In Print

The Pooles' home is taller than it is wide - only one room deep - but thanks to architectural illusion and clever use of angles, this fact is concealed on the exterior. You can stand in any room and see out in all four directions.

With its shutters and arching transom, the front door cleverly mimics the tall windows found through the house.
A grand entrance is suitably fitted with a stately, pillared antique gate and a sweeping circular drive.


Contemplative tranquility is framed by the heavy boughs of an old oak, the muscular arch of a doorway, or the corners and angles of the home itself.
The pool, surrounded by a stone patio, offers plenty of seating in the sun or the shade of market umbrellas.
A room with a view. Even the front entry hall provides views to the front and back of the house.

Each room is comfortably appointed with plenty of seating. Occasional tables and objects that add to the visual interest. Another peek in the study reveals a collection of prints of Native Americans and a grouping of eclectic carvings from a lamp base to cut glass orbs and a sinuous sculpture.
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The French don't eat - they dine, and so do the Pooles at this country French table topped with marble. The cheerful sunflowers complete a tableau that begs the brush of an impressionist to capture them.

Another view of the kitchen reveals just how lovely a functional space can be made with candlestick lamps and charming wood painted roosters.

Water, water everywhere, from the sinks that are as full of character as they are of function. In keeping with the elegance of French country, the kitchen sinks are fitted with unique fixtures while the powder room features an authentic European piece.

Isn't it romantic? This curvy loveseat on the second floor landing is the ideal place to snuggle and watch the world go by.

The Carver Group

“La Maison des Rêves”
At Home in the Upstate
Written by Lydia Dishman • Photos by Patrick Cox
Fall/Winter 2007

Sherry Poole stands in the foyer of a home whose pale stucco exterior and bucolic surroundings could easily be in the French countryside. Instead, it's very near downtown Greenville.

Sherry explains how she and her family - husband David and children - were living in a comfortable home nearby their current property when a small For Sale sign appeared at the end of a long gravel drive just down the street. The property once belonged to the McCuen family, but the house had burned years ago.

Sherry says she resisted even taking a walk down the drive to see the place, but David's insistence finally won out. "My son and a few of his little friends went running down the path ahead of me," she recalls. The sight of the children playing on the lawn, the girls in crisp white dresses, flipped the switch in her mind. The 10 acres were home in fairly short order.

The Pooles retained the creative direction of Robert Frank McAlpine of McAlpine Tankersley Architects in Montgomery, Alabama, and he set about drawing up plans for a new home surrounded by landscaped gardens.

"He created the house as a package from outside in," Sherry says of McAlpine's approach to designing the place from scratch. Though it was built in proximity to the original McCuen homesite, the resemblance ends there.

The house appears quite large from the outside, and it is not until you step in through the rooms that you begin to understand how McAlpine designed a very livable space that intuitively draws the eye out. The Pooles' home is taller than it is wide — only one room deep — but thanks to an architectural illusion and clever use of angles, this fact is concealed on the exterior. You can stand in any room (with the exception of the bathrooms) and see out in all four directions.

“There are 15 doors that come out of that house,” Sherry says, pointing to one of a series of double French doors that offer views to various angles of the garden.

There is plenty to draw the eye inward as well. From the moment of entry, the Pooles' love of art is evident in the bright colors and bold brushstrokes of the many paintings that punch a counterpoint to dove-colored walls. Here the chocolate skin of a Lowcountry basketweaver is bathed in a midday glow, while there another shaft of natural light illuminates a contemporary classic: Sherry Poole recumbent and resplendent as any French Impressionist's muse in a patchwork skirt that sets off her glossy, dark tresses and crimson lips. Between the large windows in the living room, a landscape of the French countryside forms a background to a centuries-old structure that could almost be an artist's rendering of the Pooles' home.

Painting and sculpture lead the inquisitive eye through to the study, as much as a library of books as a collector's showcase of family photographs, pottery and antique dolls from South America; then to the short corridor that spills into the kitchen. The functional area is set back in the room, gallery-style, while a banquette bedecked in cheerful toile faces away and toward-what else?-the outdoors: "So you can sit and enjoy the view and not the mess on the counters," Sherry says matter-of-factly.

Each room is comfortably appointed with plenty of seating, occasional tables and objects that add to the visual interest. Sherry credits the design skill and discerning eye of Louise Quinn of Townhouse Galleries for finding and arranging much of the interior's mix of antique and reproduction furnishings and fabrics that speak American style with a charming French accent.

A spiral staircase to the right of the entry leads to the upper floors that hold the master bedroom and other sleeping quarters. On this steamy day, the Pooles' room is a cool respite, which is not entirely attributed to air conditioning. Sherry throws open another set of French doors and steps out onto a stone portico where views of the pool and small man-made lake are framed by airy columns. A French iron daybed, angled carefully out to make the most of the view, just begs to be lounged on.

"Even on a 90 degree day, you can come out here and catch a breeze," Sherry says, inhaling deeply in the direction of the lake.

Spring fed, ringed with tall trees and crossed in one corner by a wooden, arched footbridge reminiscent of one in Monet's garden, the lake completes the rustic tableau. From this portico, or any one of the doors or windows that look out, it is easy to imagine how the vision of those children running and laughing through the tall grass was the first step toward fulfillment of this dream home.

The Pooles' Bichon Frise puppy, Wylie, knows the most comfy
spots to catch a nap.The great room - truly. With
comfortably stuffed chairs to sink in, the eye becomes
an armchair traveler into the lovely paintings or
simply the view outdoors.

The study in Southwestern art. From a stunning painting
by R.C. Gorman to the carefully chosen selection of pottery,
there is much to "study" in this room.

The Kitchen is outfitted with a banquette covered in sunny
toile that faces the garden. The armchairs opposite
are an excellent spot to sit and sip an evening cocktail.


A view into the master bathroom.

The master bedroom - a masterful blend
of natural light and airy, classically
elegant furnishings in muted colors.

Inset: The fireplace is washed in white paint, adorned
with brass and fire irons, and topped with a
still life that is as full of painterly light as the room
is lit by the sun.

The balcony with its slowly turning fan
and sweeping vistas into the trees
beyond would draw sighs of contentment
from Juliette herself.