NEXT LEVEL
By Blake Miller; Photography by Dustin & Susie Peck
This article appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of Home Design & Decor’s Charlotte edition.
Designer Sarah Fisher and architect Lindsay McCullough transform a Cotswold ranch into a stunning two-story English cottage.
When Sarah and Will Fisher bought their first home in Cotswold in 2007, she was fresh out of law school and the couple had no children. The newlyweds fell in love with the neighborhood’s charming curb appeal: ranch homes boasting shaded half-acre lots dotted with established oak trees and eye-catching gardens. “It’s like this hidden gem off Randolph Road,” says Fisher.
And for the couple, the almost 3,500-square-foot ranch they settled on was the perfect starter home. Until it wasn’t. Several years and three children later, the home’s walls felt like they were closing in. “We were bursting at the seams,” laughs Fisher, who had since transitioned into a career in interior design.
The Fishers knew they needed more space, but they were hesitant to leave the neighborhood they loved. “We kept an eye on the market but didn’t see anything that was as charming and as beautiful as our current home,” says Fisher. After much discussion and a meeting with architect Lindsay McCullough, the couple decided to renovate their ranch and take it from one story to two. “We thoroughly explored whether or not they should move or renovate,” says McCullough. “Once I showed Sarah sketches of how we could convert it to a two-story house, they knew that was what they wanted to do.”
The plan was simple yet challenging for the architect. “It’s like fitting everything in a puzzle,” she explains. “I have a rectangular box that’s the existing footprint, and we’re trying to create a mudroom on the first floor, a double-height foyer, then add all the bedrooms upstairs, each with its own en suite bathroom. Getting all of that in one confined space is a challenge. But constraints on projects are good because they force you to be creative.”
For McCullough, challenge equates to dynamic, compelling architecture. Looking as though it’s been plucked from the English countryside, the home’s architecture was inspired by an array of images Fisher shared with the architect. “When I was designing, every photo Sarah showed me was a charming cottage,” says McCullough. “I spent a lot of time looking at English country cottages in the Cotswolds for inspiration.” A soldier row of red bricks to separate the two stories coupled with the mason’s ability to perfectly match the existing exterior resulted in a seamless facade that looks as though it’s always been a two-story home.
The interiors, however, were anything but English cottage. Fisher loves all things color, pattern, and vintage, and now with more space to showcase her passion for collecting and curating pieces in her home, she took to her design boards to brainstorm how the puzzle would finally come together. “It was fun to finally have the space to do the things I’d been dreaming up for years,” laughs the designer, who “would go to estate sales and auctions and find something I loved that I knew would someday be a part of my dream house. In some ways, Lindsay and I designed the house around some of those special pieces or artwork or antiques.”
The library features walls and bookshelves wrapped in plum, and in front of each sofa sits a vintage Sarreid brass trunk, each serving as a coffee table. “My grandmother had a number of Sarreid pieces in her home, and the founders of Sarreid, Walter and Sarah Reid, lived three doors down from us here in Cotswold, so they are meaningful pieces to us.” Other notable pieces Fisher collected over the years include antique side tables in an English burnt bamboo purchased at auction and the vintage Karl Springer burl wood credenza the designer found years ago on Craigslist.
The home seamlessly became the family’s ultimate dream home in the neighborhood that they’ve loved for nearly two decades. With McCullough’s keen eye for architecture that marries function and understated elegance coupled with Fisher’s ability to weave old and new, color and pattern, the home feels comfortable, lived in, and elevated. “I dreamt about this house for so long that once I finally was able to install it, it went so smoothly,” says Fisher. Adds McCullough, “Sarah is such a joy and talent to work with. This home was a labor of true love.”