When the school bell rings and the boys get home, they immediately head outside to play. A couple of kids from the neighborhood show up on bikes and leave them abandoned in the driveway or strewn on the front lawn, one wheel spinning idly. A game of Wiffle ball kicks off on the side yard between the Faircloth’s house on Carmel Drive and the house next door. It’s the perfect patch of lawn for impromptu neighborhood pickup games — lush and bright green. It’s manicured but still used and enjoyed to the fullest. Danielle Faircloth owns a turf company, and so a beautiful grassy lawn was an obligatory addition to the property when they bought the home three years ago.
“I’m right here on the corner of everyone and their brother passing through this neighborhood, and I cannot have a bad-looking yard and sell grass. That is not a very good look for my business!” They brought in all new sod from their farms in Georgia and made a huge lawn. It’s a wonderful bonus that the kids make good use of it, keeping this corner lot humming with children and laughter and ball sports of all kinds throughout the year. Meanwhile, the laundry room stays stocked with Gatorades and Capri Suns for halftime breaks from pickup games. Danielle loves having a house that all the kids come to, and wanted an interior that welcomes play and laughter indoors as much as out.
“I used to be an artist, so I’m all into color, and I didn’t want it to be the run of the mill, all white. I was ready for some color, and something different. I was nervous that Rachel would think I was insane when I mentioned possibly a red cabinet color, but she loved the idea and used it as a jumping off point for the rest of the home’s color palette.” The cabinetry was in good shape and didn’t need replacing, so after trying numerous samples, Rachel and Danielle landed on a deep burgundy red called Carriage Door by Sherwin Williams.
Danielle says her red kitchen was inspired by Raymond’s aunt, who has an estate in Pennsylvania designed by Richard Keith Langham. Born in Brewton, Langham designed spaces for Jackie Kennedy among others, and gave the home in question a memorable red kitchen. “I always loved how bold and unique that was. And so we went with a dark burgundy, and I love it. I wouldn’t change it.”
A Masculine Motif
The Faircloths loved the house as soon as they saw it, but their first offer was rejected by the sellers. “We just figured it wasn’t meant to be and it wasn’t for us,” she remembers. But the couple came back to it after another month and made the deal. “When I walked through the doors, it honestly felt like home. There was just something about it. It had charm. I loved the original trim, the baseboards … it had so much character.” And, she says, the home was well laid out, the perfect base for a busy family with three boys.
Working with interior designer Rachel Anderson of March + May Design, Danielle wanted to give the home a quick face-lift, saying it didn’t really need more than that. The previous homeowner loved design and had given the house good bones and solid cabinetry. “She even upholstered the dining room walls!” A simple refresh was in order, and the design team looked to the home full of boys and men for inspiration.
“I felt like the design should be a little masculine. Warm and cozy with woodsy touches throughout,” she explains, inspired by her husband Raymond’s love of the outdoors. He loves to hunt and fish for anything you can name — from speckled trout at Dauphin Island to rainbow trout on a fly rod in Montana, from deer hunting at Bull Pen camp to bird hunting through the fall. But turkey hunting, says Danielle, with his father and his sons at their family land in Brewton, is his absolute favorite. “Last year, they all killed a turkey together, and it was a really big deal,” she remembers. For Raymond, she says, it’s about the people he goes with and the memories being made in the outdoors that makes it so important.
This passion for outdoor activity sent Rachel and Danielle down a path to bring nature inside, but in a way that felt artistic and beautiful. Mounted antelope from Raymond’s African adventures with his parents and sisters anchor the living room and primary bedroom walls, and the dining room features pheasant wallpaper. The lacquered ceiling, however, is an artistic nod to Danielle’s former career as an artist, with glossy paint for added drama. “I really like to mix things up, and I think that shows in the mixed-media art that I used to do. I’m really drawn to texture and pattern, and I’ve never been the one to go down the normal path.”
Rachel knew this about her client, since they had worked together on the Faircloth’s previous residence, and says working with Danielle allows her to experiment and be playful, to look for something unexpected. Pops of rust and moss green velvet punctuate rooms with softer shades of blue and brown. The furnishings are comfortable and livable, as well. “Raymond is 6’6”. He’s a big guy. We want to be able to plop down on something that is pretty, but also practical and comfortable, too.” And with a house full of boys coming in from their Wiffle ball games, Danielle needed performance fabrics and pieces that could stand up to a rough and tumble household. “I’ve probably got three of the dirtiest boys in the city,” she laughs proudly.
Surprises and Slower Paces
Not long after the Faircloths moved into their fresh new abode, Danielle found out she was expecting baby number four. While the couple didn’t find out the gender before the baby was born, the ultrasound tech sent March + May Design the news so Rachel could design the perfect baby’s room in what was formerly the upstairs playroom. The cozy space under the eaves was underutilized, says Danielle, since her boys are always outside playing. The room got a quick transformation in preparation for the new arrival. “We kept the same feel for the nursery, with some unexpected colors and slightly masculine touches.” Several pieces would anchor the room whether the baby was a girl or a boy, like the cocoon of striped wallpaper on the walls and ceiling, and a day bed upholstered in a very grown-up fabric with unexpected colors. Several touches, though, would be changed depending on the gender.
When the Faircloths welcomed a little girl, their middle son, aged 5 at the time, said loudly, “You gotta be kidding me. What are we supposed to do with a girl?” His disappointment was short lived, however, and they all look back and laugh. “Now he loves her. He calls her princess,” Danielle says. “I mean, she is going to run circles around these boys. She’s going to run the house, but they adore her.” In the end, March + May Design had prepared several bright pink additions for the room, still keeping the woodsy theme that flows with the rest of the house.
When just a few months old, the day after Christmas, the baby fell ill with a rare form of bacterial meningitis that left her hospitalized for 30 days. It was a whirlwind of fear and worry, slow recovery and little miracles along the way. She is now home and thriving in her house full of big brothers, dogs, sports and happy chaos.
With the constant doctors appointments hopefully in the rearview mirror, Danielle looks toward the fall. She explains that the family is home more than usual right now. Their oldest son, age 12, tore his ACL and can’t pursue his usual schedule of football, baseball and basketball — his favorite. While it’s terrible for a parent to witness the disappointment, Danielle says the injury has a silver lining. “Usually, we’re off running to a sport or an activity. It’s just chaos in the afternoons. Middle-school sports are every day, and they’re late.” Now things have slowed down. The family is back at the house together, having dinner around the table and talking about their day. “We found some middle ground again, and it’s been such a blessing. I hate it for him, obviously, but to be able to come back together and find what’s most important, you know? It’s not always about sports, or who’s doing what in the afternoon. Getting back together as a family has been a blessing.”
The house on Carmel has been the perfect backdrop for those family dinners, pickup games in the yard, chaos in the kitchen and quiet moments with their little girl. “It honestly reminds me of my childhood,” she explains about growing up before smartphones and screens. “You just don’t see that anymore. It brings me so much joy.”
The Faircloths have talked about moving, finding a house with more space, but Danielle doesn’t want to leave this little corner. “This is magical. I love looking outside and seeing all the bikes in our front yard. I’m going to miss these years so much. When I look back, I know I’m going to think of this house, and the times the kids spent in the yard and in these rooms. I don’t think I could ever leave it.”
