DOCTORS' ORDERS
Doctors’ Orders
Breathing life into a contemporary villa
By Deborah Salomon • Photographs by John Gessner
Embarking on a second career in retirement is nothing new: Lawyers become clergyman; bank tellers resurface as hairstylists; farmers write novels. But a retired Army physician renovating high-end residences? Well, why not?
Retired Lt. Col. Teresa Pearce, M.D., a public health specialist with a master’s degree in epidemiology, and her husband, Dr. Tony Freiler, M.D., a retired Lt. Col. Army radiologist practicing locally, found Pinehurst perfect for work and family. With two sons, 8 and 12, Teresa thought about renovating a house large enough for several generations to live communally. “I’m very big on family,” she says. She found a candidate in an estimated 7,200-square-foot manse built in 2001, with detached garage/apartment and pool on 5 acres overlooking a Country Club of North Carolina golf course. The multi-generational living plan didn’t materialize but, oh, what a venue for honing interior design skills and showcasing good taste.
Although the property does not conform to any off-the-shelf architectural mode — try contemporary Italianate villa — its wings spread over a section of CCNC where land parcels are of similar size. Teresa’s method was simple: Find something to make your own and get to work. Upgrades took about a year.
“This one . . . it was very well-built but the layout, the flow, didn’t work,” she says. But, given the imagination, the means and the neighborhood, it was a diamond in the rough.
The interior spreads out along hallways on either side of the foyer, where a large painting of a golden orb mounted on grasscloth hangs. Could it be the moon? Teresa’s father was part of the space program, in Florida. His NASA helmet contributes to the décor.
To the right, near the kitchen entrance, was a small formal dining room Teresa commandeered for her office, with a narrow glass-topped table — an unlikely but decorative desk — and a spectacular set of double doors she found in Maryland.
Beginning in the office, a trail of wallpaper and fabrics continues throughout the house — ferns, fruits, flowers, creatures and dense European mini-prints so vivid they jump off the background.
“Wallpaper, it’s my thing,” Teresa says, often in unusual color gradations. Navy, with a touch of teal, becomes Prussian blue; red has deep rather than bright overtones; and green imitates frogs, not limes.
The core of Teresa’s renovation is the living room, whose back wall, paneled to the ceiling, rises 20-plus feet over a formal gathering space with a library section and, at the far end, a dining table seating 12 to 14 “in a pinch.”
Here, Teresa is not shy about expressing her taste. Against one living room wall stands a lamp table lacquered red with gold curlicues, stripped down to pale wood at the top. “All that red and gold . . . just too much,” she decided.
The kitchen escaped significant reconfiguration, although wood cabinets became white and the island more user-friendly. Notable are the side-by-side Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer. Beyond is a kid-friendly family room where the giant circle motif is repeated in wall mirrors. And beyond that is a screened porch and pool.
Teresa haunts auctions and estate sales. “I’m an accumulator,” she admits. At one time, she owned an antique business. Now, she and a partner, Jennifer Beranek, operate Elliott Rowell, an interior design firm in Aberdeen.
Living space continues in an above-ground lower level, encompassing a game room with pool table, a lounging area for watching movies, several guest bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, a kitchenette and gym with weight-training equipment, an arts and crafts area, and Tony’s office. The walls are mostly done in Teresa’s signature navy blue, also the favored color (along with white) in the main floor master suite.
The totality allows for overstuffed sofas, large fireplaces and multi-era furnishings with a surprise around every corner: A campaign throne/chair stands in a hallway. Children’s furniture creates a village, with ceiling shelves for stuffed animals. A combination laundry/dog parlor has an elevated tub for bathing twin Springer spaniels. Teresa’s classic butler’s pantry is a rarity in contemporary construction, but oh, so convenient when serving those 14 guests. A canopy-free four-poster bed dominates the master suite, also home to a giant Boston fern and a bay window. Next up: a rose garden.
“I love renovation,” Teresa says. “I feel like the house has a new life, like it’s relevant again.”
