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BEACH RETREAT WRITTEN BY BLAKE MILLER Looking at the outside of Lisa Sherry’s Bald Head Island home, you’d never know that inside is an interior that’s fresh and sophisticated. After all, the circa-1974 three-bedroom, three-bath home looked more like a ’70s-style mountain chalet than a cool beach retreat.That, says Sherry, is exactly what makes the home so interesting. “The surprise on people’s faces when they walk through the door the first time is amazing.” But the interior wasn’t always so serene and polished. For six years, Sherry and her husband, commercial photographer Ron Royals, vacationed on Bald Head, an island just 30miles south of Wilmington and 2 miles off the coast of North Carolina. It wasn’t long before the High Point, North Carolina-based couple decided to look into purchasing a beach home of their own as a second residence. After visiting several North Carolina beaches, the couple always came back to Bald Head. Finding the perfect home didn’t take long, though. When they spotted the property, the couple knew this was the home they wanted. “Immediately, we were completely stunned by it,” says Sherry, an interior designer whose design firm, Lisa Sherry Interieurs, designs homes primarily in the Northeast United States. “When we walked around it,we were like,‘This is so us.’” |
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The creative couple also loved that the property was historic. One of the original homes on the island, the house was part of the Generator Society, a group of nineteen homes that, because of the remote location, required generators to heat the homes and for cooking. “We looked at several other properties on the island,” says Sherry. “But we felt like they were more cookie cutter. We literally loved that this one was a fixer-upper.” Once inside the home,which sits on the third fairway of the island’s golf course, the couple’s instincts were solidified. Beyond the dated look—’70s wallpaper, forest green Formica countertops, sea blue floor tiles, and dark cedar walls—the couple saw promise. “We could instantly see that we could lighten it up,” says Sherry. “As soon as we were inside, we knew what it could be.” A month after seeing the home, it was theirs. The goal for the property was simple: Make it a place where they, their three teenage children, and their friends could visit, enjoy, and relax. “We really wanted to make it so casual that you don’t worry about sand coming into the house,” Sherry says. With a casual, beachy theme in mind, Sherry began applying her signature design style to the home: white. Lots of it. “I always think that calm, serene places are more enjoyable,” she says. “It’s the color palette that I love. It really says beach, having everything light and bright. People don’t want to come to the beach in dark spaces.” Before beginning on the aesthetic, the couple needed to make improvements architecturally. In order to open up the choppy floor plan, they removed the walls that separated the kitchen and family room. Then Sherry and Royals transformed the entire home by removing the outdated wallpaper and painting the dark cedar walls white, which immediately brightened the interior. Sherry kept the faux driftwood walls that were original to the home. Unlike the reverse floor plans found in other newer homes on the island (with the bedrooms on the first floor and the living area on the second), guests enter into the family’s living space: one bunk room, family room, dining room, and kitchen, which was gutted down to the studs. In the place of the outdated appliances and surfaces, the couple laid sleek Travertine tiles down for flooring and white quartz counters on top of a bar measuring ten feet wide by twenty-five feet long. Cabinets from Lowe’s were stained with a mushroom glaze for a driftwood effect and are coupled with stainless steel appliances, including dishwasher drawers. Two table lamps are propped on the counters to interject warm light, as opposed to heavy, intrusive overhead lighting. The dining room follows the same principles. An eight-foot long white lacquer Parsons table and a thirty-six-inch capiz tile chandelier by Oly serve as the focal point of the space. Here and in the family room, the couple kept the original oak flooring, which keeps with the beachy feel. The family room, though, is where true comfort comes into play. There is a white Belgian linen sectional from Verellen Home Collection, which surrounds a four-foot-square rattan cocktail ottoman table by Ralph Lauren. “We love those sectionals because you can fit a lot of people on them,” says Sherry. “Nothing formal at all. Very casual, but yet they look very sophisticated.” Two rattan chairs by R&D Imports become a welcoming place to sit. Sherry took advantage not only of the home’s great bones, but also of its unusual storage spaces. During the renovation, she took outmost of the cabinets in the kitchen to create amore open dining area, which left her with no place to store glassware and dishes. To solve the storage dilemma, Sherry designed two six-inch-thick floating shelves with built-in spot lighting, which allowed for a more open feel. In the bunk-bed room,where space is at a premium, Sherry purchased eight identical Pottery Barn baskets with fabric on the inside to house clothing, shoes, and more for the kids. “They slide easily under the bunks so they’re out of the way of foot traffic,” says Sherry, “but they look cute, as they’re dark and add contrast to the lighter colors in the room.” Now, five years after the purchase, the couple is elated to have found this gem of a property. “There’s no other home on Bald Head like it,” Sherry says. “It has great sophistication and yet it’s casual and comfortable and very friendly to be inside. Holistically, that’s what it’s all about.” |