In Birmingham, Alabama the residential enclave of Mountain Brook unfolds in a procession of monumental homes, most of them hailing from the 1920s and ’30s in a pastiche of English styles. But one house literally stops people in their tracks.
Built a little over a decade ago, it’s a sublimely proportioned brick Georgian, strict as a sonnet and hemmed with enchanting gardens. People knock on its door to ask for paint colors. And while not quite as popular as Ariana Grande, the house has proved to be somewhat of an Instagram heavyweight.
Gidiere in the side garden, a private oasis cloaked in creeping fig. Black chairs,
This was all a major surprise to Caroline Gidiere, its owner and decorator who, early in the project, surmised to her architect that the whole town would probably whisper, “Why is she building this ‘grandma house?’”
Building it at all was serendipitous. She and her husband, Stephen, who she met in law school, had been house hunting avidly. One day, she looked at a house so dilapidated the eccentric owner led her in through its only functional opening: a side window. Thinking they’d found an intriguing fixer-upper, the Gidieres snapped it up. Then her architect and friend, James F. Carter, informed her that the half-collapsed pile was a teardown, well beyond saving.
Gidiere, who was still a lawyer at the time (one with unexpressed aesthetic yearnings), didn’t bother getting upset. Instead, she told Carter what she wanted him to design in its place.
“I wanted to do a riff on the George Wythe house,” says Gidiere, who was raised in tiny Florence, Alabama, by parents who’d taken her to Colonial Williamsburg every summer for 20 years. For at least the first 10, she spent those vacations beating flax into linen, dipping candles over a hot cauldron of beeswax, and envying friends who’d gone to Disney World. But as it turns out, she was also busy storing up house plans, particularly of the majestically simple 1750s house built for Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
“The symmetry and balance of it massages something deep in my brain,” says Gidiere, a lifetime decorating devotee whose tastes run from Daniel Romualdez, Frances Elkins, and Renzo Mongiardino to Miles Redd and David Netto. So clear was her vision for the project that she scrapped plans to work with an interior designer and simply forged ahead with Carter on her own.
Gidiere favors timeless, traditional rooms but also exuberant pattern and color. In the foyer, Chinese blue-and-white exportware vases crowd the console. The living room’s sofas wear buoyant ruffled slipcovers in Colefax and Fowler’s Bowood, a floral document fabric found in England’s Bowood Castle. The ruffles fraternize effortlessly with filigreed Kentian consoles and a quieter games table and chairs from the Paris Flea Market. Dining room walls are clad in frothy, hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper, its background a saturated midtone green hovering between grass and olive. It cleverly covers the jib doors of four big closets where Gidiere stores tableware.
Her color palette veers close to the edge but never over it and always to joyous effect. The kitchen and family room’s lavender sofa with pale pink and aqua pillows next to a bright orange banquette sounds insane but isn’t—and an equally vivid orange silk sari made into a pleated lampshade only amps up the charm. Next to hot-orange millwork, the bar’s ultratraditional built-in cabinetry stained chocolate brown surrenders up every iota of stuffiness.
So much color supports a truth about this house: that it’s a garden indoors and out, each part flowing easily into the other and both well used for entertaining and family life. Stephen worked closely with landscape architect Randy McDaniel to choose plants and has always taken care of everything. He hand-clips the dahlia garden, trains the espaliered hornbeams and fruit trees against the house, and barbers the myrtle topiaries scattered everywhere. “It’s his playground and stress reliever,” she says.
Gidiere learned in the decorating that she could spend long hours on mundane tasks like choosing hardware and never consider it work. One December, Stephen secretly filed her incorporation, got her a decorating license, and put them in a box under the tree. She opened them up, and he said, “It’s time.” She took the following year to wrap up her legal practice.
Unsurprisingly, Gidiere has more colorful and engaging work than she can handle these days. “Beyond my wildest dreams!” she says. “I’m blown away and grateful every day.”
Exterior
The front door and its Philip T. Shutze–inspired surround brings the entrance down to “a more human scale,” says architect James F. Carter.
Entryway
Miniature English cream dachshund Buttercup offers a friendly welcome in the marble foyer. Regency lantern, Vaughan. A subtle Greek key motif nods to late Georgian/Regency influences with understated simplicity.
Den
A bay window in the den makes way for a cozy breakfast banquette framed by the children’s artwork. Armchairs, Lee Industries.
Carter used horizontal wood paneling to draw a contrast between the den and the rest of the house. “It’s a graphic way to add lovely warmth,” he notes.
Patio
A bluestone patio serves the back entry. Table and chairs, Fermob Luxembourg
Kitchen
Dark cabinetry makes the expansive combined kitchen and den at the back of the house feel cozier. A stainless steel countertop ensures a kinship between the island and the appliances, hood, and satin nickel hardware. Cabinetry paint, Off-Black by Farrow & Ball
Dining Room
Tucking tableware storage behind jib doors in the dining room ensures continuity for the showstopping silk de Gournay wallpaper. The table skirt fabric is by Elizabeth Eakins. Trim, Samuel & Sons. Chair upholstery, Les Indiennes and Schumacher
Bar
Antique glass and Chippendale fretwork give the built-in bar cabinetry beautiful historic character. Stained mahogany is framed in fiery orange trim (Lava by Porter’s Paints) and gold leaf ceiling paper (Phillip Jeffries). Pendant lighting, Visual Comfort & Co. Backsplash, Adelphi Paper Hangings
Living Room
In the living room, a Regency game table and chairs (Paris Flea Market) are flanked by Chippendale mirrors. Abaca rug, Hiltz-Lauber. Lamps, Bungalow 5
“The best thing you can have in a house is good natural light,” says architect James F. Carter, who designed the living room with four pairs of French doors.
Formal Seating Area
A rectangular shape brings a sense of intimacy to the formal seating area and its trio of slipcovered sofas. A pair of Louis XVI armchairs flank the central sofa; the lacquered coffee table is by Miles Redd for Ballard Designs. Sofas, Bungalow Classic. Slipcovers, custom
Faux book fronts epoxied to a jib closet door give the appearance of an intriguing secret passage.
Stairway
The stair rail was inspired by the famed Chinese Chippendale design at Battersea, an 18th-century estate in Virginia.
Guest Room
Romantic English florals (Colefax and Fowler) envelop the first-floor guest room. The quilts are Provence market finds. Trim, Samuel & Sons. Four-poster beds, Ikea
Primary Bedroom
A custom upholstered bed in the master bedroom is covered in a deep rose linen by Carolina Irving Textiles. Wall and drapery fabric, Décors Barbares. Linens, D. Porthault
Greenhouse
A petite greenhouse (Eden Brothers) is tucked behind a pleached American hornbeam arch.
Garden Table
Garden table linens, Paloma & Co. Rattan vases, Amanda Lindroth
Exterior
Painted brickwork gives the classically inspired home a look more in line with its 1920s neighbors, says architect James F. Carter. “I expected typical black shutters, but Caroline wanted to match the shade to the house, and I think that went a long way to making it look really fresh.” The custom shade is similar to Gray Mist by Benjamin Moore.
Interior Design by Caroline Gidiere; Architecture by James F. Carter; Landscape Design by Randy McDaniel; Photography by Brian Woodco*ck Produced by Rachael Burrow
