For the LOVE of HOME

Our annual Whole Home project has always been a celebration of how meaningful design can create a safe haven from the chaos of the world around us. Never has that mission been more important.

- Carisha Swanson

EVERY YEAR, WE SEARCH THE country for the next place we want to go and tell a great design story. We might be drawn to a beautiful location or a sensational city or just a spot that everybody is talking about. For our Seventh Annual Whole Home, we headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, to an area situated between the art-filled town of Asheville and the quaint city of Hendersonville. We were drawn here by everything we'd heard about the region: the outstanding culinary scene (believe the hype), a tantalizing claim to having the most breweries per capita (you'll never be thirsty), and proximity to the iconic Biltmore Estate (a must-visit on any trip to this Appalachian region).

We stuck around for the vibrant local art scene, the majestic views, and the exceptional salty chocolate chip cookies from a local bakery, the Rhu, that turned this avowed chocolate hater into a woman obsessed.

This year's house was built in partnership with Sean Sullivan of Living Stone Design + Build and Laura Sullivan-his wife-of ID.ology Interiors & Design, along with 11 other amazing design teams from across the country. Their mandate was to celebrate the joys of owning a vacation home and making space for downtime.