Tour a Classic Vacation Home in the North Carolina Mountains

There’s long been a special place in designer James Farmer’s heart for Cashiers, North Carolina, where he owns a cottage. When a family from South Florida asked him to refresh their summer and fall retreat in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, he knew just what to do.

“I wanted to play against stereotypical ‘mountains’ — bad plaids, generic stained woods and teddy bears!” he says. “Cashiers is scenic and jaw-droppingly beautiful, so a lackluster interior takes away from what’s naturally there. My approach to projects in Cashiers feels like a way to pay homage to the beauty of a place that I truly love.”

“We approached this as not necessarily an upgrade but more of an update,” James explains, “as we wanted to keep it classic and traditional. With a different climate and geography from their main home in Florida, going with a different style was apropos. Plaids, velvet and wool may not be used in their primary home, but they’re right at home in the mountains.”

James repainted and transformed existing reverse board and batten throughout the house, then chose a similar white tone for these shapely – but incorrectly stained – dining chairs. “Painting them also allowed for them to stand out against more important brown pieces like the cabinet, wood floors and table,” he explains. “They just needed a little facelift to make that happen!”

James displayed his client’s spectacular Staffordshire porcelain “collection of collections” in and around that dramatic cabinet. It's "the French version of a Welsh dresser or English cupboard,” he says. An installation like this one might seem intimidating, but “when it comes to arranging, you are simply creating a pattern or grid,” he says. “Prints and patterns are used in fabrics and in paintings all the time. Porcelain is just another medium to create something beautiful.”