On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene made an unwelcome visit to the Upstate of South Carolina on its way to Western North Carolina. Torrential rain and winds exceeding 70 mph resulted in significant damage to buildings and homes across the Upstate, including this home in the August Road area.
The aftermath of Helene left a large tree in the middle of the home, destroying the kitchen and the backyard. Now, a year later, the homeowner has turned devastation into renovation and has a new, up-to-date kitchen and reimagined backyard that feels like home once again.
Built in 1970, the home still had a dated, all-white kitchen the day Helene made landfall. The homeowners had been wanting to renovate the space for a long time, but put it off because they knew the project would uproot their lives.
The damage from the fallen tree left the homeowner with no choice and renovations began in January 2024. To bring their vision for a modern kitchen to life, Greenville based interior designer Asia Clark was enlisted to design a space that is timeless rather than trendy,
“The kitchen’s aesthetic is a fresh take on traditional interiors with a fine art twist with a little whimsy thrown in,” Clark says
The result is a mixture of old and new, giving the home significantly more character and interest. The inspiration for the overall design started with the range and the wallpaper. The range is a Le Cornue, the same type used by the late chef Julia Child. It was shipped Greenville from France. The wallpaper inspired the kitchen’s color palette.
“The homeowner showed me the wallpaper and said she had to have that wallpaper in her kitchen,” Clark says. “We decided to pull the blue from the wallpaper for the paint, so I color matched it and we used the blue for the cabinets, trim, baseboards, window molding and doors.”
Shaker-style cabinets, handmade by a local woodworker, are complemented by the natural stone countertops and backsplash from Slab Co. in Travelers Rest. The cabinetry hardware was matched to the brass on the stove range, which also inspired the rich, gold color of the rug that helps ground the space, Clark says.
“I love mixing patterns, so I wasn’t cautious about the pattern in the rug being so different from the rest of the design. It was just a matter of ensuring the colors worked and the scale of the patterns were different to make it grounding.”
The homeowner is an art collector with a keen eye for art and design. She pulled colors from the rug to make the artwork stand out. A photo of an onion above a wooden chest, gives the neutral breakfast nook a whimsical flair.
To mix in the old with the new, some family heirlooms were brought into the design. The chandelier, table, chest and rattan lamps in the breakfast nook are all items that have been passed down by the family over the years. These items personalize the space and make it feel more like home.
Along with the kitchen, the home’s backyard was destroyed by Helene. This was another space the homeowners had wanted to renovate for years before Helene made it a necessity. Avid golfers, they dreamed of having a putting green in the backyard. With the help of East Coast Synthetic Turf in Charlotte, they were able to make this dream a reality. The backyard is now a space where the family spends time together and can practice their favorite sport without leaving home.
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