A couple downsizes to a downtown pied-à-terre without sacrificing storage or style
When a social couple decided to downsize before becoming empty nesters, they knew they wanted to move from the suburbs to downtown Greenville. While their daughter and son were still in high school, they purchased a high-rise corner unit and hired a team that included residential designer Mitch Lehde with MHK Architecture; Cynthia Masters, founder and creative director of the interior design studio Panageries; and general contractor Larry Myers of Inéo Builders. The trio transformed the unit’s 3,100 square feet into a luxurious three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath pied-à-terre, a project that took almost two years from design to completion.
It is “meant to be for the next phase of their lives, a place where they can host their friends and colleagues and enjoy downtown’s great dining and entertainment,” Masters says, adding that the couple spends weekends and holidays with family at their Lake Keowee home.
They had two requirements for the pied-à-terre’s design: ample storage and elegant spaces that “would entertain well,” Masters says. “Laying out the space correctly and choosing the right finishes was important.”
Luxe Downtown Living
Lehde’s plans gave almost every room expansive views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. His open-concept layout encourages flow, from the intimate entry hall and cozy library to the great room. Perfect for entertaining, it is divided into a living space, a kitchen, and a dining area with a wet bar through custom ceiling treatments and skillful furniture
placements
Masters layered luxe materials into the Lehde’s layout, starting with the deep-gray stained wood floors and custom alder wood millwork, cabinetry, and furniture, defining features that give warmth to the building’s contemporary bones. Cooler-toned yet visually textured stone surfaces and locally made iron cabinets juxtapose the expansive wood surfaces.
To merge the husband’s traditional preferences with the wife’s vision of industrial touches and love of visual and tactile texture, Masters selected seating in tactile fabrics, handmade wool rugs, and other custom touches to create a “soft, organic, modern style” with a warm neutral color palette.
Finding spots for entertaining essentials, everyday needs, and even exercise equipment took deliberate thought about “what would go where,” Masters says. She and her team carved out a closet from a wall sliver, added extra cabinets in each bathroom, tucked the laundry room and pantry behind a kitchen cabinet door, and designed other varied cabinetry, drawers, and shelving.
“They still have cabinets that aren’t full,” Masters notes. “So, we did our job.”
What’s a pied-à-terre
The literal translation from French is “foot on the ground.” In real estate, the term typically refers to a small apartment or condominium used by someone who owns a primary home elsewhere.
Stylist Credit: Thea Beasley
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Motorized diaphanous drapes, seating covered in luxe fabrics, and handmade wool rugs add textural layers to the living space at one end of the great room. Together, the materials help “absorb the sounds of the street below,” according to Masters.
Masters’s first materials selection was a wide-plank, European white oak floor to use throughout the public spaces and bedrooms. Its deep-gray stain has hints of honey tones, which echo the stain choice for the home’s custom alder wood millwork, cabinetry, and custom beds.
The generous island provides seating for four, while the alder wood ceiling treatment featuring five seeded-glass pendants hides mechanical components. It helps marry “the ceiling to the rest of the space,” Masters says.
In the moody powder room, a slab of San Samone marble fills the wall and wraps around a charcoal-stained floating vanity built by Americraft, a Greer-based custom cabinetry and furniture company. “We wanted it to be the pièce de résistance for that room,” Masters says of the marble. “It climbs the wall, and the three pendants cascade back down.”
To avoid interrupting the San Samone marble’s dramatic veining, Masters designed a pivoting mirror that tucks into the custom wall cabinetry in the powder room.
The primary bedroom has a striking combination of luxe materials, starting with the book-matched slabs of Greystone marble set into the alder wood wall and ceiling treatment (it contains integrated lights designed by Kasted Design Group). They provide an eye-catching headboard for the Americraft-made platform bed.
Masters added wall-mounted cabinets on either side of the double vanity to provide additional storage in the primary bathroom. The book-matched Crema Delicato marble backsplash “creates a beautiful pattern,” she says.
The library’s built-in shelving provides ample space for displaying books and finds from the couple’s frequent travels. “It gives them the ability to add mementos over time,” Masters says, adding that bottom cabinets hide office equipment and supplies.
A commissioned painting with textural brushstrokes by Western North Carolina artist Lynnette Driver hangs in a recessed niche in the entry hall. It reflects the palette of indigo, gold, charcoal, and cream hues that Masters used throughout the home.
