Just wait until you see the porch swing.
A creative couple moved South to build an antebellum-style beauty that weds the urbane glamour of their New York loft with the grace notes of life in the Carolinas.
Designer Michelle Prentice's new house in Beaufort, South Carolina, seamlessly blends into its neighborhood of historic homes.
Sheer curtains in the great room match the wall color, Benjamin Moore's Floral White. A sofa in Rogers & Goffigon's Cervo linen velvet anchors the space. Vintage club chairs are upholstered in Collobrieres-Croisé fabric from Pierre Frey. A 19th-century English games table is surrounded by antique chairs covered in a fabric by B. Berger. Prentice says the Stark sisal rug reminds her of a classic Greek-key pattern.
In the kitchen, a Danish dining table is surrounded by Jacob Kjaer chairs in Bretano's Royalsuede and vintage French armchairs in Lee Jofa's Tahira Ottoman fabric.
Framed fragments of Gracie's Georgian Tea Trade wallpaper have the impact of landscape paintings in the powder room. The vanity is a converted antique console.
The neutral palette throughout the house is maintained in the master bedroom, where Prentice chose Kravet's Wild Silk for the curtains. The four-poster bed is from Hickory Chair. With its many mirrored surfaces, "the room sparkles so much at night, it feels lit by candlelight," the designer says.
For the upstairs veranda, her husband Josh Gibson built swings inspired by the hanging daybeds at the Greyfield Inn on Georgia's Cumberland Island, where he and Prentice honeymooned.
In the interior courtyard, fig ivy softens a brick wall and the addition of a mature palmetto tree adds a sense of permanence. The West Elm sofa is covered in a Sunbrella fabric.
In the outdoor dining area, Casamidy's Varenne chairs are painted the same creamy Glidden white as the exterior walls.
Prentice and Gibson, who photographed this story, pose with their Portuguese water dogs, Jasper and Pippa. Read more about the designer's inspiration for their home here. For more details, see resources.
This story originally appeared in the June 2016 issue of House Beautiful.
The 20 Most Affordable Beach Towns in the U.S.
JFK's Former D.C. Home Is on the Market
Archive Dive: Katherine Hepburn's 1991 Homes
The "Kitchen Work Triangle" Is Out for 2026
