Marvelous menagerie

A COLORFUL MYERS PARK HOME ENCAPSULATES THE VERVE, VIBRANCE AND VINTAGE TREASURES OF ITS EXUBERANT OWNER.

by Catherine Ruth Kelly

photographs by Heather Ison

Allison Abbott’s obsession with thrift shopping started at a young age. Childhood summers spent at Lake Martin, Ala., always included outings to the nearby flea market with her mom and sisters. Abbott would lose herself in the aisles while finding tiny trinkets and treasures to take home, she recalls.

“I loved the thrill of the hunt and was immediately hooked,” Abbott says. “Even now, whenever and wherever I travel, I always stop in antique markets or junk stores and try to pick up something.”

Hand-painted wallpaper by Griffin & Wong provides an elegant backdrop for the living room, which Abbott calls her “Ladies’ Room.” The blush sectional, sourced by Cashion Hill Design from a vintage store in High Point, surrounds a glasstopped rams-head coffee table that Abbott discovered at Sleepy Poet Antique Mall. She picked up the Asian console at a thrift store in Sedona, Ariz., during a family road trip. Antique brass sconces hang above the sectional. The stacked feline ottoman from a High Point store, can be taken apart for extra seating.

Farrow & Ball’s Setting Plaster sets the tone for the master bedroom. Abbott picked up the bedside tables in Sedona, Ariz., during a family RV trip. The wicker fan chair was sourced by Cashion Hill Design, and the marble-top commode came from SouthEnd Exchange.

Abbott stored a lot of her furniture and accessories when she and her family left Charlotte for Sun Valley, Idaho, during the pandemic. When they returned in 2021 and moved into their new house, she enlisted the help of Cashion Hill Design to incorporate her treasures and create a chic, comfortable space for her family, which includes her husband, three children, two dogs and a cat.

“I had a million ideas about what I wanted to do, and I knew Kim and Nancy could help me rein them in and create a plan,” Abbott says.

Kim Moore and Nancy Targgart, the duo behind Cashion Hill, have been working together since 2005. Like Abbott, they share a passion for vintage items. They strive to strike a balance in their clients’ homes, merging old and new, rough and refined, to deliver a harmonious space that allows the homeowners’ style to shine.

“Allison wanted a little bit of everything — Palm Beach, Palm Springs, granny flair,” Targgart explains. “We didn’t want to rein her in too much; it’s her house, and we wanted it to reflect her and her family.”

Moore and Targgart collaborated with Abbott to bring her ideas to fruition, updating older pieces with fresh fabrics, selecting wallpaper and paint colors, and taking a road trip to High Point to select new items to add to the mix. They let Abbott’s vivacious personality and innate sense of style guide their efforts.

This page: Brass pulls from Modern Matter Hardware complement the bar shelves that Abbott ordered from an artisan on Etsy. The paint color is Farrow & Ball Railings. Center: The etched mirror from a store in High Point was the impetus for the powder room design. Moore and Targgart found the fabric light fixture at a thrift store in South Carolina. Vintage photographs contribute to the retro chic vibe.

“Allison is fun to work with because she is so enthusiastic and isn’t afraid to take risks,” Moore says. “We were debating whether to paint or wallpaper the powder room one day, and the next day she called and said she had painted it herself!”

Abbott always has projects underway. She loves to paint, needlepoint, cook and garden and is in the process of building a fence in her yard. She experimented with making candles and recently started an embroidery business. An animal lover, Abbott previously owned four chickens and is currently on the hunt for a white male peacock.

Moore and Targgart were mindful of Abbott’s active family and high-spirited lifestyle when designing her home. They focused on creating a beguiling, soulful space that exudes glamour with an undercurrent of nostalgia, while remaining warm, inviting and livable.

“Kim and Nancy helped me curate the entire aesthetic for this house, and we love it,” Abbott says. “I knew what I wanted, and they polished up my plans and brought them to life.” SP

Abbott works on her embroidery on the screened porch, which serves as her dining room, with pups Bruce and Bridget and Lyra, the cat. The wicker fan chairs came from a shop in Florida, and the metal dining chairs are from Etsy. Photo styling by Whitley Adkins.

Pete Pappas came across seven large square boulders years ago when driving to work uptown. The granite blocks were sitting on a vacant lot that was owned by the city, and Pete inquired about purchasing them. The city told him he could have them for free, if he’d come pick them up and make a donation of at least $200 to any local charity. The Pappases purchased the boxwoods on trips to the North Carolina mountains.