Fresh-faced Beauty

Using texture, contrast and plenty of white, Beth Webb transforms a lake house into a light and bright retreat.

Written by Elizabeth Ralls

Photographed by Emily Followill

Interiors Second Homes

January 201512540Views2Comments

A Moroccan rug anchors an arrangement in the great room, which includes a teak root table from South of Market, a cream linen chair from Mrs. Howard and mounted Borneo paddles that serve as sculpture.

Vintage shoe molds from Foxglove Antiques and a horn plaque from A. Tyner Antiques preside over a leather-handle chest from Max & Co.

In the dining room, texture in the form of limewashed floors, a rough-hewn mantel and a light elm pedestal dining table and slipcovered chairs, both from Bungalow Classic, complicate the play on light. Carved rooster lamp from Parc Monceau.

Artful arrangements in the great room, which overlooks Lake Chatuge, include horn brushes, Bungalow Classic’s Senta cabinet and a bench from Mrs. Howard.

Interior designer Beth Webb swathed the master bedroom in sumptuous fabrics and rich creams and whites, allowing the ever-changing reflections through the windows to provide color in the space. Bed, Max & Company. Striped wool rug, swivel chairs, art and bedside lamp, Bungalow Classic. Drapery hardware, Bradley. Drapery fabric, Arabel. Drapery trim, Rogers & Goffigon. Three-drawer bedside chest, Mrs. Howard.

Small and large wall-mounted horns mingle to create one cohesive statement in the foyer. Console, Mrs. Howard. Stools, South of Market. Root lamp, mounted horns and beads, A. Tyner Antiques. Hide rug, Bungalow Classic.

Webb brightened an existing horn chandelier in the great room, opting instead for color in the form of patterned pillows from Bungalow Classic and texture via a soft Moroccan rug and faux fur throw.

Hide benches, marble cylinder lamps and a stone-topped console add polish to the library.

Lake Chatuge reveals its beauty in the master bath, where a freestanding tub, oversize hide rug and linen nailhead mirror contribute to the relaxed but luxurious vibe. Victoria + Albert tub, Renaissance Tile and Bath. Mirror, Max & Company. Hide rug, Huff Harrington Home.

Perhaps it’s her background as an art dealer that informs Beth Webb’s innate ability to discover beauty in unexpected places. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. But when her clients settled on a lakefront property on Lake Chatuge in dire need of a makeover, ultimately they trusted the interior designer—and her inviting, multilayered aesthetic—to transform the home’s overwhelmingly brown architectural envelope into a fresh-faced beauty in which their family of five could find respite.

The first order of business: to limewash nearly every mahogany-covered surface of the 10,000-square-foot house, from the floors, stone and beams to the home’s pre-existing antler chandeliers. “It was a Montana application that we took the Western out of to make more contemporary,” Webb explains.

While time was not on her side—after closing, the family needed to be in the house in less than six months—labor was in Webb’s favor, thanks to a commercial contractor who was enlisted by the hospitality-industry husband “to do the unthinkable in an amazing time frame,” Webb says.

And while the designer maintains that, philosophically speaking, second homes are no different than primary residences when it comes to decorating, Webb allows that she adopted a “no muss, no fuss” attitude with this one, which needed to be durable enough for an active young family but also stylish enough to entertain the couple’s frequent guests—all while keeping the expansive lake views center stage.

Coincidentally, it was a Lake Keowee house, a former Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles showhouse, that initially drew these particular clients to Webb’s clean-lined, artful approach. While the result is not your typical lake house, the aesthetic is exactly what the family was after—a comfortably elegant space in which luxurious textures, from rough-hewn woods to natural hide rugs, mix with low-maintenance materials, such as slipcovered dining chairs and upholstered pieces in acrylic-blend fabrics.

Against a calming, monochromatic palette, these contrasts both evoke a Zen-like feeling and reveal a collected sense of style—no easy feat for such a turnkey project. It’s a testament to Webb’s unflinching eye for beauty; the home’s light and bright new bones are a deceivingly subtle reflection of the interior designer’s complex approach.

Beth WebbLake Homes