By Kate Reynolds

Photos By David Dietrich

In Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s book

Colorful as a gypsy caravan, whimsical as a nonsense poem, it is a riotous, joyous mix of patterns, textures and styles—a place that plays with your sense of proportion, tickles your fancy and makes your inner child want to shout "Hurrah!" It is full of contrasts and contradictions. And wonder of wonders…it works.

The house itself was hardly an architectural gem when the Silvermans first stumbled upon it. "It was very Bavarian looking," Lorri recalls. "It had all these little planters with plastic flowers. Lots of Formica. It wasn’t our taste at all. But Steve was able to see past it and he promised me that eventually it would be what we both wanted."

What they wanted, however, were very different things. "They found this place and liked the location and the view," says Richard Fast of Greeson and Fast, an Asheville design team known for their inspired mélanges. "She wanted an eclectic English-cottage look, he wanted an upscale lodge. They called us up and asked if we could get their dream out of this barn-like space.

"It was a challenge," he says with a smile.

But the designers had unusually talented allies in their vivacious clients. By the time Fast and his partner Jean Greeson met with the couple, Steve had imported a construction team from Boca Raton, Florida, where the couple has their primary residence. Working along with the couple and their college-age children, the crew had begun to dismantle the residence’s low popcorn ceilings to reveal high vaulted rooflines.

"Richard and Jean came to visit us and there was dust flying everywhere," Lorri says of the initial consultation. "But they were very, very organized. I have my own taste, and I like what I like, but trying to do it long-distance, well…we live in Florida…so I knew I needed help."

The Silvermans were seeking collaborators in their adventure. "Lorri likes collecting things," says Steve. "So everything she’d buy needed to have a place. Richard and Jean had to work with that." To say that Lorri is a collector is something of an understatement. With a magpie eye for beautiful objects and an eclectic, yet discerning sense of style, Lorri had already begun to acquire furniture, fixtures and fascinating bits of ephemera to feather her new nest.

Once Steve and his crew had restructured the interiors, the designers began to envision the space as a family home. In the great room, says Fast, the immediate consideration was the cavernous scale. "One of the first things we did was bring in two giant chandeliers and drop them to warm up the space and bring the ceiling down." Choosing appropriate furnishings also meant playing with proportions. "Everything had to be huge," says Greeson. "This furniture would overtake most normal-sized rooms, but in here, it seemed barely big enough."

As regular deliveries of treasures from the Silvermans’ shopping safaris arrived, Greeson and Fast began to establish the home’s unifying themes. "Lorri loves antiques. She likes Victorian, but Victorian with a twist—a real edge to it," notes Fast. "She also loves gorgeous fabrics. You’ll see them all through the house. And layers of rugs…needle points, Aubussons, different orientals."

Using unexpected juxtapositions of fabrics and textures, the designers began to integrate Lorri’s pleasantly eccentric English aesthetic with Steve’s "mountain lodge" vision—pairing velvets, damasks and crewel work with masculine animal prints, faux fur and leather. Plump couches, quirky, high-backed armchairs and fanciful chaise lounges were custom made and lushly upholstered in mix-and-match fabrics, their rich, saturated color providing a counterpoint to the more rustic elements of the room.

To add some bling, Lorri began collecting chandeliers of all shapes and sizes, which Greeson and Fast judiciously installed, often in unlikely settings: in an alcove window seat, above the soaking tub, even tucked into the refurbished wet bar in the great room. Frameless etched mirrors also began arriving in multiples, eventually transforming a dark downstairs corridor into a glittering hall of mirrors.

"Lorri has an amazing ability to find the perfect thing," Jean observes. "The whole house is a conglomeration of old things that she found, new things that we bought and even some old things that we had. She’s great fun to work with—she’s very clear about what she wants, but she’s also open to ideas."

The alliance excited Lorri as well. "We play together," she gushes. "It’s not an effort for them, it’s not an effort for me. We’re on the same page."

Gradually, each room developed its own personality, guided by the designers’ sense of the big picture and Lorri’s personal attention to details. The standard-issue cherry cabinets in the kitchen were whitewashed, distressed and dressed up with reclaimed leaded-glass fronts. A salvaged English pub bar and doors were installed in the "gentleman’s retreat"—a place for Steve to kick back with the boys under the watchful gaze of a massive, mounted bison head.

For the Silvermans’ private quarters, the designers chose a more subdued palette. A patterned tin ceiling in the master bedroom reflects soft light from the ice-blue walls and aqua tinted chandelier, creating a relaxing ethereal sanctuary. The room is made all the more welcoming by mounds of pillows and inviting comforters on the bed—dressed in delectably soft vintage linens from Lorri’s personal collection.

In the witty master bath, institutional chic meets ultra-luxe head on. White ceramic "subway tiles" line the walls and the one-inch hexagonal floor tiles are softened by a plush area rug. The bath features a massive copper slipper tub with vintage-style faucet and lavish accessories including beaded light fixtures, a calligraphic wrought iron vanity set, several prized mirrors and the aforementioned chandelier. "It’s a fantasy bathroom," says Lorri with a giggle. "Who wouldn’t love it?"

But even if the bathroom isn’t your particular fantasy, there are plenty of other confections to choose from in this rambling home. There’s the semi-psychedelic game room in a loft overlooking the great room, accessed by a staircase that features purple shag carpet and Richard Avendon’s iconic pop-art Beatles portraits. Or the urbane guest room—a sophisticated boudoir with a cheeky, graphic, black-and-white bathroom. Or the pretty-as-a-picture bedroom, which could evoke sighs of rapture from girls of any age. Or the separate guest quarters: a quaint, country feel with a hint of French Bohemian atelier thrown in for good measure.

Even now, the residence continues to evolve as new acquisitions arrive regularly. "Lorri sends packages and every month or so we come up to unwrap them," says Fast. "We never know what we’re going to see when we open up the boxes. Everything from beautiful antiques to, umm, artwork…" Plenty of new and intriguing objects for the designers to blend into this personal wonderland.

"Curiouser and curiouser," cried little Alice in Lewis Carroll’s looking-glass world. Curiouser, indeed. And delightfully so.