I always know we’ve done a great job when I don’t want to leave,” confides interior designer Lauren Hurlbrink about her recent project: a large family compound in Baltimore County’s Caves Valley. “A client who trusts you completely makes great things possible.”

Captivated by the seclusion and space afforded by the region’s rolling pastureland and surrounded by family and friends nearby, the owners who have four pre-teen children desired a legacy home where they could host holiday dinners and special occasions. Born and raised in Mississippi, the wife had long fantasized about living in a Southern farmhouse with all the authentic touches—including horse stables—but none of the clichés.

She and her husband assembled a dream team to make their new home a reality. In addition to Hurlbrink, the group included architect David Myers, builder Matt Kurrle and landscape designer Andrew Thompson.

Despite its size—11,000 square feet—the finished home “lives smaller than it actually is,” notes Myers. Instead of one continuous and visually overwhelming mass encompassing the main house and its attached horse barn/garage, he tweaked the footprint to connect the two structures at an angle, with a guest suite situated in its own wing. This delivered efficient circulation from room to room and created the warm and welcoming quality the owners envisioned. “A large home does not need to feel cavernous,” he adds.

Kurrle incorporated architectural and construction elements such as plaster walls, weathered siding, reclaimed stone and antiqued timber framing and brick throughout. These materials, notes the builder, “imbue the property with history and unique character. It’s not just another new build. It’s what you’d expect to see on a 19th-century rural homestead.”

Outbuildings including potting and sports sheds, a pool house and a sports court, extend from the main residence and barn. The home and its gardens sit on seven acres of lush green space landscaped to enhance privacy and visual appeal. An apiary, orchard, specimen trees and a multitude of pink and white flowers, boxwood and container plantings evoke a Southern country meadow.

Designed for entertaining, the main level houses a dining room, chef’s-grade kitchen, family room, sunroom and study spaces for the kids, along with a guest suite. Six bedrooms with ensuite baths, including the primary, await on the second floor, while the casual lower level is reserved for crafts, movies, fitness and indoor games.

From the front entryway, an arched and glass-paned doorway opens into a hall where the low ceiling suggests older-home proportions. To the right, custom bookcases displaying family mementos line a cozy niche housing an heirloom grand piano and an original painting of Southern magnolia blossoms.

To the left, the dining room is set with an ethereal blue ombré wall covering and a custom-made walnut table. An antique painted mirror with British pedigree hangs above a white Chinese Chippendale-style sideboard, reflecting the delicately curved sconces and chandelier.

In this child-centered home, there is no formal living room. Instead, a spacious family hub welcomes everyone with durable but elegant furnishings and a tall fieldstone wood-burning fireplace with an antique chestnut mantel.

The bright circular sunroom nearby is an ultra-feminine space bedecked with tasseled poufs and softly rounded settees in shades of pink and white. Drawing the eye up to the skylit ceiling are the antique timbered beams seen throughout the home.

The eat-in kitchen, conveniently off the mudroom, features refined Shaker cabinets, a farmhouse sink, quartz countertops and a backsplash of handmade ceramic tiles. A deep center island topped with oak sits beneath two painted lantern pendants for a vintage look.

Upstairs, the primary suite continues the farmhouse theme with stained and distressed white oak box beams on the pitched ceiling. An Old World patina adorns the bed tables; nickel gap paneling lends texture behind the bed. In the bath, tall, built-in armoires flank a statement tub overlooking the gardens below.
All told, design and construction of the farmhouse, outbuildings and landscaping took three years, spanning the covid crisis but, thankfully, presenting only a few logistical complications. The family finally moved in at the end of 2022.

It was more than worth the wait. “We were very lucky because everyone involved instinctively understood what we wanted,” reflects the wife. “I think the property feels so cohesive because every design element plays up our backstory. There are moments that are beautiful and works of art—but all of it feels like home.”