A SHORE THING
By Maria Masters; Photography by Michael Blevins
This article appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of Home Design & Decor’s Triangle edition.
A vacation home on Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, brings two families together throughout the year.
Joe and Katie Hollowell of Modesto, California, had just purchased a beach house on Wrightsville Beach in 2020 when the opportunity arose to purchase their current vacation home. It was 2021, and Joe, who was staying in the area with his good friend Dale Boyett, also from Modesto, noticed the home was listed for sale. “We didn’t have any intention of buying it at first,” says Joe, “but Dale fell in love with the beach. He drove around quite a bit, and then at dinner later that night, he leaned over to me and said, ‘Hey, let’s buy that beach house. You want to go in fifty-fifty?’ ” Joe didn’t have to ponder the decision for long. Not only was it a good opportunity to design an ideal vacation home for both of their families to enjoy when they traveled to the East Coast, but the home also had sentimental value to the Hollowells, who had rented it for their wedding and gotten married on the beach bordering the house in 2007. “It was a full-circle moment,” says Joe.
At first, Katie was more skeptical than enthusiastic—after all, they already owned a beach home on Wrightsville Beach. But, ultimately, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Joe, Katie, and Dale started meeting with builders and contractors in the hopes of renovating the house to their liking, but they learned that making extensive changes to the house would likely end up costing more money than razing the home and starting from scratch.
The prospect of building from the ground up energized the families. “We were all pretty excited about the idea of making it really special and building it exactly how we wanted,” says Joe. They settled on the builders, RMB Building & Design, then turned to Bridgett Mazer of Bridgett Mazer Interiors to help with the interior design.
The first challenge was configuring the layout. The homeowners needed five bedrooms, each with their own en suite, but at thirty feet wide, the lot was fairly narrow. To that end, Mazer positioned the floating staircase in the center of the home, where it extends through all three levels. “It felt more spacious and airy that way,” she says. The team also chose to build the home using a reverse floor plan, situating the living spaces—including the kitchen, dining room, and family room—on the third floor to take advantage of the sweeping views of the beach.
Inside, the decor took inspiration from the beach and its surroundings, like the blue and green of the ocean and the white of sand. “We used lots of neutrals and textures,” says Mazer. “The views are the focal point, so we kept the colors minimal.” She used natural stone in the kitchen, where a dolomite backsplash runs the length of the wall, and for the wet bar, where an onyx black porcelain reflects the ocean views. One of the most unique features is in the owner’s en suite, where a custom glass agate, hand-painted by Alex Turco, adorns the wall of the shower.
The home took two years to complete, but the result was well worth the wait for the homeowners and their children. Every inch of the space has been customized to suit both families. For Joe, even the process of building a home was exciting and fun. “We had a blast the whole time,” he says. “It was an absolute pleasure.”