Shawn and Allan Haynes, who are originally from the Pee Dee region, were students at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and 25 years later, they discovered the beguiling neighborhood Forest Hills and wondered if they one day might live there. That day arrived about five years ago. To be sure, the 1941 home had some quirks; the laundry was located outside in a rusting shed exposed to the elements. So they knew that part of their vision for and renovation of the home would include indoor laundry. They also knew they wanted a well-lit art studio area for Shawn and a cozy yet masculine office where Allan could display his hunting memorabilia. Still, a keen sense of place remained firmly ensconced in the quaint Colonial Revival home.
“We bought the neighborhood, not the house,” Allan says. “We fell in love with this neighborhood! And the house had a garage, which is important to me. We knew we could take the house and make it what we wanted.”
Allan, an avid outdoorsman who has been hunting and exploring nature since he was a child, works for Sherwin-Williams industrial division, consulting throughout North America. Shawn studied studio art and interior design at USC before obtaining her master’s in education. She taught art for many years and now paints full time. Now empty nesters with two grown children, the couple enjoys collecting fine art and historic artifacts. They wanted to display them as cleanly as possible so the combined collections could serve as a prominent, celebrated voice in the home’s design.
Vibrant natural light welcomes visitors into the dining room and main living area. Not seduced by fleeting or dramatic color trends, Shawn insisted on painting the walls traditional, museum-quality white — Sherwin-Williams Alabaster to be exact. Minimal window dressings with the white walls allow the eyes to rest without distraction upon the beautiful paintings, pottery, carved wooden dough bowls, and sculptures situated throughout the home.
Much of Shawn’s own work is on display, sharing space with creations by admired artists, such as the late abstract master Laura Spong of Columbia. Work by artists from the era when the home was built is prominent, including Charleston Renaissance favorites such as Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, who is known for her nostalgic renderings of Charleston streets and enchanting Lowcountry wetlands.
“Charleston Renaissance artist Alfred Hutty would probably be my favorite artist from that time period. We actually have one of his etchings,” Shawn says. “Other favorites from the ’40s would be Edward Hopper, Marc Chagall, Andrew Wyeth, Picasso, and Thomas Hart Benton. I could go on, but there are really too many to name them all.”
What originally was the home’s living room has been reimagined as a dining room that serves double duty as a revolving art gallery of sorts. A glass cabinet showcases dough bowls of varying sizes and a large Edgefield pottery pot, as well as a series of multicolored glass vases and bottles imported by antiques and architecturals dealer Charles Phillips of Theodore, Alabama.
“What I like about the bottles is an overall design scheme of contrast,” Shawn says, “as well as the contrast between the old and the new,” which is an aesthetic astutely carried throughout the home. “I also like a mix of abstract and realism along with a mix of the old and new.”
A frequent, amiable companion in Shawn’s well-appointed art studio is Bootsie, an English cocker spaniel, who also accompanies Allan on most of his hunting excursions. She is a working bird dog as well as beloved family pet. Since Shawn now works at home, Bootsie has claimed a cushiony, paint-marked seat by Shawn’s side while she paints.
In designing the home’s interior, Shawn, whose mother also is an artist, approached the task with a painter’s eye.
“It’s like coming up with a composition for a canvas, except the room is your substrate,” she says. “You need to come up with texture and color and symmetry.”
Allan’s office is like a natural history time capsule of treasures he has collected on his outdoor explorations. Only a few, well-selected animals are preserved via taxidermy, including a deer head and two handsome ducks.
“I look for a good representation of the species,” Allan says. “For each animal, I can tell you every detail of the hunt and whom I was with.” He is exceptionally discriminating in what he will preserve, and time is no obstacle. “For 20 years, I tried to find a good specimen for the taxidermist.”
One wall boasts a stunning, fanned turkey tail, complemented with its considerable “beard,” which grows from the large bird’s chest. Also on display in Allan’s office is a collection of spearheads and other fossils, as well as different turtle shells. All of these animals, he says, came from eastern South Carolina and the Lowcountry.
