Tour a Modern Mountain Home That Embraces Nature in Every Corner

Caroline and Josh Bogen work hard in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play hard, with a routine of golf, pickleball and entertaining friends during visits to Lake Toxaway. They love spending time at the state's largest private lake located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Bogens decided that their appreciation for this special place warranted owning a home all their own (they had previously shared a cramped vacation cottage with Caroline's brother). "We've just sort of completely fallen in love with the place," says Caroline.

They found the perfect spot to buy; a home with an open living, dining and kitchen area that's perfect for entertaining. (Josh is a big cook.) This console table with lamps placed between the living room and dining area is a means of defining the spaces as separate entities.

"We walked in and honestly, we fell in love with it immediately," says Caroline of touring the 2022 new construction home for the first time. "It was a perfect blank slate."

After closing on the house, the next step was finding the right designer to help them transform the home's very large spaces on the main level into a welcoming, warm and inviting family gathering spot. That's where Stef Johnson of Stef Johnson Design stepped in, ensuring that this empty shell became a cozy retreat for Caroline and Josh, their two children, ages 23 and 25, two golden retrievers and a constant rotation of friends. "We wanted the house to feel warm and inviting but elevated," says Caroline. "She just got it."

Stef also has a vacation home close to the Bogens, so she was familiar with the area and, most importantly, had a knowledge of local boutiques and antique stores, which was instrumental in sourcing accessories and furniture for the space. "I love to support local when I can," says Stef, including in the artwork she chose to flank the fireplace by Woody Platt and Shannon Whitworth, who are local musicians in addition to being artists.

The sofa, coffee table and the dining set were all left by the previous homeowners, but everything else was new to the space. Stef decisided to leave the living room windows curtain-free to lean into the view of the golf course where the family spends much of their time. "I actually jokingly call it adult camp!" laughs Caroline of their fun mountain digs.

A glass and metal front door opens up to this pretty foyer. The dresser was found at a local shop in Highlands, North Carolina. The floral wallpaper greeting guests as they enter the home establishes an association with the outdoors that continues throughout the space. Stef found it fun to mix in antiques with the more modern lines of the home. "Some people love antiques and some people loathe them," she says, which is one ground rule she likes to get out of the way before she starts working with a new client.

The kitchen was already fairly locked in with light blue-gray cabinets and enough of a neutral look that Caroline and Josh could make it work for their needs. "I absolutely love the kitchen. It is so big and so spacious," says Caroline. "I don't even know what else I would have done different." It's the perfect size for entertaining, especially with the epic island. The dark brown stain on the floors led Stef to strive to make all the home's rooms lighter and brighter. "Keeping some light surfaces to counterbalance those was important," says Stef.

"It was really easy to appreciate the architecture of the house," says Caroline. Their home in Charlotte looks nothing like the open, bright, more modern vacation home, which is something she loves. "I want them to look different," she says. Stef added rugs and accessories to imprint the kitchen with more of the homeowners' personalities. "I smile everytime I walk in," says Caroline.

"I didn't want it to be too mountain-y," says Caroline of the home's general feel — meaning none of the bears, canoes and pine cones that can often define mountain homes in the area. Instead, Stef leaned into whimsy. This mudroom off the kitchen featuring graphic, fish-print wallpaper is a prime example. It's a nod to Josh, a commercial seafood broker. "I just kind of got this bee in my bonnet about using a lot of fish," laughs Stef. By the time she finished installing the plethora of nature-inspired wallpaper the Bogens were fully on board. "They were like, 'Can we do more fish?'"

The primary suite is one of Caroline's favorite rooms. Located on the main level, the primary and large en suite bathroom is separate from the three guest rooms on the home's lower level. Tons of natural light and softer, brighter colors for the walls, linens, rugs and art help create an environment of calm in this exceedingly generous bedroom with 14-foot-tall ceilings.

"In order to get something with height and width, you kind of have to go old," says Stef of forgoing the usual nightstands in the primary bedroom. She found two antique chests instead — one from a local store and the other at Atlanta's Scott Antique Markets. She matched them only in terms of height, proving you don't need to go matchy-matchy when it comes to bedside tables.

Stef thought about the difference between how a family lives in their main home, and the practicalities of a second home where the pace of life is different. She made sure that all the bedrooms feature blackout drapes to allow people to sleep in — a necessity in a vacation home.

Green is Caroline's favorite color, and it repeats throughout the home. A palette of blue and green references the organic world outside and offers a visual and emotional connection to the outdoors. The chaise was an opportunity to fill the expansive primary bedroom with some functional vignettes.

All the bedrooms in the home feature king beds, another welcoming, luxurious touch. The overall feel is a vacation home with a refined, livable edge. Stef calls the vibe "mountain modern," and it's very different from many of the mountain homes in the area, which can often feature darker wood and heavy stone surfaces. "Some mountain houses can feel dark and dreary and that's not the case here," she says. In this guest room she leaned into blue tones, including in the pretty toile fabric covering the nightstand.

Stef was inspired by a green-and-white striped awning she saw in Charleston, South Carolina, and adapted that look to this guest room featuring green striped Euro shams and curtains. Stef used green as an accent color in several of the bedrooms, drawing in a sense of nature and earthy grounding. "It just feels fresh with all the green," she says.

A powder room on the home's main level features a Schumacher wallpaper graced with a delightful series of fish portraits. Stef is unapologetically in love with the result: "I'm obsessed with that wallpaper."

"I love putting wallpaper in a powder room," she says. "It just completely personalizes the space, and it's such a nice opportunity to take a small room and make it really punch."

"The whole house tells a story," says Stef of the Bogen's love of the verdant forests and the shining water that surrounds them at Lake Toxaway. An oakleaf and acorn motif defines this guest bathroom wallpaper. "It just screams Highlands to me," says Stef. "It feels so cozy and right." The vanity and the mirror were already in place, but Stef created consistency with the home's overall theme of the outdoors — without delving too deep into kitschy mountain aesthetics.