ROM THE FOYER OF THIS ISLE OF PALMS HOME, you can see straight through to a private dock to a glorious Lowcountry tableau. Past the reclaimed pecky cypress ceiling overhead, past the pool, the marsh and tidal creek stretch wide and gold in every direction. It feels like a five-star resort, which was entirely the point.

Built by project manager Tim McCarty with King & Society, and designed by architect Carl McCants of Mc3Designs, this 6,490-square-foot contemporary Lowcountry residence with an old-world resort vibe is the result of a close collaboration between builder, architect and interior designer Allison Marino, who leads the design studio at King & Society.

The homeowners came to the project with a clear vision: They wanted a house that felt like a tropical destination. But they didn’t want a showpiece; they wanted a home designed to be a place where guests can exhale, where the line between indoors and out dissolves, and the rhythms of the waterway set the pace of daily life. Flow was important to the design. Built primarily for entertaining, especially outdoors, the homeowners wanted guests to feel at home in the heart of the house while the private quarters remain a private sanctuary.

The approach sets the tone for the story. A stone driveway rises in gentle terraced steps toward the house, flanked by lush tropical landscaping designed by Madison Rice. This is not an abrupt pull-up-and-park moment. The white painted exterior, metal roof, mahogany shutters and dark brown-framed windows read as a contemporary take on classic Lowcountry architecture. Though the home is new, it looks like it’s been here for generations.

The foyer gives guests a sneak peek into the house’s personality. Marino and McCarty worked closely with the interior trim team on the home’s defining feature: a ceiling clad in pecky cypress, set in a square pattern with crown molding and painted shiplap completing the surround. Pecky cypress, with its wormy texture born of a natural fungal process, is more common in Florida and the Gulf Coast than in South Carolina, which makes it both unexpected and fitting here. The foyer is the hub from which everything radiates, and standing at its center, the intention of the whole home is clear at a glance.

A staircase curves up from the foyer, framed by dark painted balusters and lit from above by a skylight that fills the stair hall with natural light throughout the day. Looking up from the landing, a reclaimed pecky cypress ceiling medallion centers the composition, with a palm frond chandelier hanging at its heart. The pecky cypress motif is carried upward one final time as a reminder of where the home began.

The great room, dining room and kitchen flow together in an open sweep that can hold a crowd without feeling like a venue. The dining room carries the pecky cypress theme upward into columns and the ceiling, creating continuity that anchors the space. “One of our challenges was the cedar beams inlaid with pecky cypress. We had to ensure the front door and the rear door were perfectly centered in between the beams,” McCarty says.

In the great room, Marino and the homeowners collaborated with cabinet artisan Bryan Reiss of Distinctive Design on the fireplace surround and built-in shelving, one of the home’s most talked about features. Reiss crafted the shelving in irregular, unconventional shapes specifically designed to hold the homeowners’ treasures. The organic forms sit in lovely contrast to the elongated honeycomb geometry around them.

Flanking the fireplace, arched mahogany doors with brass hardware open to the breezeway. A nearby wet bar features bold geometrical wallpaper installed by the team at Quality Surfaces. The wallpaper is made from actual wood fibers, requires patience to hang and earns every bit of respect it commands.

The kitchen is where the home’s social philosophy comes together. When the homeowner cooks, she wants to be part of the conversation. To that end, a generous island seats six to eight comfortably. Cabinetry runs to the ceiling, where marble slabs continue uninterrupted from countertop to crown, with an arched hood framing a professional-grade range. The range alcove features a spice niche to keep frequently used ingredients at hand. A natural oak island base anchors the composition, its warm grain a counterpoint to the cool stone above. Lighting by Lowcountry Lighting and plumbing fixtures from Moluf’s follow the same unlacquered brass thread running through the rest of the house.

The service wing off the kitchen is as carefully considered as any of the more prominent rooms. The laundry and scullery are the kind of spaces homeowners wonder how they ever lived without. Reiss’ cabinetry here is meticulous, with white inset cabinets flanking a central armoire-style unit fitted with arched mahogany doors and mirrored panels that bounce light around the room. The ceiling is papered in a rich botanical print in deep navy and green, an unexpected detail in a purely functional room.

