Interior designer Cate Holcomb filled this home with color, whimsy and flexible, family-friendly furnishings.
by Addie Ladner | photography by Catherine Nguyen
What makes a home family-friendly? Plenty of places to work and play, plus a cheerful spirit imbuing each room. “This family is very down to earth and chill — they wanted a space that was bright, inviting, comfortable and fun,” says Cate Holcomb, who worked with them to decorate the space. The new build was designed by Tony Frazier of Frazier Home Design and built by Legacy Custom Homes. From the start, they were “very mindful with their decisions,” says Leigh Mosby, selections coordinator at Legacy. “They wanted a grown-up home, but nothing ostentatious.” From the room layouts to the surfaces and furnishings, the whole home is designed to be hardy, flexible and ready to evolve and grow with their family.
Take the dining room: The homeowners wanted a distinct space for holidays and special dinners but didn’t want it to be so formal that kids couldn’t be included. Holcomb paired their traditional dining table with two styles of Parsons chairs, with a peppy, colorful rug underneath. Around the perimeter of the room, she worked with the Legacy team to install a picture ledge above the wainscoting at chair-rail height — the perfect place to display the kids’ artwork or photos.
The breakfast nook also has multi-use spaces. Along one wall, Holcomb ran four desks with a single wooden countertop spanning them. This creates a great place for the kids to do crafts or homework, keeping the breakfast area clear for meals. “It’s freestanding, so they can pull out the desks if they find they’re no longer using them down the road,” she says. Above it, a shelf in front of the window is a sunny spot to grow herbs and other houseplants or display any treasures the kids make or find. In the adjoining kitchen, Mosby helped them select durable marble and quartzite surfaces that could withstand food spills, Play-Doh and toys, and Holcomb set them up with performance fabrics on all the upholstery to do the same. “They have kids and they live really hard in the house,” says Holcomb.
Nearby, in the living area, the family wanted lots of space to lounge, so Holcomb paired a sectional with two deep, upholstered side chairs. (One is actually a recliner, by the husband’s request.) She put a desk behind the sofa, rather than a more typical console table, to offer a spot for someone to perch and work while supervising the kids. “It’s also a great spot if, say, a kid wants to color and watch television at the same time,” says Holcomb. A heavy-duty leather ottoman in the middle of the room is a great spot for trays of snacks — or to put one’s feet up.
While many of the furnishings are neutral, the decor gets a playful energy from accents of color and pattern. For that, Holcomb took inspiration from an unlikely source: the couple’s collection of Phish paraphernalia. “They have dozens of the band’s posters, and they’re so fun,” says Holcomb. That’s most evident in the primary bedroom and guest room, where Holcomb pulled colors like fuchsia, teal and marigold from the posters and supported them with batik-inspired patterns, grass- and raffia-inspired textures and a few psychedelic accents, like a trio of ceramic mushrooms and some crystals. “We took that fun, playful spirit and did an elevated take,” says Holcomb. “It’s sort of a modern hippie kind of vibe.”
A desk in the living area (left) creates a spot to supervise kids or work while watching television. In a few select spots, the family splurged, like on this Schumacher fabric on the backs of the kitchen stools.
The breakfast area has a vaulted ceiling, which gives it an airy feel. Interior designer Cate Holcomb paired a table made from old wine barrels with wipe-clean chairs from Four Hands. “I tried to find things that had a little patina, to get more of that collected look,” she says. Woodmaster Custom Cabinets made the desk and shelf. The walls are Egret White from Sherwin-Williams.
This article originally appeared in the July 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.
