A family beach house on the Isle of Palms was transformed into a forever home when life took an unexpected turn
Susan and Keith Ward were looking forward to fully embracing his retirement from a long career in the oil business. They had sold their large estate in Gainesville, Georgia, and moved into their beloved mountain home in Highlands, North Carolina. The next step was remodeling their Isle of Palms beach house to provide a fitting winter retreat from the snowy Appalachian Mountains, with the bonus of spending more time near their two adult children, Maggie and Ross, who both live and work in Charleston. But in early 2022, tragedy struck. Keith passed away, just as the couple had decided to tear down the rambling 1990s house on Palm Boulevard and build a new home more suitable for a couple approaching their golden years.
Following a pause to consider what her future held, Susan decided to finish the project and turn the oceanfront home into her primary residence. She worked with Charleston-based Herlong Architecture & Interiors and Renaissance South to design and build a four-bedroom home, with enough space for her children to visit, while still being manageable enough for her to live alone.
Inspired by the classic shingle style popular in the Hamptons, Susan tasked Herlong with designing a home with “lots of architecture,” she explains. “‘Don’t stick me in a box, a box on a box,’ I said. I wanted architecture—shed dormers, gables—and they really listened to me.” With its asymmetrical facade, wide porches, whimsical rooflines, turrets, and rotundas, all wrapped in a classic shingle style, the house is a mix of formal and informal, elegant yet inviting—a touch of the Hamptons in South Carolina. “You know, we are sort of the Hamptons of the South,” says Susan with a laugh.
The main living room pairs vintage Chinoiserie-style side tables and a Tibetan silk rug with Highland House ottomans wrapped in Brunschwig & Fils fabric and stylish Bruce Andrew side chairs.
Born and raised in Atlanta, Susan relishes her Southern heritage but had spent much of her four decades with Keith traveling the world. Her sense of adventure runs deep, with trips to Egypt, Iceland, and even Borneo during her family’s travels.
The home’s interior design reflects an eclectic blend of Southern charm, Susan’s passion for all things English, and her collections of art and antiques procured around the globe. The biggest challenge for Herlong interior designer Cintra Sedalik was helping Susan cull, curate, and repurpose her many pieces, while mixing them with fresh, modern finds suitable for the island setting. “She was downsizing from a 12,000-square-foot estate to a more manageable 5,000-square-foot beach home,” says Cintra. “This posed plenty of challenges and lessons in prioritizing. We reframed art and resized antique rugs so they would fit the scale of the home, while pulling in a variety of new furniture to complement her lifestyle moving forward.”
The architecture helped with this balance, providing select spots for grand gestures balanced with livability. An expansive plaster-clad foyer offers sweeping views of the ocean, and an elegant, curved staircase leads to a long gallery that showcases Susan’s collection of 600-year-old Chinese silk screens depicting winter, spring, summer, and fall. On the second floor, a library with deep green, paneled walls houses a small selection of the more than 1,000 leather-bound books that once filled Susan’s Gainesville manor. The shelves are interspersed with treasures from trips to Thailand, Egypt, Morocco, China, and Russia.
A plaster hood and tiled backsplash highlight the La Cornue range. Quartzite countertops and islands provide ample prep space while built-in cabinets display Susan’s cherished china collection. Original Baker chairs recovered in Claremont and Calvin fabrics up the luxe factor in the dining area.
In the primary bedroom, located on the ground floor, plaster walls and a concentric arched ceiling add architectural style and accentuate a grand oil painting of an English landscape hung above the fireplace. Paintings of Venice and Rome alongside an antique armoire reinforce the elevated atmosphere. “Plaster picks up light in different ways; it gives a rich feeling,” says Cintra of the warm, elegant room.
The centerpiece of the adjoining bathroom suite is a dome ceiling above the bathtub, designed specifically to fit the Currey & Company chandelier that Susan purchased from the Michael Mitchell showroom on King Street. Painted by decorative artist Angela Cabán, it features a flower and bird scene painted on a green background to match the Ming Green marble accent tile in the shower.
(Left) A Made Goods table and Summer Classics chairs offer an opportunity for alfresco dining just outside the main living space, and a cozy sitting area (right) surrounds a fireplace decorated with Moroccan tile.
While these sophisticated spaces maintain the style of Susan’s past, the heart of her new home is the more casual living/dining/kitchen area. “We designed it so we could really live on this floor; I rarely go upstairs,” she says. “I like the space; it’s comfortable and sensible and looks great.” She did have to sacrifice her beloved china cabinet, however, which just didn’t fit in with the contemporary feel of the open room. Instead, Herlong designed built-in cabinets to showcase Susan’s precious pieces while setting a more modern tone.
The kitchen is a favorite space, as the homeowner loves to cook, having taught herself through the works of Julia Child, Ina Garten, and Martha Stewart. “When I’m doing my crazy cooking, there’s not an inch of that island that you can see,” says Susan. A black La Cornue range under a plaster hood pops in the white marble kitchen, but she admits to preferring the Sharp oven in the butler’s pantry.
Just off the kitchen, the spacious butler’s pantry extends to the width of the house and incorporates a large laundry room. Ample cabinetry provides space for Susan’s large collections of glassware and tableware, a holdover from her days hosting dinner parties for 100 people or more in Gainesville. She hopes to host similar shindigs here.
Susan’s daughter’s room has a darker, more moody feel. The deep brown Moroccan tile in the bathroom was inspired by the family’s trip to Iceland.
Fortunately, the house is ideal for entertaining. Through the triple-arched glass doors that welcome views of the Atlantic, a wide porch encompasses a spacious dining table and a cozy outdoor living room, complete with a fireplace. Opening the doors creates plenty of room for large gatherings, and an expansive lawn beyond the pool allows for parties to spill into the garden.
For Susan, the shift from a grand manor in rural Georgia to a sophisticated beach house on a Lowcountry barrier island has been a welcome one that has brought her peace during a difficult time. “It’s such a refreshing change; my other house was so formal. But that was me then, and this is me now, on the beach, more laid-back,” she says. “And I’m absolutely glued to the view; water does something to you, it’s so peaceful.”
