Coley Home Spotlight: Megan Stokes

Meet Megan! Based in Charleston, SC, we love her fresh yet timeless style. We can’t get enough of her beautiful, classic taste in interiors and other fabulous finds!

Tell us about yourself!

Hi! I’m Megan. My husband and I live in Charleston, SC and have a 7 year old son, a 6 year old daughter, and a 4-month old baby boy! We also have an 80lb golden retriever and a cat, so it’s a very full and lively house! I started blogging over 10 years ago and continue to adore sharing all about our life and my interior decorating adventures on my website and on Instagram!

How would you describe your design style?

Southern traditional meets vintage Bahamas.

You recently completed your gorgeous dining room and used our Dressmaker Camden Dining Chairs in our new Nomad, Cloud fabric. Walk us through the design process and other fun elements in the room!

I fell in love with an Iksell wallpaper, so that started it all. But it has so much brown in the paper that my brown wooden chairs just no longer worked. I really wanted to include a pop of color to brighten and liven the space, which is when I turned to Coley Home! 

The Nomad Cloud fabric was the perfect thing! It’s also a performance fabric, which allows us to use and love the chairs without worrying about a big mess. We are in love with the Camden Dining Chairs silhouette. They are so fresh and classic!

Get the Look:

The Dressmaker Camden Dining Chair

in Nomad, Snow with Italian Blend, White Welt

You are essentially a pro at moving now! Any tips to make the process go as smoothly as possible?

Somehow we keep finding ourselves moving from one adventure to the next, but we love it! The most vital tip I have is to enlist the help of a family member, neighbor, sitter, or whoever you can to keep your children occupied, should you have little ones! Keeping them out of the way and happy is such a game changer. But outside of that, the best practice I have is that I keep our home edited all throughout the year. Every week, I pick at least one space to organize and clean out, so it really helps to keep clutter to a minimum. Doing one space, (whether it’s a room, a closet, or a drawer) at a time makes it totally doable and allows us to never feel overwhelmed with “stuff.” And this constant practice saves me when it comes to moving because everything is pretty much always ready to be put in a box!

Design-wise, which room in your new home are you most excited about?

The kitchen! It has a 20ft wooden ceiling and looks out to the Charleston harbor, which is definitely one of our happy places.

Favorite areas to splurge when sourcing for a home, and favorite places to save?

Splurge on custom fitted rugs that really fill out a room. They make such a difference! I think you can save on drapery as long as you install it to look custom… there are so many sources, even Amazon, where you can get full width/full length drapery panels, rings, and curtain rods for such a steal. Splurge on nice performance fabrics for your upholstered items, like sofas and chairs, because they will continue looking nice for so much longer. Definitely save on home accessories… Target and Homegoods are gold mines for this kind of thing!

Get the Look: 

The Milla Swivel

in Ringo, Bay with Ticking, Harbor Welt

Favorite wall paint color at the moment?

Benjamin Moore Simply White. It’s so fresh, never stark, but also feels warm at the same time. We used it for the exterior of our last home and just had the entire interior painted in this color over at our new house!

Go-to places for design inspiration?

In terms of print, I'm a big fan of Frederic and Veranda. Also an avid user of Pinterest still! Oh, and Instagram, of course. I love following my favorite designers and seeing behind-the-scenes looks at their projects.

Favorite coffee table book?

Gilles & Boissier is such a beautiful book to have out on a table.

Favorite book or TV show at the moment?

My husband and I are big fans of American Idol! We rediscovered it a handful of years back and always look forward to it each new season. There are not many shows we watch together, but that is one of them.

Dream travel destination?

South Africa, the Holy Land, Indonesia… to name a few!