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House of Faith

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The interior design maven behind haute home decor emporium Elizabeth Stuart Design opens the doors to her rehabbed Old Village residence, decked out in her signature flawless style and fit-for-family furnishings

Photographs by
Brie Williams
The headboard in the master bedroom is fashioned out of an antique hand-painted Venetian daybed. “It’s good to sleep in Venice,” says Muffie.
Muffie with children (from far left) Beau, 10, Stuart, 12, and Bobby, 13.
Dark taupe velvet walls and draperies give a hauntingly plush backdrop to an Italian mirror and a Near Eastern figural candelabra. “I love this lamp,” says owner Muffie Faith. “It is so funny and helps the dining room not take itself so seriously.”
House of Faith
The Gothic Revival residence sits on roughly 2.7 acres with a terraced lawn that overlooks Charleston Harbor.
An airy center hall leading from front door to back porch is part of the main house. An iron hall table holds a favorite antique vase of Muffie’s, crafted of pressed glass and handed down from her grandmother.
This photo was taken around the turn of the century, following the home’s stint as a Civil War hospital.
Post-rehab, the main house retains its original architecture.
The formal living room is designed for function with two different seating arrangements, among them this pair of vintage blue velvet bouillon fringe armchairs. A Fortuny silk chandelier hangs overhead, while the mantel is a replica of the Federal-style pieces commonly found in Charleston homes circa 1800.
The kitchen and breakfast areas are divided by a honed Carrera marble counter and French oak buffet. Reclaimed brick surrounds the kitchen range while an antique painted meat hook offers a rustic and rather innovative solution for storing pots and pans.
A portrait of Muffie’s beloved childhood housekeeper, Daisy Bell Haygood, presides over a sunny sitting room opposite the kitchen. One of a pair of slip-covered armchairs offers a comfortable spot for lounging. “I’ve had these club chairs since I got married,” says Muffie. “They are a favorite of everyone, dogs and cats included.”
A collection of glassware brightens shelves over a double nickel apron sink.
A tole coffee tin is one of a pair gracing a buffet in the kitchen.
In the living room, a silk mohair sofa is fronted by a pair of English leather footstools. Above, a Jules Herve painting entitled Les Villes Demoiselles.
A French armchair with cane seat sits at the top of the stairs in the second-floor hall, surrounded by an eclectic assortment of artwork. “I let my art pieces play off each other,” says Muffie, who freely mixes watercolors and oils with pastels and etchings throughout the house. “The frames should be complementary, but art in varying mediums can mingle with one another.”
The lively children’s den boasts an oversized Indian market painting, while a vintage airplane suspended from the ceiling adds whimsy.
The master bedroom, which opens to an upstairs porch overlooking the water, is outfitted with crushed velvet cab chairs. “A bedroom should be peaceful, whatever that may mean,” says Muffie. “Mine is dotted with reminders of my life.”
This antique Venetian glass chandelier with multicolored florets is a find from “a musty old antique shop in a small town in Texas,” recalls Muffie. “When I found it, I felt like I’d won the lottery.”
Light floods an upstairs guest room through windows overlooking Fort Sumter. The chair, an Italian antique, is paired with a table skirted in shirred burlap.