINENS Peacock Alley CHANDELIER Kelly Wearstler through Circa RUG Moattar


 

Janie Wilburn

A bunny hopped by Janie Wilburn on her first visit to the showhouse. “This cute rabbit was just introducing me to the property,” she says. The Atlanta designer embraced that moment in two renovated bathrooms and a second-floor landing. Lee Jofa wallpaper, inspired by Hunt Slonem’s rabbit paintings, gives a youthful nod to the pastoral setting and offsets the gray in the Carrara marble and the pink ceiling. When a cartoon-animal wallcovering was removed, Wilburn captured its woodland essence with a sophisticated custom-printed fox fabric by Market Linen in another bathroom and a Carrie Penley deer painting on the landing. “It’s more modern and playful and an interpretation of the nature setting,” she says.

VANITY, SINK AND PLUMBING DXV American Standard through Ferguson MARBLE Topcu Tile & Stone WALLCOVERING Lee Jofa FABRIC Woodland Fox by Market Linen LIGHTING Circa ART AND ACCESSORIES Holland & Company, B.D. Jeffries, Nicholson Gallery, Mrs. Howard TOWELS Peacock Alley


Chris Holt

When designing the third-floor bedroom and sitting room, Chris Holt of Holt Interiors and Noah J. & Co. envisioned an open, airy space for younger family members, with multiple areas for work, play and rest. His first order of business: to compensate for low ceilings and angled walls by painting the space a fresh white and using low-slung furnishings. Drawing from Burt Farm’s organic setting, Holt mixed clean-lined pieces with a variety of woods, vintage rugs and artwork.

LEATHER STOOL, TREE PRINTS, PILLOWS, BENCH, CHEST OF DRAWERS AND DESK CHAIR Noah J. & Co. MOROCCAN RUG Keivan Woven Arts BED UPHOLSTERY Brunschwig & Fils EASEL ARTWORK Brian Coleman through Anne Irwin Fine Art


Douglas Hilton

Sloped walls and mountain views guided Atlanta designer Douglas Hilton’s vision for an artist’s atelier in the converted garret. Counteracting the wood paneling, Hilton draws the eye up using a turquoise Jim Thompson bamboo-print wallcovering and faux burlap on the ceiling. Together with the white, orange and citron Jim Thompson pillow fabrics, the space assumes a cheery, eclectic ambience. But the artist’s retreat also has an edgy appeal. A photograph on Lucite of a woman in a dancer’s stocking by Harriet Leibowitz entices guests, while contemporary, 19th-century and primitive pieces and reupholstered vintage French chairs and floor pillows offer a lounge-worthy space. “All of my rooms have a collected mix,” says Hilton.

WALLCOVERINGS AND FABRICS Jim Thompson Fabrics FURNITURE Chip and Company, Parc Monceau ART Alan Avery Art Company LIGHTING Circa RUG Stark


Mark Williams Design Associates

“Living in Cashiers is such an indoor/outdoor lifestyle, and I wanted this space to double as laundry and mudroom,” says Niki Papadopoulos of Mark Williams Design Associates. To make the space a functional pass-through during gardening or household chores, she removed a wall to make the space accessible from both the garage and the side patio and brightened up the walls with a coat of fresh white paint.

COUNTERTOPS Silestone by Cosentino, fabrication by Miami Circle Marble FLOOR MOSAIC Marmoluna FIXTURES Kohler LIGHTING Circa RUG Moattar