A local design team helped the Records’ home land coastal vibes and much needed updates
By Anna-Rhesa Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Susan Record and Jed Record feel lucky to have found a local design team that turned their Chapel Hill house into the modern oasis they now call home.
“I think at different times in your life, you’re just happy to have a house,” Jed says. “We’ve been fortunate to find something that we felt was more than that.”
The family lived in Edenton, North Carolina, for 12 years before the appeal of being close to UNC, Susan and Jed’s shared alma mater, brought them back to town. Jed also required closer access to Raleigh-Durham International Airport for his job.
“We knew we needed to come to the Triangle,” Susan says. “We couldn’t resist Chapel Hill because of that small-town feel.”
In June 2021, Susan and Jed started their search for a house with a layout to better accommodate the medical needs of their younger daughter, Charlotte Record, 14, who has a formal diagnosis of cerebral palsy. The middle schooler uses different forms of assistive devices for mobility, such as a wheelchair, a walker or a chair lift. The move meant it was easier for Charlotte to get the medical support and supplies that were harder to access in a more rural setting.
LEFT The deep indigo blue cabinets provide contrast to the white marble countertops and backsplash.
RIGHT A soothing blue color palette induces tranquility in the first-floor suite.
With the help of Michelle Delin of Delin Realty, they bought a home built in 2006 in a development off of Smith Level Road. The main floor layout has a wide entryway and two large rooms – a primary suite and another spacious room that could convert easily into a bedroom. For now, they use the room for Charlotte’s physical therapy sessions and to store medical equipment.
The Records worked with Catherine Clamage and Laura Robertson of Chartreuse Design to update the interior to reflect Susan’s “new traditional” sensibility and Jed’s modern aesthetic. The blended style suits the whole family, including older daughter, Ashley Record, 17, who is a senior at Kents Hill School in Maine.
LEFT Jed and Susan hang out with Charlotte at the breakfast table.
RIGHT Spacious doorways allow Charlotte to roll smoothly from one room to another.
“We liked the layout here and the ability to join form and function so we can still have Charlotte with all of her needs filled, but also just to have a normal house,” Susan says. “They did a great job of helping us do it.”
DESIGNING WOMEN
Susan credits Catherine and Laura with the task of making numerous decisions an easy process. “It’s hard to have that vision, and you’re investing so much money, and you feel you can make a mistake or just not see how it’s going to look,” she says.
Jed says he feels good about their investment. “When we started working with them, it was so difficult to buy anything, and it would take months,” he says. “A lot of times, you’d see stuff in the catalog, but they were out of it, so you couldn’t get it. They saved us from doing all the runaround to try and locate what’s available. They could present to us items that we could have in our home in a reasonable timeframe. We knew what they were showing us was stuff they could source, and that saved us tons of headaches.”
The designers made decisions with intention and inclusivity. Laura and Catherine recommended rugs with a low pile height to make it easier for a wheelchair to roll across and trimming the cushions underneath the rugs for a smooth transition from the hardwood floors. They suggested certain chairs with arms that provided support as Charlotte transitioned from the wheelchair into a sofa chair.
“It’s just those little touches that make the difference,” Susan says. She adds that a chair lift was installed on the main stairway. She and Jed also put down ramps inside the garage and in other transition points in the house. “The front door is the only door that’s difficult for her, but everywhere else she can roll in and out,” Susan says. “We also put in that little sidewalk so Charlotte could get to the driveway.”
Early in the design phase, Chartreuse Design asked Daniel Amero of Amero Woodworks in Mebane to add architectural elements to the blank walls of the two-story foyer, creating a welcoming entryway. The same wall treatment was used in the powder room, elevating a builder-grade space into one with style.
Chartreuse Design introduced a fresh color palette throughout the home with furniture, area rugs, pillows, art and decor. New paint and hardware transformed several rooms that originally featured dark wood built-ins into bright spaces. A new lighting plan added warmth with different textures and metal finishes.
