A Passion for Pattern in an Island Home

Interior designer Cortney Bishop first met her future dwelling in her best friend’s engagement party. “It had been love at first sight. I wasn’t living in Charleston at the time — I had been in Tennessee — but I only knew I needed to have the house,” says Cortney. Then very first epiphanic meeting together with the house, Cortney asked her friend about the house periodically until learning of the home’s status on an auspicious day. “I just had this sense that I had to ask about it again, so I phoned my friend, Jenny, whose involvement celebration was held in the house. She made a few calls to the owners and found out it had been for sale and a couple of Brits were considering purchasing — we had to get there immediately and reveal how serious we were around the house,” she says. A few hours later, Cortney and her husband, Baker, were on their way to Charleston.

Baker, a professional fly fisherman, fell for the house and its environs when he saw the home’s proximity to the ocean and heard of the leading elementary school nearby. The couple bid for your house, and two years after, they moved in — using a 1-month-old baby in tow. “We have been in love with the house ever since,” says Cortney.

in a Glance
Who lives here: Cortney and Baker Bishop and their two kids
Location: Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, South Carolina
Size: 4,400 square feet
That is intriguing: The Bishops reside within an earshot of Fort Sumter, where the first shots initiating the start of the Civil War were fired. “Occasionally canons go off as soon as the neighborhood does reenactments, and it always scares the hell out of me,” says Cortney.

Cortney Bishop Design

You can’t help but turn your attention to the Annie Lebovitz portrait of Hank Williams III (the grandson of country singer Hank Williams) dangling over the family room couch. “It reminds me of my husband’s redneck roots — don’t worry, he will not be offended if you mention he’s a redneck. He climbed up on a farm at Knoxville, Tennessee,” says Cortney.

Rug: classic Khotan, Persian Galleries; coffee table: vintage from New York City; wood chunks: Dwelling; musical tools: household’s collection; side table: Bobo Intriguing Objects

Cortney Bishop Design

A side view of the family room shows a discreet TV in the corner.

Exposed joists, burrow wood chunks, a leather couch and a beanbag made from burlap sacks in the Army give the space a rustic, weathered look. “We have had our fair share of mould and mildew in the house, and we deal with this, but the romantic in me can’t help but believe they’re a part of our previous house,” says Cortney.

Cortney Bishop Design

The formal living room feels much more upscale and glistening. A shag rug, overstuffed chairs along with a sunburst mirror the play of the coastal colonial house.

Cortney says that although she is “updated and glammed up the house a bit,” she has added her personality to the house without straying too far in the attractiveness of the old home’s colonial roots.

“There was no need to change the structure or layout of the house, so the decor is where we’ve added our brushstroke. This house is the best size and fit for the family,” she says.

Rug: Moattar; java table: Bennett Galleries; table lamp: Karen Luisana

Cortney Bishop Design

Autumnal drapes by Lulu DK flank Cortney’s monitor, replicating the symmetry of the John Widdicomb salon chairs. The designer used to work from home after the birth of her daughter but has since moved her workplace elsewhere. For the most part, the workplace “stays pretty” and allows Cortney have a designated workspace on the infrequent occasion she’s to work at house.

Cortney Bishop Design

“I really like our master bedroom. I love sleep in general. It’s a room with calming, muted palettes, and it’s covered with vintage Rose Tarlow wallpaper. I put her background [at the house] where I could,” says Cortney.

Cortney Bishop Design

A nude portrait by Brazilian-German photographer Mona Kuhn sets a silent and tranquil tone in the master bath.

Soak in the View: Art for your Toilet

Cortney Bishop Design

“I always find great inspiration in carpets; they have been a passion of mine for years,” Cortney says. “The colors, the stripes — or lack of. They ground a space and add as much texture.”

A red coverlet and oversize lamps add playfulness and energy into the guest room. “In case you can’t tell, I really like layering patterns in addition to each other,” says Cortney.

Rug: Oushak, Eliko Rugs

Cortney Bishop Design

Baker’s mother gave the couple’s kid the headboard, which adds texture and visual interest to her chamber.

Cortney Bishop Design

Cortney designed her daughter’s room so that it can transition from tot to tween easily. Though she and Baker collect contemporary art, they picked a reproduction of Rebecca Puig’s “Every Day I Love You” to put over the beige glider.

Cortney Bishop Design

The dining room peeks into the kitchen. Dark shelves — or, rather, floor-to-ceiling shelves at what Cortney says is broadly known as Charleston Green — direct the eye upward. “I really like the home’s high ceilings, so when I noticed the shelves were already there, I took it all the way up into the ceiling to heighten the sense of vertical distance and updated the distance together with the Serge p Troyer light fixture,” she says.

Rug: classic Oushak, Persian Galleries

Cortney Bishop Design

Baker spends at least an hour per day in his guy cave, a room devoted to his game and to searching, complete with custom reel screens and lockers. Wormy walnut doors hide his gear, including a gun set. “After we moved, we understood he needed a place for him to save all of his rods and and hunting gear that was separate from where our then-toddler roamed about,” says Cortney.

Cortney Bishop Design

Custom shelves and racks exhibit fly-fishing decorations and memorabilia. An apron sink allows Baker clean the day’s catch in the comfort of their very own space.

Cortney Bishop Design

On the front porch, Cortney paired an upholstered Swedish bench with a blue potted blossom that her mother-in-law gave her when they moved in. The front porch holds particular meaning to Cortney, who says that she recalls “looking out into the lighthouse at the distance and thinking, ‘I’m going to raise my family here.'” It’s proof positive that with this particular designer, dreams do come true.

See related