TEP INSIDE SOUTHEASTERN GALLERIES, WHICH HAS BEEN A Charleston staple for more than 70 years, and it’s clear the showroom provides a wide range of stylish furniture options for those looking to reimagine their homes’ interiors. What surprises many customers is that the homegrown store’s in-house interior designers also provide the highest caliber of professional design services.
Homeowners Lisa and Gary Berenyi traded their existing residence on a golf course to build a new St. Thomas Island home on Beresford Creek so they could more easily hop on their boat to enjoy the local waterways. They initially connected with Southeastern Galleries simply to procure a product. Lisa Berenyi already had a vision of how she wanted to design the new home but felt she needed someone to help her refine those ideas. She had purchased a couple of pieces of furniture from Southeastern Galleries for her previous home and knew the company also provided a deep inventory of lighting. She called the store in search of a specific John-Richard chandelier to hang over her dining table and by happenstance connected with designer Melissa Moore. The discussion between the two women expanded from the procurement of a single chandelier to how they could work together to implement the design vision throughout the entire home.
“I’m not a niche designer,” explains Moore. “I listen to my homeowners so I can design for their lifestyle while adapting the design to their personalities.”
Their discussion that day led Moore to understand what Berenyi wanted—a monochromatic color palette with a bit of glam. Since the couple are boating enthusiasts, Moore also wanted to help them create interiors that played off their new home’s views, which include a large, established live oak tree in the backyard and the waters of Beresford Creek.
Berenyi was happy to be able to tap into the extensive line of luxury furniture, accessories, flooring, fabrics, wallpaper and complimentary design services offered by Southeastern Galleries. “The staff at Southeastern Galleries goes above and beyond, from their friendliness to design expertise,” she says. “They are so welcoming when I come into the store. Melissa was always available for me to run ideas by her. I have fun visiting the store, and it is 1,000% easier to source everything through a one-stop shop.”
Owned and operated by the Cooper family since its inception, Southeastern Galleries has separated itself from the competition by offering customers interior design services. Now the third and fourth generations of Coopers work in the store, and the Southeastern Galleries family has expanded over the years to include experienced designers from across the country. The showroom’s designers are a major reason customers keep coming back. Moore, for instance, joined Southeastern Galleries three years ago. She holds both interior design and art degrees, has 25 years of experience working for private designers and as a solo design consultant, and has worked as a showroom buyer. “With my children grown, I was anxious to get back to a showroom, especially one like Southeastern Galleries, where I could access such a wide range of fine brands from in-house resources,” she says.
Southeastern Galleries provides much more than furniture and design services; its designers also source lighting, artwork, rugs, carpet, wallpaper and fabric, and help customers with paint and tile selections. Berenyi took advantage of all of these options while working with Moore for a full design experience—amazingly at no charge for design and procurement services since she sourced all of her furnishings through Southeastern Galleries.
The relationship between Berenyi and Moore started with a dining room chandelier, which appropriately became the jumping-off point for the entire design project. “Lisa also had a Thibaut palm frond wallpaper that she wanted to use but didn’t know where,” Moore explains. “We brought that tone-on-tone wallcovering into the dining room, adding wainscoting and combining it with a Theodore Alexander dining table she had previously purchased at Southeastern Galleries. I also found a ceiling paper that mimics gold foil with a metallic hint of champagne gold that Lisa liked. From the confirmation of those initial choices, I could see her style.”
With the design tone established, Moore flowed a neutral color palette throughout the remainder of the spaces. Adding plenty of texture-rich materials and hints of sparkle through wallcoverings, hardware and lighting kept the design intriguing and exciting. In the living room, a John-Richard chest features gold insets with a wavy pattern that nods to waves lapping at the shoreline. The free-flowing pattern is matched in an acrylic side table with the same gold waves in its base. An organically shaped stone coffee table, reminiscent of oyster shells, reinforces the nature theme.
A bedroom on the first floor, across the hall from the dining room, provided Moore with a chance to flow glamorous metallic accents into the guest quarters. “I repeated the foil wallpaper [Thibaut ‘Metal Leaf’] on the dining room ceiling in the guest bedroom,” says the designer. “The light’s reflection off of the metal leaf wallpaper is stunning.”
Neutral tones are anything but boring in this stunner of a home. Moore worked in layers of texture, which helped to reinforce the natural environment, and metallic accents continue to add wow to other rooms. Soft white and beige wall paint in many rooms allow bolder wallcoverings and ceiling coverings to stand out in 12 rooms of the home and in unexpected areas, such as the elevator walls and ceiling. “The wallpapers—which include metallics, grasscloth and faux leather—and light fixtures are just beyond in this home,” she says.
Moore worked with Berenyi to add a hint of color—albeit soft naturals—in two guest bedrooms on the main level, where she was able to use the homeowner’s existing upholstered beds. “These rooms allow Lisa’s girly side to show through,” says Moore. “In one, a blue-green wall paint is a subtle nod to waves. The other bedroom plays up blush, including a ceiling paper with blush and gray accents that complement the adjacent bathroom.”
Throughout the home, Moore imbued a sense of elegant sophistication. In some cases, she leaned on moldings to enhance the look, such as the trimwork she added up the staircase. She paid just as much attention to the ceilings as she did to the four walls in each room, adding color or a metallic wallcovering in keeping with the glamorous undertone. “Melissa did a great job of blending the elements I wanted—coastal transitional furnishings that are elevated, with touches of mid-century modern, tone-on-tone neutrals and John-Richard furniture pieces,” Berenyi says.
While metallic wallcoverings, sparkling chandeliers and glittering sconces add the bling Berenyi requested, Moore also ensured hardware “jewelry” and gold furniture detailing support the elevated style. “The sophisticated take on coastal design is perfect for the dinner parties the homeowners host,” she explains. She wove the rooms together by flowing colors and fabrics throughout connecting spaces. The kitchen island counter stools, for instance, are covered in leather on the front and a fabric on the back that is repeated from the living room for continuity.
Although glamour was in order, Berenyi also requested a livable home that was pet-friendly for her felines. “Fabric choice is important in a home with pets,” she says.
“I always think about durability, no matter who the homeowners are,” Moore says. “Lisa specifically requested soft fabrics with a buttery feel, so I mixed leather with wools, cottons and performance velvets that have both great style and are claw-friendly. The home is elegant but comfortable for everyday living for everyone.”
While Berenyi points to the dining room as her favorite space—it was, after all, the entire project’s jump start—she says the best views are from the third floor office. With abutting L-shaped desks, the windows take in water views all the way to the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Primarily Gary Berenyi’s office, the masculine space features black-and-gold lighting and hardware in a neutrally finished room with a color-drenched grasscloth wallcovering, providing just enough bling that it doesn’t detract from the awe-inspiring outdoor view.
When the couple wants to relax, they settle on the large screened porch off of the family room. “It’s relaxing and exciting to see the herons, egrets and other wildlife from there,” says Berenyi. No matter where she is in the home, she enjoys the surroundings that Moore and Southeastern Galleries helped her to design. “I love where I live,” she says. “I don’t need to go on vacation; I feel like I’m on vacation every day.” *
Dana W. Todd is a professional writer specializing in interior design, real estate, luxury homebuilding, landscape design, architecture and fine art.
Neutral tones are anything but boring in this stunner of a home. Melissa Moore worked in layers of texture, which helped to reinforce the natural environment, and metallic accents continue to add wow to other rooms.