KITCHEN MAKEOVER
The renovated kitchen is Jed’s favorite change in the house. “We weren’t rushed,” he says. “We just took a slow approach. And the nice thing about taking a longer time with a design project like this is that the budget doesn’t hit you all at once. You can spread it over several years, rather than get a big invoice in six months. That made things really nice, too. I think it worked out well.”
LEFT Luna, a cavalier King Charles spaniel, lounges on the ottoman in front of Jed’s favorite “napping” chair.
RIGHT The heavy-duty white oak table was commissioned by Chartreuse Design and made by Amero Woodworks in Mebane.
Susan describes the kitchen updates as a sort of facelift rather than a full remodel. Workers painted all the walls and cabinets for a fresh look. Upper cabinets in the kitchen were taken down to give the space an airy look. A larger vent hood and open shelves were installed along with pullout drawers to maximize storage space. “I didn’t feel like I lost cabinet space because I am able to use it more efficiently,” she says.
Jed says he appreciates the open shelves made by Amero Woodworks, who also built a custom breakfast table designed by Chartreuse. New cabinet fronts were made and installed by family-owned Cabinet Creations in Moncure and painted a deep indigo blue providing depth and contrast to the white marble with soft gray veining provided by Chapel Hill-based Custom Stone & Marble. The statement piece in the kitchen is a vent hood plastered and finished by the team at Can Painting in Chapel Hill.
From the kitchen, a pass-through butler’s pantry with a soapstone countertop serves as a dedicated coffee bar. In the dining room, Chartreuse sourced a vintage table that sits in the bay window between two upholstered chairs. Newly commissioned pieces of work complement the hand-painted portraits of Ashley and Charlotte when they were each 5 years old.
“To any casual observer, you wouldn’t think anything, but you’ll notice you can actually fit a wheelchair around the whole table,” Jed says. “That was really important to us. The shortcut for her to get here is through the kitchen. And there’s nothing blocking her here. We can sit here and do our work. It can be a more casual table. We wanted it open and for Charlotte to be able to sit comfortably. Chartreuse had the idea to do the upholstered chairs at the end.”
BLUE HEAVEN
Throughout the house, nautical scenes, coastal landscapes and a blue color palette is a nod to Susan’s connection to the coast, Jed’s love of fishing and both of their family ties to UNC.
Susan, who grew up in Ahoskie, North Carolina, graduated from UNC with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and worked alongside her father in the family’s drugstore in town until his retirement. She now works as a home-based pharmacy consultant, spending about 25% of her time visiting long-term care facilities and skilled nursing homes in the area.
Jed, who grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, not far from the New England coast, earned his bachelor’s degree in international studies at UNC with a minor in computer science. “I have two sisters who are twins, and the three of us all graduated from Carolina in the same year,” he says, adding that his and Susan’s parents are also UNC alums. “We’ve got Carolina blood in our family.” Jed returned to Chapel Hill for his MBA and is now a home-based senior partner engineer at Domino Data Lab, a San Francisco-based software company.
In the kitchen and butler’s pantry, Chartreuse Design commissioned Alexandra Carmina Fine Art to create coastal landscapes that the artist calls “littlescapes.” A painting of ships hangs in the hallway leading to the living room, where a large nautical painting holds special meaning for Jed. “This was from my grandfather’s house,” he says. “When I would stay with my grandparents, I would stay in a guest room in the back of the house. This picture was hanging on that stairway, and I’d walk by it every time we went up to the room. So I was thrilled to put that on display here in the house.”
Overall, the design process took two years to complete. “We are thrilled they now have a home that is a true reflection of who they are while also functioning well for their family,” Laura says. “They have expressed a lot of gratitude to us along the way. Susan and Jed truly are as sweet as people can be. Of course, we want to make all of our clients happy. It was very clear that in the way they worked together, what a solid and loving relationship they have.”
LEFT Luna keeps Susan company as she works in the mudroom by the kitchen. The yellow flower painting is one of Ashley’s artworks. Another sits in the living room.
RIGHT A blue cabinet anchors a transitional space from the kitchen to the living and dining rooms.
