A Tour of Interior Designer Beth Webb's South Carolina Home

By SARA RUFFIN COSTELLO MAY 21, 2018

When 2 lives and aesthetics come together—that of the designer Beth Webb and her minimalist-minded husband—the result is a match made in Lowcountry sky.

Simon Upton

Simon Upton

The living room includes a custom Doug Honabach coffee table and custom sofas with cushions using Dedar and Cowtan & Tout; The table lamps are from Rose Tarlow, and the jute rug is from Mérida. Simon Upton

The living room includes a custom Doug Honabach coffee tabular array and custom sofas with cushions using Dedar and Cowtan & Tout; The table lamps are from Rose Tarlow, and the jute carpeting is from Mérida.Simon Upton

Atlanta-based decorator Beth Webb, xx years divorced and deep into a career devoted to beautification and trouble-solving, sat enjoying cocktails with her best friend John Ferguson, an employee of the commercial real estate magnate Cushman Wakefield. At a certain point Ferguson leaned in and casually mentioned that he'd establish theguy for her (Ferguson had a thorough agreement of Webb's romantic criteria; over the years, the two had made extensive lists of what her perfect mate might wait like). Beth promptly barbarous off her barstool: "John, I've set you upwardly with 800 women, and you've never once tossed anyone in my direction! I suppose I ought to sit up and take notice here."

As it turned out, Ferguson'due south match-making radar was finely tuned. The guy, Chuck Hanavich, had recently retired, trading a long career in commercial real estate for hunting and fishing and design. Hanavich, aslope James Choate, chief architect of Surber Hairdresser Choate + Hertlein in Atlanta, had just congenital a very sexy two-bedroom glass masterpiece with 22-foot-tall ceilings in South Carolina. The house is a mix of physical, stone, steel, limestone, and copper, also every bit clear-cut wenge, white oak, and cedar. The location is equally stunning, wedged between a giant pond and a marsh bordered by live oaks dripping with Castilian moss at Brays Island Plantation, a tony sporting community.

At the behest of their mutual friend, the two met in February and a courtship blossomed. Burning up the interstate between Atlanta and the house on Brays, they eventually introduced their grown children to each other. "This is forever!" he declared. "Great!" she said. "I'k also old to get divorced once more!" They married the post-obit December at Blackberry Farm in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Webb was blown abroad the first time she stayed at her time to come husband'southward house. "Information technology'south like being on the Serengeti," she says. On 1 side, you can await out the windows and lookout a herd of deer wading through the marsh. On the other, 12-foot-long alligators sun themselves on the dry out crest of the pond's dike. All twenty-four hours, vibrantly colored pinkish spoonbills stab at fish. Cranes and ospreys soar overhead. The surrounding copse are home to several owls, and on any given night, a solo play a trick on might trot through the thousand. "With the number of snakes I've seen on the forepart porch," Webb recalls, "I sure had to learn the difficult fashion to shut the front door behind me."

The foyer includes a cowhide rug from Jeff Littrell Antiques; The linen curtains in the library are from LinenMe, and the custom walnut-and-wenge desk is from Doug Honabach. Simon Upton

The foyer includes a cowhide carpeting from Jeff Littrell Antiques; The linen curtains in the library are from LinenMe, and the custom walnut-and-wenge desk is from Doug Honabach. Simon Upton

In the dining room, Liaigre chairs surround a custom table from Skylar Morgan on a hemp rug from Ralph Lauren Home. Simon Upton

In the dining room, Liaigre chairs environment a custom table from Skylar Morgan on a hemp rug from Ralph Lauren Home.Simon Upton

As if the wild kingdom and thoughtful architecture weren't seductive enough, Hanavich had previously carefully selected the decor himself, paying homage to the great French minimalist Christian Liaigre. "It'due south seldom that you encounter a human being with such a refined artful who isn't gay," Webb says jokingly. "Seriously, I already had and so many gay husbands. I needed a straight one!"

Even though the house was a triumph, Hanavich had owned it since 2007 and was restless. So he listed it with a real estate amanuensis and commissioned Webb's services as a decorator. "His realtor had brash him to warm the identify upwardly, so that's where I came in," Webb says. What followed was not just a presale fluff job simply rather a soulful unlocking of the house'south total potential.

Comfortable entrada chairs replaced stern Federal-style seating around the dining room table, which in turn facilitated longer, more relaxed dinners with friends. The walls were fairly bare, then Webb commissioned local artist Michael Dines to paint a series based on photographs she had taken of the quail fields. The master bedroom's gray walls were covered in muted grass cloth and new bedding was brought in.

Webb kept the windows by and large unfestooned, so as not to obstruct the views—"Why would I compete with Female parent Nature?" she says. The too-small living room rug was exchanged for an enormous Mérida jute and layered with beautiful antique carpets and sprinkled with a few new pieces of furniture.

The guest bedroom features a bed and side tables from Poliform; the chair is from Henredon. Simon Upton

The guest sleeping room features a bed and side tables from Poliform; the chair is from Henredon.Simon Upton

Subsequently lime-washing all the kitchen cabinets, Webb organized the pantries. "Because Brays Island is remote—30 minutes from Beaufort, 45 from Savannah, and 60 from Charleston—grocery shopping is not going to be the easy function of your twenty-four hour period," she says. Drinks drawers were lined with common cold beers for post-shooting parties, refrigerators and freezers packed with meal-making necessities, and the hunting cabinets sorted so splendidly they would make an Orvis stock director envious.

Naturally, the house is no longer for auction—they decided to go along information technology. With both fireplaces roaring and a giant television for watching football, friends and family at present gravitate to Brays Island, and Webb and Hanavich take surrendered to the satisfaction—and beautiful stillness—that comes with staying put.