ON A WARM SUMMER EVENING in August 2020, Molly Glasgow and her husband had an epiphany. As they watched their then three-year-old daughter running barefoot on the pristine lawn of the Blue Ridge Mountain Club while the sun set, they realized they had to make this getaway a permanent part of their lives. “When the pandemic hit, we became stir-crazy like everyone else. I was pregnant with our second child, too, so we escaped to the mountains,” says Glasgow. “We kept going up there because it was such an easy place to get away to [from Raleigh, where we live full-time]. But that night, as we watched our daughter running free and so happy, we looked at each other and said, ‘We gotta figure out how to make this a part of our lives permanently.’”
That was the moment the couple decided they’d no longer rent a mountain home but build their own instead. And it wasn’t hard to decide where to look. “When you drive into the Blue Ridge Mountain Club, the views are just breathtaking,” says Glasgow. “It’s like, how is this in North Carolina? It’s gorgeous.” Not only was the couple smitten with the views, but they also loved the amenities the residential resort afforded: hiking trails, a swimming hole, restaurants on site, tennis, and much more. “We loved that you could reconnect with nature so easily here, and we wanted that for our kids,” says Glasgow. They settled on a lot with a jaw-dropping view of the Blue Ridge Mountains beyond. Having worked with designer Liz Goldberg on previous homes, they enlisted her to help with the pre-build design, which meant reworking some of the floor plan and outdoor living spaces.
“This home was all about the view,” says Goldberg. “They really trusted us. They wanted to have fun with color and make it a really memorable space. We chose the color palette based on the views when the leaves were changing in the fall, so there are lots of greens and oranges and rust hues throughout. While we were picking out our finishes, we started thinking through how that would translate to the soft-good design items. It came together from nature. Knowing they were OK with pops of color and we didn’t need to stay too neutral was such a great inspiration.”
Varying woods like white oak and walnut are mixed with more antiqued wooden finishes and layered throughout to add warmth and an organic touch to each space. Wooden beams were added to the main living room, creating a cozy, enveloped feel to the room where the family gathers the most. Goldberg’s innate ability to layer textures seamlessly with the earthy accents and finishes resulted in a space that feels a touch midcentury but with a modern rustic vibe.
Designing a mountain home—and, likewise, a coastal home—can be difficult, as it’s easy to skew toward a theme that can turn kitschy instead of elevated. But Goldberg was able to hit the mark of a sophisticated yet family-friendly mountain home sans deer antlers and tree motifs. “We feel really strongly that a home’s interiors shouldn’t have a theme, and so we made sure that their home was all about taking advantage of that view,” she says. While the home took a little longer than anticipated due to supply chain woes, once it was completed, the Glasgows found that their mountain getaway was exactly what they needed in their lives. “It’s amazing to see our kids there and see how much they love being outdoors,” says Glasgow. “Our five-year-old has become this little hiker. She gets out in the woods and is so brave and courageous.
You really can teach life skills by being outdoors and experiencing things.” This past year the couple hosted their first family Thanksgiving, one of many more in the future. “Because we worked together so much, Liz knows our style and she knew we needed this to be comfortable for a large family,” says Glasgow. “That’s the beauty of it. We got to the point with Liz where she turns something over to us and we don’t make any changes. That’s why this home turned out so beautifully. We let the artist do what she does best, and it was amazing.”