These Best of Chapel Hill winners talk highlights, trends and more in some of their favorite home makeovers
By Alana Bleimann
Cat French Design
The team at Cat French Design believes in personalized home design that aligns with each client’s unique personality. One of their recent favorite projects is a stunning formal parlor filled with deep mauve tones, custom-designed for a client in Meadowmont. Inspired by a meaningful piece of art, they curated the entire room around its colors, which are subtly echoed throughout the home.
Neighborhood Meadowmont
Project Timeline Spring 2024
Design Highlights The room serves as a “beautiful little jewel box of a space,” says owner Cat French. The clients’ art, pottery and book collections blend seamlessly to create visual appeal rich with warmth and comfort, a hallmark of Cat’s design philosophy.
Trending “Color!” Cat says, “Especially earth tones and more pattern and texture.” She notes this is an exciting time to be a designer, as more clients are embracing personal expression in their homes.
Chartreuse Design
Chartreuse Design merges classic styles with touches of luxury to create a sophisticated retreat for each client. They aim to help the Chapel Hill community through personal projects like their recent renovation of a home owned by two UNC doctors. “It is the combination of functionality and aesthetics that we respond to, often on an unconscious level,” says Catherine Clamage and Laura Robertson, co-owners and design partners of Chartreuse Design. Their goal is to find what clients don’t yet know is missing from their space.
Neighborhood Old Lystra Road, near Founders Ridge
Project Timeline March-October 2023
Design Highlights The clients embarked on a comprehensive renovation of their kitchen and primary bathroom, seeking a fresh look after spending more than two decades in their home. Tasked with reflecting their personal style, the Chartreuse Design team collaborated with TriPlus Homes and Cabinet Creations to revamp the kitchen. They lightened the space visually while ensuring durability by choosing Taj Mahal quartzite for countertops and backsplash. The integration of lowered outlets and switches discreetly maintained the stone’s prominence. Classic white cabinetry contrasted with a walnut island, offering warmth and functionality while the glass-front cabinets showcased the clients’ collections and enhanced the room’s openness. Refinished hardwood floors and brass fixtures throughout further brightened and added elegance to the space, completing the timeless transformation.
Trending Both say choosing materials that will last a lifetime but still feel unique is in right now. They say textures like “moody marble” and “dramatic quartzite” will never look dated when paired with open shelving and other statement focal points. “While these trends are popular right now, they are actually all timeless on their own,” Catherine and Laura say. “This is exactly why we love them!” The designers are seeing less stark white kitchens and more woody tones. “These shifts highlight a broader movement towards warm, authentic spaces that offer longevity and greater sustainability in interior design.”
Sloan Polish Design
Designing a new space is all about listening. “It is my job to listen keenly to what my clients are saying they need and want in their spaces,” says Allison Sloan Polish, principal and designer of Sloan Polish Design. For Allison, designing anything should prioritize functionality, ensuring each space serves its purpose effectively. Recently, she completed a basement renovation that enabled the client to utilize a dated area of their home. Her approach emphasizes color and pattern mixing while ensuring family-friendly, approachable designs. She tailors her designs to reflect the homeowner’s tastes and lifestyle, leaving a unique mark on every project.
Neighborhood Lake Forest
Project Timeline February-November 2023
Square Footage 550+
Design Highlights The client initially wanted to remove some existing materials – like terracotta-tiled floors and wall paneling – but opted to keep them and allocate money for custom cabinetry and furniture instead. By changing the wall color to a deep indigo blue, Allison created a mid-century vibe that complements the warm natural tones of the tile and wood. Painting the trim the same color as the walls helped visually elongate the space, along with swapping old recessed can lights for flush-mount LEDs, resulting in a brighter and cozier basement.
Trending According to Allison, bouclé, a popular design trend, needs to make its exit. Despite its initial appeal, this bumpy, scratchy fabric lacks durability and is hard to clean, making it unsuitable for most projects, but especially if the clients have pets.
Emma Delon
The team at Emma Delon is known for taking cramped spaces and transforming them using a keen eye for detail during every part of the process. The team brings creativity and expertise to every project from luxurious residential projects to stylish commercial spaces, ensuring a harmonious balance of aesthetics and practicality.
Neighborhood North Elliott Road
Project Timeline December 2021-May 2023
Square Footage 45
Chapel Hill Companies Involved Zurbuch Construction, Custom Stone and Marble, Kitchen & Bath Galleries and Wilkinson Supply Co.
Design Highlights One of last year’s standout projects was a first-floor guest bath redesign. “With the addition of a transom window in the shower, what was once a dark, cramped space became a bright, open and inviting room,” associate designer Monica Hyde says. Reworking the adjacent guest room’s closet and converting a traditional door into a pocket door allowed for increased storage without sacrificing accessibility. Low beveled shower curbs were used in the bathroom for safety, while raising the shower ceiling, swapping the vanity and removing a soffit brought even more light and open space into the area.
Trending “Our clients LOVE color!” Monica says. The designers are also getting more requests for level entry showers or low-beveled curbs over traditional curbed showers. These modern entries, when tiled with vibrant colors, such as greens, create an inviting, restful atmosphere in any bathroom.
