A 16-year collaboration between designer Terry Woodfin and the Millar family turns a Chapel Hill house into a timeless, personalized home filled with elegance, comfort and heart
By Anna-Rhesa Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Anna update lighting fixtures, upholstered
chairs and other textiles throughout the house.
Interior designer Terry Woodfin has worked with Anna Millar and her family of six over the past 16 years to ensure their house feels like a home. They’ve grown a friendship familiar enough to finish each other’s sentences.
“And you understand my life, too,” affirms Anna, who is a director at ed-tech startup Project Kitty Hawk that partners with UNC System universities. She and Jamey Millar, a senior vice president at OptumRx, are now empty nesters since the youngest of their four children moved to campus in August as a first-year UNC student.
Terry, owner of Interiors by Terry, remembers her first project with the Millar family after they purchased their 1.45-acre property in 2007 in the Hunt’s Reserve neighborhood in Chapel Hill. Will Millar, 19, was 3 years old at the time and jumping on the bed while workers installed window treatments in the first-floor owner’s suite. This past spring, Terry perched on Will’s bed watching contractors build wall shelves as part of the redesign of his boyhood bedroom into a space with grownup charm.
“You had a nice little moment right there, seeing it full circle,” Anna says to Terry, who wanted to complete that project for Will before he left for college. “He felt a part of it,” Terry says of the four-month makeover process.
company in the renewed space.
Will’s three older siblings can enjoy redesigned bedrooms and bathrooms in the 4,787-square-foot home on their next visits. Ben Millar, 27, a UNC alum and an avid hiker, lives in Denver. His room features an understated work area fully equipped for remote work. An updated Jack and Jill bathroom connects his space to Tampa-based Chris Millar’s room, where the 24-year-old Appalachian State University graduate displays his sports memorabilia on the walls. Chris’s twin sister, Ally Millar, has a sophisticated style in her room overlooking the backyard pool. Her room doubles as a guest room when she’s not visiting from New York City. Classic kids, two dogs, a full-time job and aging parents nearby. “She was like, ‘You want the drinks fridge here because it’s near the pool entrance, and when you unload the dishwasher, you need these things here.’ Just very practical,” Anna recalls.
“I think about how they live in this home,” Terry says.
Anna points out the way Terry would prepare the whole family for remodeling projects. “It can be emotionally and psychologically stressful and draining, and Terry would prep me for it and give me homework assignments,” Anna says about the to-do lists. “And then when I was freaking out in the middle of it, getting frustrated.” Then, Terry interjects, “Just call me. Talk to me. Don’t go off on your contractor.”
Anna continues, saying, “It’s lifestyle management; it’s full service, not just decorating.” She appreciates Terry’s methodical approach to redesigning a home “one piece at a time, so it’s financially and emotionally manageable. The other thing Terry always says to me, which is so helpful, ‘Don’t wait until you’re ready to sell your house to update your home; do it now and enjoy it.’”
With that advice in mind, Terry and Anna reimagined how to modernize the house. Terry managed many projects, like the refinishing of the hardwood floors while the family was away on vacation. She updated the living room with comfortable furniture covered in light-colored performance fabrics. Walls and trim were repainted. She replaced outdated light fixtures and recovered upholstered chairs.
“She’s really smart at figuring out where to invest, like the Wolf stove,” Anna observes. “There are many other areas where we’ll get very reasonably priced things that Terry makes look beautiful, like some of my Christmas ornaments from Walmart that look phenomenal. You don’t always need to buy top-line and break the bank, so that’s good guidance.”
The Oval Office
“I’m gonna share this story, because Terry probably wouldn’t, but she was selected to decorate the White House for Christmas last year,” Anna says. Terry, whose interior design business includes a seasonal-decorating service, was one of 300 volunteer holiday decorators selected from 3,000 applicants nationwide.
“I left here Thanksgiving afternoon and spent all day Friday and Saturday and a half day on Sunday [at the White House],” Terry recalls. “I think we had to be out of there because the president was coming back and I was in the Oval Office and the West Wing. It was very fun. And then, Joe Biden did a video for Architectural Digest, a video [featuring] the West Wing and the Oval Office. I never thought that any of my work would be seen, but it was one of the first things released on Instagram. And I had spent a day and a half to two days on that tree, a single tree in the Oval Office.”
When Terry returned to Chapel Hill, she decorated the Millar family’s house for Christmas, too
Hilltop Chateau
Terry helped make a wish come true for Anna, who has always dreamed of living in the style of a French countryside retreat. Their brown brick home was painted an ivory color accented by walnut trim, giving it a stately curb appeal. The original single-frame front door was replaced with a dark-stained, wooden, double-entry door custom made by Fitch Creations.
LEFT Will had an active role in the redesign of his bedroom months before moving onto campus as a first-year student at UNC.
RIGHT Terry oversaw the remodel of the living room where the fireplace surround was extended to the ceiling. Flanking built-in spaces were converted into cabinets and illuminated niches to feature Lladró figurines from Anna’s late mother.
Inside, most of the furniture, headboards and other pieces were made by North Carolina craftsmen and artisans. “She really tries to source locally,” Anna says about their focus on supporting businesses from within the state. Project by project, Terry rejuvenated the home and brought a simple elegance to daily living. Terry worked with Nick Vaughn of Kitchen and Bath Galleries and contractor Jay Hughes of Hughes Contracting to remove the kitchen island and half-walled peninsula. She rearranged the seating to comfortably accommodate the family and their guests. Newly raised vanities in every bathroom offered more storage space, and the removal of the pony wall and glass doors in two bathrooms created more shower space.
Even the backyard pool and hot tub, installed in 2013 by Michael Gress, a Chatham-based master pool builder, were designed with intention. “Chris and Ally were both here with their significant others this weekend,” Anna says. “The house brings them home for hot-tubbing and swimming.”
The evolution of the home has become a sort of “quest of creating a space where the adult kids want to come home,” Terry says.
Anna says her family’s favorite part of any project is what happens at its end. “Terry comes in and works her magic,” Anna says. “She’ll kick us all out of the house. And the kids know that day they will go to school and when we get home that night it’s been ‘Terry-fied.’” The eponymous term describes a positive transformation but also means that there will be cheese boards and beverages to celebrate the big reveal. “It’s like the home flipping thing where we’re walking in, and your jaw drops,” Anna says.
Exceptional Care
Though not all interior designers and homeowners become lifelong friends, Terry and Anna realized that they have found strength and comfort in each other through both happy and sad times.
“Terry was a huge part of me processing the death of my mom,” Anna says, “because she knew her, and I think integrating my mom and dad’s pieces into this home, no one could have done it like Terry did.”
Anna remembers Terry’s support while going through her mother’s estate. “I was ready to get rid of some more things, but Terry was like, ‘No, you’ll regret not having some of that furniture; bring that, we’ll find a place,’” she says. “She was the voice of reason through that. We’ve been there for each other through all the curveballs life throws at you.”
