WHEN DURHAM RESIDENTS JEFF AND AMY OUTLAW began looking for a vacation home in Carolina Beach, their visions were simple. Amy’s sister had a condo there already, so the couple considered buying the other half of the duplex and making it their own. But, as most real estate ventures tend to go, the process unfolded in a broader fashion, and after considering several different options, they settled on a newly cleared lot where they could build their own custom beach house. Luckily, it was just in front of Amy’s sister’s place, and that made it even more appealing as a gathering place for both families.
The Outlaws researched several builders in Carolina Beach and fell in love with The Pioneer Group, who not only build on the island, but also live there. As groundbreaking began, the couple was back at home in Durham getting excited about their new residence going up at the beach. Amy began picking up things for the home on various shopping trips, and after about the fourth trip, Jeff decided they needed a local designer to take the reigns.
“After I saw my wife lugging things up to the attic for safekeeping while the home was being built, I knew that in a year I would be lugging it back down and over to the beach,” Jeff Outlaw recalls. “So I floated the idea of having someone help design the house locally.” When they asked their contractor at The Pioneer Group for a suggestion, they quickly recommended Lindsey Cheek at Gathered. “As soon as we looked into Gathered’s portfolio, we were smitten, and then we met Lindsey and it was clear that we wanted them to handle everything from the towels to the hand soap.”
“We hit it off with the Outlaws right away,” Cheek recalls. “They came to the studio and went over the house plans, and after some discussion, we knew it would be a wonderful project. When the homeowner says, ‘I don’t care what it looks like, I just want it to be awesome,’ you know you are in for an incredible project!”
With three older children and an English bulldog, the family’s needs were obvious—spaces that were comfortable and ideal for entertaining, and pet-friendly while also being stylish. “This being a vacation home, we were really conscious of making it completely different from our primary residence,” Outlaw says. “We wanted to get into vacation mode the minute we turned the corner and saw our house at the beach.”
Extraordinarily, the Outlaws didn’t see the project between roughing-in and design install. Family members came by to check on the progress for them, but the family planned to be entirely surprised with their first visit upon completion. “It sounds crazy, but it was so fun at the same time,” Cheek says. “I had a lot of inner turmoil because often the tweaking of the design with a client can create better versions of the space. That wasn’t present here, so I was constantly grappling with the freedom to create and the hope that they loved it. But, getting to reveal the home to them for the first time was truly one of the best moments of my career to date. It was emotional and rewarding beyond measure.”
Outlaw adds, “Yeah, in the beginning, we felt like we were driving ourselves crazy by checking on it every so often because you can never see all the behind-the-scenes progress. So we decided that the last five months we would just turn everything over to the professionals and look forward to a complete surprise reveal. And I would highly recommend it to anyone building a house with people they love and trust.” Outlaw admits that the fellowship and celebration on reveal day was something that really stuck with his family.
Beyond their request to use shades of green—Amy’s favorite color—in the design, the Outlaws put the design in Gathered’s hands. One thing was implied the whole time, however. “We really wanted to avoid that boxed-in feel of typical beach houses with predictable decor, tight walls, and a ninety-degree staircase,” Outlaw says. “So the only request we really had was to have an open staircase and an overall asymmetrical feel to the layout that was different from everything else around it. And awesome design, of course.”
Though there is an easy way about the coastal feel of the home, the beachy feel is anything but overt. White walls give way to bright colors used in strategic ways, from cabinets and tile to wallpaper and draperies. Natural textures lead the way when it comes to providing the waterside feel, with warm wood beams, natural wood pieces, and bamboo and natural fiber accessories. Modern touches like the bottle-cap artwork of their English bulldog Harper in the third-floor landing created an authentic space with truly unique character, which the Outlaws had hoped for. To warm the space even more, Amy’s sisters delivered about 150 family photos to Cheek to sift through for use as framed photos throughout the home.
But the room that may be everyone’s favorite lays poolside in an indoor-outdoor hybrid that serves as both a lounge area and an extra bedroom and bathroom when needed. “I think this is the most used room,” Cheek says. “It’s so multifunctional with the ping-pong table that doubles as a dining table and a Murphy bed that folds out from the wall for sleeping. It’s bright and fun.” Outlaw adds that the light fixtures are some of the more fun pieces of the home. “They are so on point and unique.” Cheek agrees that she really tries to use local businesses and small-batch design houses like Sawkille for furniture. “That’s the stuff everyone loves, and can really make a project unique and not cookie-cutter.”