FEELIN’ FRENCH
By Anne Marie Ashley; Photography by Margaret Rajic
This article appeared in the January/February 2026 issue of Home Design & Decor’s Triangle edition.
A provincial French country farmhouse seems at home in Winston-Salem in the capable hands of one family’s dream team.
Working from home with two young kids, Chris and Caitlin Covington knew they wanted a space that was simultaneously fun, relaxing, and quiet. A space with rooms where their children could play, alongside rooms where they could steal away for work hours. With a pool and gardens swirling in their heads, the couple envisioned a romantic but timeless French country retreat in Winston-Salem.
Inspired by a particular farmhouse featured on the book cover of Patina Farm by Brooke and Steve Giannetti, the Covingtons called on residential designer Greg Koester to recreate the dreamy façade on overgrown farmland just inside Winston-Salem. From there, the design flourished. “It was essential to us to keep the integrity of the inspiration home,” recalls Koester. “We took the major facade of that house as our starting point and designed the rest to complement and expand upon those details, keeping in mind the way a prosperous farmer might have created their farmhouse in the eighteenth century.”
The details and massing were simple and straightforward, but to further the agenda, Koester suggested two key changes to the Covingtons, both of which they agreed to without hesitation. “Because the home sits slightly below street level, I really felt barrel tiles for the roofline would make a striking introduction to the home,” explains Koester. “We imported 300-year-old tiles from Provence to create a beautifully mottled roofline visible from the road.”
The second suggestion was also an attempt to cement that settled look into the home. “We agreed to clad the entire house in brick and then cover every inch of brick with stucco,” says Koester. “This eliminated the need for expansion joints and, in turn, created a house that truly looks like a masonry structure swathed in stucco.”
With the vision of the structure firmly in place, interior designer Kate Marker worked her magic on the style of the home. “Caitlin knew she wanted a French-inspired home—soft, romantic, and timeless,” recalls Marker. “But we had creative freedom from the beginning because it was clear from conversation one that Caitlin and I were creatively aligned.” That alignment, coupled with freedom and a strong stated vision, gave way to the Kate Marker Interiors client project hashtag, #feelinfrenchclient. It guided every decision about the design.
Together with builder Jonathan Lee, Koester and Marker created a dream team of efficiency and beauty. Though the home is large, the scale is “human,” as Koester puts it. Intentional natural light, layered neutrals, architectural softness, and curated antiques crafted a home that feels lived-in.
These elements, translated through each team members’ lens, resulted in arched openings, thoughtful millwork, antique tiles, and classic proportions positioned next to warm woods, creamy tones, natural stone moments, and soulful lighting. “Partnering with Greg Koester and Jonathan Lee allowed these elements to be built directly into the structure, giving the home a cohesive, instantly felt sense of place,” comments Marker.
“To achieve the established feeling, we worked with Vintage Elements in Greenville, South Carolina,” explains Lee. “They helped us source materials like the barrel roof tiles, oak beams and ceiling boards from the Lorraine and Burgundy regions of France, antique black-and-white marble flooring from Belgium and Spain, and antique French firebricks.” This kind of collaboration and sourcing created a unique cohesion that built the magic of looking timeworn. “In my thirty-one years of building, this truly was the dream team,” says Lee.
When asked about their favorite space, all three agree it’s the living room. “It embodies the entire vision—soft, airy, refined, and deeply livable,” offers Marker. “It carries the quiet elegance of a French country home, interpreted in a way that feels fresh, modern, and ideal for her family’s lifestyle.”
Koester loves the three rooms combined, adding, “the kitchen, living, and breakfast nook are the core of the home, and the most spatially exciting. The vaulted and beamed ceiling of the living room gives scale to the lower ceilings of the other two rooms; a bank of French doors beneath a circular window opens to the pool terrace; and the breakfast table’s banquette is built into a window casement with beautiful garden views. The absolute dedication of these clients to vision created a house of the highest quality and the most refined taste.”