Family and friends are welcome in a tranquil Landings home
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life … It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” —Melody Beattie
Lori Pitt keeps her favorite quote in one of the books neatly stacked on a bedside table in the soothing light blue and seafoam green master bedroom that doubles as her happy place. “Every day, my husband and I begin the day with coffee here and end the day with a cocktail here,” Lori says.
As a busy working couple — her husband, Gabe, is an audiologist and Lori is the vice president of sales and operations at a staffing company — with two young daughters, the Pitts made it a priority to create a space that both celebrates friends and family and feels like a retreat from the work day.
The setting — a wooded cul-de-sac in The Landings — plays a major role in achieving both aims. “When you cross the bridge, you kind of forget about the outside world,” says Lori. While the Pitts already lived in The Landings and loved their house, it was on a busy street and not ideal for young children. Seeking less traffic and more tranquility, they moved into this home three years ago, two weeks before Lori gave birth to their second child. “I don’t know if people felt sorry for me because I was pregnant, had a toddler and was working,” she laughs, “but everyone chipped in to help.”
Now, three years later, the family has settled in. When they get home from work, school and after-school activities, the kitchen windows framing the eat-in nook are opened wide to the kids’ outdoor play spot. “I can look out on the cul-de-sac and watch the girls ride their bikes,” Lori says.
In the backyard, off the porch dotted with planters full of vibrant flowers, Gabe and the girls tend a garden together, and they all love to pick vegetables and herbs for dinner preparation.
Inside, the main living spaces are marked by their airy lightness, from a wall of windows and glass doors running along the back of the house to the sculptural chandeliers and pendant lights throughout. The all-white kitchen boasts marble countertops and a deep farm sink, and the spacious island invariably accommodates a lush floral arrangement, today an exotic white orchid in a blue-and-white porcelain bowl from designer and friend Laurel McCorkle.
The clean, white lines of the kitchen carry into the sunroom, where the family spends a great deal of time. Here, blue-and-white shows up in porcelain vases on a fireplace mantel, in window dressings, in a throw rug, in patterned pillows and in a slipcovered chair. And the clean lines of the kitchen are mirrored, quite literally, in the living room, where built-in white shelves flank a fireplace, backed by smoky, antiqued mirror panels. On those shelves, as well those in the office, a meticulously curated collection of gifts, artifacts and souvenirs connotes a life well-traveled and populated by dear friends and family.
In the Pitt home, the art makes an impression, from a moody, life-size Irene Mayo painting depicting a moonlit marsh in the living room (commissioned by Lori’s mother) to pen-and-ink botanical drawings by Gabe’s cousin and several paintings by Alan Campbell, William Weyman and M’Liss Williams.
The dining room walls, hand painted with delicate gray palm trees by Sam Ward, are art in and of themselves. Against that refined backdrop, a gorgeous absinthe fountain sits on the sideboard, spoons resting on glasses ready for sugar cubes, and colorful chinoiserie vases hold twisting branches.
Wallcoverings work to tell the home’s story as well. Seagrass paper in the office is a serene match for the room’s century-old desk and cream upholstered seating, while a darker tone of the same material in the powder room lends a moment of dynamic drama. Upstairs, the girls’ rooms each have one wallpapered wall — brightly colored flowers in one room and a dusty blue-and-white antique pattern in the other — that frames their beds and lends a bit of atmosphere — just the special environment Lori hoped to create for them.
If the upstairs is the realm of children — comfy leather couches, a book nook and a dress-up room overflowing with princess dresses — back downstairs, that soothing master bedroom is a welcome respite after the mayhem of a busy day, where the Pitts sit back with their nightly cocktail and feel gratitude for their house-turned-home.
Details
Owners: Gabriel and Lori Pitt
Year built: 2016
Square footage: 4,000 air-conditioned
Number of bedrooms and bathrooms: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms
Resources
Architects/planners: Online plans finalized by owners and M’liss Williams
Interior designers: Anne Hagerty Interiors; Linen + Line Designs, Allison Willis; J. Bernard Interiors, Jenny Bernard; M’liss Designs, Laurel McCorkle
Contractor/builder: Beacon Builders, Corde and Candler Wilson
Paint/wallpaper: Thibaut, powder room; Schumacher and Etsy, children’s rooms; Sam Ward hand painted walls, dining room
Landscaper: Hester & Zipperer for front and back porch planters, urns and straw
Kitchen Appliances: Livingood’s Appliances and Bedding
Plumbing fixtures, sinks, tubs, toilets: Ferguson
Countertops: Counter Fitters
Antiqued mirrors: J&L Glass Inc.
Upholstery: Savannah Quality Upholstery
Furniture and accessories: Circa Lighting, The Cottage Shop, Courtland & Co., Culver Rug, Garland, Habersham Antiques, Jere’s Antiques, Lulu + Coco, Nadeau, Number Four Eleven, Seventh Heaven Antiques, Verdery’s Lamps, West Elm, Whelan’s, and family pieces
Art: Daedalus Gallery, Irene Mayo, M’liss Williams, Alan Campbell and family pieces
*all resources supplied by homeowners
