House Tour: Inside Caroline Gidiere's Georgian-Style Home in Mountain Brook, Alabama
Every once in a while, you come across a home that makes you stop scrolling and just stare. Caroline Gidiere's Mountain Brook, Alabama home is that house. Designed with architect James F. Carter and photographed by Brian Woodcock for Veranda Magazine, this Georgian-style home was built from scratch after the original house on the property turned out to be beyond saving. And honestly, what they created in its place is something truly special.
The whole design is inspired by the George Wythe house in Colonial Williamsburg, a place Caroline visited often growing up. You can feel that influence everywhere, from the symmetry to the proportions to the way every room feels both formal and completely livable. But it's not a museum piece. This is a home where a family actually lives, entertains, and enjoys their space. That's what makes it so inspiring.
Let's walk through it.
THE EXTERIOR AND GARDENS 
The first thing you notice is the white painted brick. It's classic, it's clean, and paired with that dark slate roof and the shutters, it feels like the house has been there for a hundred years. But it hasn't. That's part of the genius. Everything was designed to look like it had always been part of the landscape.
The gardens are next level. There's an ivy covered arch that leads from one garden room to the next, boxwood hedges clipped into perfect rounds, and terracotta pots clustered near the French doors in a way that feels collected over time rather than placed all at once. If you take one idea from this home, let it be that. Group your planters in odd numbers, mix the sizes, and let them age naturally. It makes any back door or patio feel like it belongs in the English countryside.
THE FOYER AND STAIRCASE 
Step inside and you immediately feel the bones of this house. The foyer is welcoming without being overdone. Warm gray Venetian plaster walls, natural wood tones, and light pouring in from every direction. It sets the tone for the whole home. Traditional, yes, but with air and softness.
The staircase is a standout. Caroline designed a Chinese Chippendale stair rail inspired by the one at Battersea, a historic estate in Virginia. It's a bold architectural detail, but because it's painted white and the proportions are right, it reads as elegant rather than heavy. The takeaway here is that one really strong architectural detail in an entryway, whether it's a beautiful stair rail, a lantern pendant, or a bold wallpaper, can do more than a dozen accessories.
THE LIVING ROOM
What I keep coming back to in this room is how the fabrics do all the heavy lifting. The slipcovered pieces keep things feeling easy and approachable, while the pattern on the sofa and the natural woven shades at the windows bring in just enough texture to make the room feel layered without feeling busy. It's the kind of room where you could host a cocktail party or curl up with a book and it wouldn't feel wrong either way.
This is a room you want to sink into. Slipcovered sofas covered in Colefax and Fowler's Bowood print, a long lacquered coffee table, natural woven shades at the windows, and a pair of Chinoiserie mirrors flanking the fireplace. The mix of formal pieces like the mirrors and antiques with relaxed elements like the slipcovered furniture and the natural fiber shades is something I think about constantly when pulling rooms together.
One of the cleverest details in the living room is a jib door. It's a hidden door disguised with faux book fronts that leads to a storage closet. It's the kind of thing that makes you love a house even more once you know about it. You don't need a custom jib door to steal this idea, though. Any built-in storage that's concealed or thoughtfully integrated will make a room feel cleaner and more intentional.
THE DINING ROOM
If you've ever seen this home on Instagram or Pinterest, chances are the dining room stopped you first. The walls are covered in de Gournay hand painted chinoiserie wallpaper in the most gorgeous green silk, and it is absolutely showstopping. A round skirted table sits in the center, and behind jib doors (again!), Caroline stores her full tableware collection.
The built-in bar area features antique glass and Chippendale fretwork. It's another one of those details that makes this room feel like it's been layered and loved over decades.
The lesson here is that statement wallpaper in a dining room is always a good idea. You don't need de Gournay to make it work. A bold botanical, a rich grasscloth, even a deep paint color can create that same feeling of walking into a room and having it take your breath away.
THE KITCHEN
The kitchen is anchored by a La Cornue range, the French made stove that every serious home cook dreams about. But even without the La Cornue, the layout and finishes are packed with ideas you can actually use. Pendant lights hang over a generously sized island, and the whole space feels bright and functional without sacrificing any of that traditional character.
What I love most is that the kitchen doesn't try too hard to match the formality of the other rooms. It's approachable. It's where the family clearly spends their time. And that contrast between a formal dining room and a warm, hardworking kitchen just steps away is what gives the whole house its personality.
THE GUEST ROOM
Here's proof that great design doesn't have to mean expensive everything. In the guest room, Caroline used two four poster beds from Ikea. Yes, Ikea. And she dressed them up with beautiful linens and a Colefax and Fowler floral on the walls and curtains. The result looks like something out of an English country house. Nobody would ever guess those beds weren't custom.
This is maybe my favorite takeaway from the entire house. You don't need to spend a fortune on the structure. Invest in the textiles, the wallpaper, the details, and a simple bed frame becomes something extraordinary.
THE BACK PATIO
This is the kind of outdoor space that makes you want to cancel your dinner reservation. A simple table set for a meal, ivy climbing the walls, a lantern overhead, and the garden stretching out just beyond. Nothing here is overdone. There's no outdoor kitchen or built in grill island trying to compete with the indoors. It's just a beautiful spot to sit down with good food and good company.
What makes it work is the layering. The ivy softens the architecture. The lantern adds warmth without feeling too designed. And the terracotta and stone underfoot tie it right back to the garden. It feels like something you'd stumble onto at a small hotel in the south of France, not a backyard in Alabama. That's the magic of this house. Every space, inside and out, feels like it belongs somewhere with a long history, even though it was all built from scratch.
If you have a patio or a back porch that feels a little flat, this is your blueprint. Add climbing greenery on one wall, hang a single lantern or pendant, and set an actual table with real chairs instead of defaulting to the usual outdoor sectional. Sometimes the simplest setup is the one that makes people want to stay the longest.
IDEAS TO BRING HOME
Commit to one bold wallpaper moment. A dining room, a powder room, a guest bedroom. Pick one room and go for it. It will become the room everyone talks about.
Invest in the bones. A beautiful stair rail, real plaster walls, properly proportioned moldings. These are the things that make a house feel like it's always been there. They matter more than any single piece of furniture.
Hide your storage. Jib doors are the dream, but even a simple built-in cabinet or a basket that conceals clutter keeps a room feeling calm and intentional.
Caroline Gidiere's home was originally featured in Veranda Magazine (March/April 2020). Her book, Interiors for a Life in Good Taste, published by Rizzoli, is available now.
Interior Design: Caroline Gidiere Design (carolinegidiere.com)
Architecture: James F. Carter
Photography: Brian Woodcock for Veranda
Location: Mountain Brook, Alabama
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