ENVELOPED
By Anne Marie Ashley; Photography by Anna Routh Barzin
This article appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of Home Design & Decor’s Triangle edition.
Being at home with designer Rob MacNeill means being immersed in art, color, and his magnetic personality.
When Rob MacNeill, one half of the Roux MacNeill interior design team, and his husband paul ingram were looking for a home closer to MacNeill’s design studio, they wanted to double their space while still enjoying the perks of city living.
But their pie-in-the-sky wish list only started there. The couple wanted tons of natural light, indoor and outdoor entertaining spaces, an open floor plan, and preferably a historic element or at least a “sense of place.”
Lucky for them, Caraleigh Mills was built in 1892 as a cotton mill and had been converted into lofts and condos in the early 2000s. And even luckier, their real estate agent owned the perfect unit for them. Once the renter’s lease was up, the couple snatched it up. “We were hooked by the building’s huge windows, brick facades, and fourteen acres of land,” says MacNeill. “It has a pool, gym, community garden, and a beautiful courtyard right outside our loft, and yet it’s only five minutes from downtown Raleigh.”
Being on the National Register of Historic Places meant that each unit retained a lot of the unique character, like original maple floors and expansive floor-to-ceiling windows. These elements, paired with the couple’s existing extensive art collection, became the backbone to the design of the space.
“We wanted an open, artful, and collected space with layers of lighting, bold colors, and interesting textures,” explains MacNeill. The result is a comfortable city-living home with various textures, shapes, and colors reflected in art, objects, and furniture. “Bold colors are a signature part of our designs at Roux MacNeill Studio, and my own home is no exception. I love how color can add energy and interest to a space, calling your attention to different things. Although there is a diverse array of colors in our home, there are common threads that connect rooms and different spaces. The white walls serve as a backdrop for the color everywhere else.”
Before they moved in, the couple renovated in broad strokes, taking down walls, adding floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, creating a white backdrop with Sherwin-Williams Snowbound, and converting the owner’s bedroom of the two-bedroom loft into more living space instead. “Moving the primary bedroom from the front to the back under the loft was a big undertaking,” says MacNeill. “But the trade-off for a smaller bedroom is an amazing kitchen and living space where we spend all our time.”
Taking up about one-third of the loft square-footage, the living room boasts a wide-open feel but with cozy seating and plenty of warm personality. Books, artwork, sculptures—such as MacNeill’s favorite artwork by Álvaro Urbano—and defined corners with specifically selected lighting and plants create an enveloping world that offers interest and comfort at once.
“As a repurposed cotton mill, Caraleigh Mills proves there is nothing better than an old building where honesty of materials and functionality of the architecture is the rule,” says MacNeill. “Almost nothing about the original building was made in an intentionally decorative way. I consider it a playground where I can experiment with design but not find myself bound by a specific style.”