Tour a Supersized Vacation Home With Lakefront Views

Most homeowners have a specific vision or special request when redesigning interiors, but not so for this sprawling vacation house on Lake Burton near Clayton, Georgia. Instead, the owners presented Carter Kay Interiors with a designer's dream statement: "Surprise us," they said.

Carter Kay and her team accepted this bold proposal, which meant tackling unique design challenges in the 9,600-square-foot home with its six bedroom and nine bathrooms. The epic ceilings were especially challenging — soaring as high as 24 feet in the main room. "Our goal was to make [the home] feel comfortable, warm, and if possible, cozy for this growing family of eight (including grown children and grandchildren)," Kay says. Since the home's exterior is more in keeping with a Cape Cod style and features lake views, the interior's end result feels both coastal and rustic, while achieving the comfortable, warm and cozy goal.

Kay kept colors and shapes to a minimum in this inviting window seat area by sticking with creams and browns and choosing pewter plates, pottery vases and antique books. She replicated the color scheme in the hallways to evoke a calm and peaceful vibe.

"This is one of the most challenging rooms we have furnished!" Kay says, thanks to the main room's 24-foot ceilings. They solved the problem by adding horizon lines to break up the space and "make it scaled for humans," she jokes. Said horizon lines include the iron drapery rod, the 7-foot tall lamps framing the window, the 5-foot tall swivel chairs by the fireplace, the 4-foot chair and ottoman, and the 2-1/2-foot chairs and sectional.

The family room also presented a scale challenge. To address it, Kay and her team arranged the built-in shelves to showcase art and collections at eye level, hung abstract art to create another horizon line, added tall floor lamps, and finished the look with oversized accessories.