An Interior Designer Created Her Family’s Forever Home With Form and Function in Mind

Living in places like London and Dubai was a kind of style reconnaisance for interior designer Elizabeth Valkovics of Batten Court Design. She picked up lots of inspiration and ideas for her own designs while living abroad and coupled that experience with her work on multifamily homes, where livability and practicality have to work in tandem. She took everything she learned traveling the world and creating functional homes and applied it to what she calls her family's "forever home" in Pinehurst, North Carolina, where she lives with her British husband, Paul, 5-year-old daughter, Sophie, and 13-year-old son, Luke (and dog Gus).

Even though Elizabeth's 3,200-square-foot home is not massive by American standards, it has 12-foot-tall ceilings and a voluminous footprint. Elizabeth once again tapped into her experience living abroad, where homes tend to be much smaller, and her portfolio of commercial projects to create a feeling of warmth in her family's home. To make the living room feel more cozy, she opted for a plush, L-shaped sectional that takes up plenty of visual space. A ledge along the top of the wall helps to break up the tall ceilings.

"I guess I am more of an autumn palette myself," says Elizabeth, who incorporated greens, browns and tans as a consistent colorway throughout the home. "I also think it's just really calming," she says of organic neutrals. She used those warm colors to contrast the black-and-white finishes in the space.

Elizabeth created two bench seats under the windows that flank the fireplace, so even when the room is full you can steal away for a little bit of quiet time. "In wintertime those reading nooks are extra, extra cozy with the fire on," she says.

The twin nooks each have a built-in bookcase that's invisible when looking at the fireplace straight on. "I use those reading nooks every night," Elizabeth says. "It feels like a little cocoon."

"I really wanted it to stand the test of time," says Elizabeth of her design plan. "I wanted it to feel like us through and through, so it's a combination of contemporary and classic." Elizabeth's must-haves for her classic-meets-contemporary kitchen: beautiful stone, decorative lighting (the "jewelry" of the home, she says) and a solid transitional design. "It's very classic but with a modern twist." The range hood is clad in textured roman clay for depth.

Artwork, in different mediums, is on display in every room. "Art really makes a space come alive," says Elizabeth. This photograph in the kitchen is of the couple's wedding flowers.

With a wooden bench seat on one side, the tufted banquette provides the comfiest seating in this dining area connected to the kitchen. Elizabeth had it upholstered in a favorite autumnal shade of rust, so it looks as cozy as it feels.

The head chairs were hand-me-downs from her parents and were originally red. Elizabeth had them reupholstered in scribble-print fabric for a modern twist. The sliding glass doors lead to additional outdoor dining space, which is perfect when the family entertains large groups.

A trained painter who once considered making art as a career, Elizabeth's love of design and art shows through in her office on the ground floor. "I really wanted it to be a little bit more fun, a little more whimsical," she says. The graphic mural is from Rebel Walls.

Elizabeth's five-year-old daughter had opinions about the design of her own room, but Elizabeth managed to talk her out of the all-pink scheme she originally wanted. Instead, the room blends with the neutral palette in the rest of the home — but with an infusion of violet and tangerine hues in the art and textiles to create a bedroom she can grow into. The vibrant colors suit her personality. "My daughter is a Leo. She is saucy, she is spicy," laughs Elizabeth. The daybed with a trundle is perfect for sleepovers.

"Wellness is something that's super important to us. We have an infrared sauna in the bathroom, we've got a cold plunge outside, we've got this whole gym and the golf [simulator]," says Elizabeth. (Thought they live on a golf course, Paul was adament about having a golf simulator in their home. "Ironically, they use it all the time," she says of her husband and son, who has also become an enthusiastic golfer.)

The houndstooth carpet, which is also in the primary bedroom, epitomizes the yin and yang of femininity and masculinity throughout the home.

Elizabeth used the same houndstooth carpeting from the staircase in the primary bedroom, connecting the home's ground and main floor. The nearly floor-to-ceiling windows let light pour into this space from the golf course beyond.

Though the black window frames and mullions throughout the home might seem iconoclastic, they are actually part of a longstanding design tradition. "If you look back at British architecture, it's also classic," says Elizabeth.

A strong design theme in the Valkovics' North Carolina home is black and white — as seen in Luke's bathroom. Mixing horizontal and vertical stripes in the shower adds a touch of whimsy to the space.

Instead of using a traditional headboard in the guest room, Elizabeth employed a striking botanical wallpaper from LondonArt behind the bed as a clever visual substitute. The floor lamp also does double duty as a nightstand beside the bed.

Though Elizabeth swears it's not her, it's hard not to imagine that this painting in the guest room is of the designer wearing her favorite houndstooth pattern.