Home Showcase: Over the River and Through the Woods to a Palmetto Bluff Retreat

This Palmetto Bluff home was crafted to evoke ‘Grandma’s cottage, but chic.’ Inspired design and construction created exactly that.

Story by Barry Kaufman + Photos by Josh Corrigan, Ellis Creek Photography

The beauty of creating a custom home is never having to say no. If the client loves a particular floor plan but wants to stretch it out to add rooms and better fit the lot, you can say yes. If the client wants a home that evokes a certain feeling of familiar comfort, while still serving as a dazzling example of Lowcountry luxury, you can say yes. 

It may take a little more work to be able to say yes, but the rewards are worth it. 

“We’ve seen a lot of interest in one-story homes like this because it’s a great footprint, and you can really add onto it as long as you have the lot. This particular lot was very wide, so we could stretch out,” said Amanda Denmark with Pearce Scott Architects. “Because the lot was wide, there were many more opportunities.”

A great escape 

Those opportunities were pursued to their fullest in the home’s great room, where the single-story layout allowed for a soaring cathedral ceiling above the open great room, with elevated dormers that bathe the room in natural light. 

“The openness between the great room, the dining room and the kitchen plays well. It’s very Southern. Very Lowcountry,” said Matt Thomas with CS Thomas, who managed the home’s construction. “Plus, you can open up those three sets of doors onto the porch and extend your entertaining space into the porch. That’s my favorite area of the home just because it all flows together.”

The great room also serves as a showcase for the owner’s love of vibrant colors, infusing the space with homey charm. 

“I met the owners when they were still in the planning stages, and one of the first things she said was she wanted it to be like your grandmother’s cottage, but chic,” said Shell Neely, ASID, with Kelly Caron Designs. “She loved pastel colors, and she wanted patterns and florals. That was really the direction; I just ran with it.”

A blueprint for style

The interplay of floral patterns in the living room complements the bold blue cabinetry found in the kitchen, the first link in a chain of color that finds its way into every room in the house. “One thing that makes this house unique is the color and the cabinetry. You can add a lot by adding color, but if you can take the cabinets and pull them into that color, you can go to the next level. Plus, the blue in the back of the bookcase in the great room mirrors the cabinets,” said Neely. “We stuck with the theme, so you’ll find some blue in every room.”

History in the making 

But creating an atmosphere that feels like coming home to Grandma’s cottage wasn’t just a matter of finding the right color palette. In the Carolina room inspired choices in materials and architecture lent themselves to a sense of ageless character. 

“It was originally a screened porch with a fireplace, and we decided to fill it in,” said Denmark. However, they opted to keep the original brick flooring and exterior siding, creating a room that tells a story. “That’s a traditional Lowcountry element, creating a generational look of a home that has grown and been adapted over a long time.”

Raising the ceiling

The two threads that run throughout the home – generational design and subtle tones of blue – are married perfectly in the primary suite. Here soft finishes and walls carry the blue, while a bold pecky cypress ceiling adds an additional layer of texture.

“That pecky cypress ceiling was an early selection, but the owners fell in love with the washes that they saw. We wound up with a really good batch of pecky cypress that had a lot of peck,” said Thomas.

Pretty in pastels 

Of course, one cannot exist on blue alone, and the home’s more quiet spaces gleefully break the rules with subdued pastel tones that carry the grand-matronly motif. One example is in the guest room, which not only glows with a pastel pink, it also dazzles with its own signature ceiling patterned wallpaper. 

A pocket of privacy

Tucked away from the home’s more open gathering spaces, the sitting room/office offers a retreat with pops of soft, sage green — a nod to the home’s exterior trim.

“They wanted to set this aside as a TV room so that the great room could serve as a nicer gathering space, with the fireplace as its focal point,” said Denmark. “And here we see another tweak to the design. They went with pocket doors, whereas on the original we had barn doors, so you could shut this space off whenever you needed to.”