Our longing for home is like no other, as French author André Maurois well understood. In his short story, “The House,” the narrator tells of a recurring dream in which she drives through the countryside and comes upon a house built of white stone. She ventures down its drive and rings the doorbell, and there the dream ends. If this story were true, and if its protagonist were driving through suburban Greensboro, she’d find a similar house—a house built in the French country style—in The Noles, the last neighborhood in the Irving Park area to offer new construction.

The creation of Southern Structures’ Martha Faw, the house at The Noles sits on a hill at 3291 Wynnewood Drive. Its carefully chosen exterior of muted brick, stone and stucco, its beige window treatments and copper awnings and chimney pots seamlessly blend together. This is an understated house that quietly beckons.

Is it whispering, or is that just the gentle splash of the fountains in the two small courtyards flanking the mahogany front door?

How charming—or perhaps we should say, “charmant”—and how French—right down to the multi-colored gravel surrounding them. Well, go ahead, let yourself in. Unlike the lady in that short story, your dream is just beginning.

Inside the foyer, a fusion of light and space and wood surrounds you, from the maple-and-walnut parquet floor to elliptical arch over the front door, to the simple wrought-iron balusters of the staircase to the antique chandelier hanging above. It is the perfect marriage of elegance and simplicity, a combination that Faw strives for, as lifestyles change.

“It’s not just about being a house, but a house with lots of different living space, within and without,” she says.

Hence, a flexible floor plan that includes to the right of the foyer, a sunny study that could double as a bedroom, thanks to the bath with walk-in tub adjacent to it. To the left, a dining room that leads to the kitchen and hearth area; in the back, a comfortable family room and master suite. “You could live downstairs and not go upstairs if you wanted to,” Faw explains. And if you did? You’d have the run of an expansive sitting area, two bedrooms and baths, a bonus room, a full attic and a media room with an elaborate control system that, among other things, delivers various types of music from room to room. The music system, along with a lighting control system creates any mood you desire. These and faux finishes are examples of amenities that Faw uses to inspire clients and show them the options available when building a home.

Then there are the numerous details, the byproducts of Faw’s keen artistic eye, that make this house a home. That chandelier you saw in the foyer? It is one of nine antique lighting fixtures that Faw bought and rewired through her company, Light—With Style.

“I’m awed by older things that you can incorporate into structures,” she says.

Such as the wall panels placed on the pantry door and on the powder room door opposite; or the rounded 18th-century cupboard built into the kitchen island; the wrought iron gate used as a door to the wine cabinet; an old factory sink placed by lattice work on the back patio.

Newer details add just as much character, from the Indian pavers in the back walkway to the deck made of Ipe, a durable hardwood from Brazil. And note how the stenciled ceiling in the master bedroom shimmers in the light; those are Swarovski crystals at its center. In the adjacent bath, the tub isn’t any ordinary tub, but one designed for aromatherapy and chromatherapy baths.

As for the nexus of the house, the kitchen, Faw intended it to look warm and cozy, thanks to a generous use of wood, from the butcher block island to the cherry cabinets with a cameo finish and an antique armoire. But it’s functional, too, as the Thermidore gas range, extra point-of-use refrigerator and—ooh la la!— espresso machine complete with warming drawer for pastries reveal. Capping off the effect are French phrases stenciled high on the walls: “Un jour sans le vin est un jour sans soleil,” (“a day without wine is a day without sunshine”-Hear! Hear!), and for this house, the oh-so-appropriate “joie de vivre.” It could easily refer to the joy that Faw draws from the creative challenge of building and in seeing a house materialize from start to finish. “I never built a house I didn’t like,” she says.

This house impossible not to like—or to love, as the narrator of that French short story loves the house in her dream. In the end, she finds it, only to learn that it is haunted and—spoiler alert—that she is its ghost. Though a spine-tingling ending for a story, such a revelation would be perfectly natural for the house that Martha Faw built at The Noles. Surely by now, you’ve seen yourself puttering around with garden shears and potting soil by the old sink on the patio; sipping a cup of espresso in the softly lit kitchen; luxuriating in an aromatherapy bath after a long day. After all, there’s no haunt like home!

Many of the suppliers responsible for the details of the house have showrooms at the Home Design Center, part of the Home Design Emporium at New Garden Village in Greensboro.

For more information, go to www.homedesignemporium.com

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Vendor List:
Brick exterior: Pine Hall Brick, www.pinehallbrick.com
Stone exterior: Scott Stone, www.scottstone.com
Front door: Harvell Doors & Cabinetry, www.harvelldoors.com
Flooring: Burchette & Burchette, www.realhardwoodfloors.com
Kitchen Cabinets: Windsor’s Cabinetry, www.windsorscabinetry.com
Stone exhaust: Stone Age Designs, www.stoneagedesigns.com
Wrought iron detail: Alamance Iron Works, www.alamanceiron.com
Deck: Archadeck of the Piedmont Triad, www.piedmont-triad.archadeck.com
Trim Carpentry: Cardinal Millwork & Supply Company, 336-665-9811
Shower door in Master: Clear-Vue Glass, www.clearvueglass.com
Faux Finishes: Bohemian Spirit Faux, www.bohemianspirit.com
Antique light fixtures: Light—With Style, 336-665-2555