The powder room, tucked just off the main social wing, is the most concentrated expression of the home’s tropical personality. A floor-to-ceiling mural wraps every wall in a dense jungle canopy, with layered palms, ferns and fan fronds in deep green, gold and brown parting just enough to reveal a sliver of blue beyond. Against this lush backdrop stands an angular vessel sink in honed dark stone, its visual weight a deliberate contrast to the organic sprawl behind it. The vanity below is a study in texture. A cerused wood cabinet with a lower open shelf and single drawer is lifted on unlacquered brass pipe legs. The mirror above is the room’s showpiece: a sculptural frame of gilded climbing leaves and branches that reads more like a botanical specimen than a fixture.

A wallpapered hallway with a mahogany arched doorway leads into the private quarters, the blue fanleaf print signaling a clear shift from social to personal. Guests gathered at the wet bar or kitchen island have no natural path into this corridor.

A barrel-vaulted ceiling runs the length of the primary suite corridor. Just inside, the nap room is the home’s most personal retreat. Built to accommodate the occasional occupational hazard of out-of-synch sleeping schedules, the room is clad entirely in raw white oak paneling from floor to ceiling with comfortable emerald green furnishings. It is dark and moody by design, with motorized shades for precise control of light.

The primary bathroom continues the resort vibe. The trim was painted to match the tile, a subtle move that makes the room feel cohesive. Light fixtures read as sculptural tropical forms. A steam shower tiled in a dramatic green and white palm leaf pattern features unlacquered brass fixtures that will patina over time. At the opposite end, a freestanding soaking tub sits beneath a window, positioned to take in natural light and a glimpse of the landscape beyond. The primary bedroom is finished in high-gloss paint on the walls, ceiling and trim. Its warm, muted sand tone evokes bleached linen and morning light.

The barrel-vaulted hallway leading to the primary bedroom is finished in piano lacquer, a surface named for the mirror-like sheen of a concert grand. It’s the gold standard of polish built up through successive layers of lacquer, then sanded through progressively finer grits and hand buffed to a flawless shine. The result is a surface so smooth it reads as depth rather than reflection: no texture, no imperfection, just pure, luminous stillness.

“A top priority for the homeowners was high-gloss paint, which was incorporated throughout the home,” Marino explains. “It requires a great deal of time and attention to detail. Preparation began on day one, with everyone involved, from drywall installation and sanding to the final paint application. We had to be very precise.”

“Getting everything lined up right is so important because there’s no way to touch up the paint,” McCarty says. “The prep had to be perfect because any imperfections would show through.”

On the opposite side of the foyer, a breezeway connects the main house to the gym, rod room and crew quarters. The arched opening with louvered wood doors lends an air of the tropical West Indies and required expert skill to construct. “The big arched doors in the breezeway are sapele mahogany. The space is air-conditioned, so the doors had to be 100% airtight and watertight,” McCarty says. The custom-made doors can be opened up so you can see straight through to the back of the house, and the air-conditioning system can be shut off just in that portion.

Underfoot, the pale brick floor is laid in an elegant herringbone pattern, another old-world touch. Rattan pendants cluster overhead in organic arrangements, and the casual coastal spirit of the home comes through here perhaps more than anywhere else. It is a transitional space that feels like part of the proper house. Across the breezeway, a gym and dedicated rod room serve the homeowners’ active outdoor life. Returning from the dock or boat with fishing rods in hand and stepping into a space designed for that transition is one of those quiet amenities that make daily life feel genuinely considered rather than merely comfortable.

The outside was, from the beginning, the whole reason for the project. The great room and dining room open fully through sliding glass panels onto a covered loggia and then out to the shellstone terrace surrounding the infinity pool. There are two outdoor kitchens: one under the pool cabana with a sink and a wine fridge, and one on the cabana, complete with cabinetry, television and seating that overhangs the hot tub. Motorized screens let the covered porch work year-round, with heaters extending the entertaining calendar. Umbrellas and furniture in coral, blue and green look pulled from a beach resort. The dock, visible from nearly every rear-facing room in the house, is a constant presence.

King & Society, together with McCarty, McCants and the full team of craftspeople who brought the vision to life, have built something more than a house. They have built a place that remembers what home is supposed to feel like: generous, grounded and entirely itself. “While I served as the interior designer at King & Society, my role was to help execute the homeowners’ vision,” says Marino. “They are incredibly proud and happy with how their dream for this custom home was brought to life.” *

Robin Howard is a freelance writer in Charleston. See more of her work at robinhowardwrites.com.