In one corner is a framed, black-and-white photo taken in Florida during the 1950s, featuring Allan’s grandfather, whom he called “Papa Charlie,” and a friend holding a string of largemouth bass.
“The photo sat in a box for decades,” he says. “Shawn was in my parents’ house and found it.” Also in the office, Shawn has framed and mounted a variety of feathers that she thought were particularly attractive.
Perhaps the most spectacular artifact in the room is a framed and gallery-lit, full-sized South Carolina flag that has faded and frayed over the years. It has quite a history.
“My great-grandfather served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. We called him ‘Grand Daddy Carlyle,’” Shawn says of Carlyle W. Goodman.
The flag, which once flew over the State House was given to the family when he died. The flag was passed along among family over the years, even hanging for a time in son Jake’s dorm room at Sewanee. It is a fitting addition to the office.
Interestingly, Goodman became friends with Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, who was serving in the S.C. House of Representatives at the time. Hollings later would become governor of South Carolina and, ultimately, serve six terms in the U.S. Senate.
“I love the history and traditions of South Carolina,” Allan says. “This office is where I display my life.” Allan also maintains a cabinet in the office filled with old shotgun shells, many from trips to Argentina and Mexico, as well as other memorabilia from his adventures.
As in many homes, the kitchen is the social center of the household. The Haynes’ kitchen is light, modern, and spacious — ideal for entertaining family and friends. Allan says that the couple’s parents on both sides previously hosted all family gatherings, but now the torch has been passed to the younger generations.
Shawn claims that Allan is the true cook in the family. His hunting trips — for a variety of wildlife, including deer, quail, ducks, and turkey — keep the refrigerator and freezer well-stocked. So what are the chances of finding venison in the freezer right now? “One hundred percent!” Allan says with a grin. A small collection of wild game cookbooks can be spotted on a kitchen shelf. “I wanted a good kitchen for this,” he says. “This home is perfect for us. We live here in this space every day. It’s so conducive to our lifestyle.”
The adjacent butler’s pantry continues the clean lines and museum white to showcase a cabinet displaying antique wooden dough bowls and a collection of fine silver trays that have been in Shawn’s family for generations.
Some extra space on the end of the pantry area makes a lovely seating nook, in which Shawn has tucked a vintage sofa, with three antique, indigo-dyed fabric swatches framed on the wall above.
The kitchen opens to the living room, part of an addition to the home that was planned in the renovation. That additional space brought the home from its original 1,800 square feet to a total of 2,600 square feet. With a wall of windows and a pair of glass French doors opening into the backyard, the room is filled with light. Prominent wood ceiling beams add contrast and depth to the space.
Shawn’s brother, Columbia architect Dewey Ervin, Jr., produced plans for the addition, which started just before COVID took hold. It was not an easy undertaking. Conducting a renovation with multiple workers on site and the residents all trying to maintain personal distance proved challenging, but they obviously prevailed.
“We had to dig out dirt, move dirt, and even move a wall,” Allan says. “At times, I really didn’t know how much we would enjoy the room.”
Shawn enjoyed finding art, furniture, and decor from websites, antique dealers, and other sources, even thrift stores. “We have never before done this big of a renovation. It was fun to pick out everything and decorate. I love the hunt.”
A corner bar in the living area is papered with printed family photographs, past and present. One captures Allan as a young boy shooting a shotgun while his grandfather looks on, taken at a Ducks Unlimited event in Sea Island, Georgia. It’s a day he will never forget.
Now that it’s finished, Allan is immensely satisfied with the renovated home, first for practical reasons. “I wanted a house that we enjoyed that was functional — and that had a laundry room inside!”
For now, the couple looks forward to many happy years in the home, entertaining three generations of family, collecting more treasures, and making new memories.
“To me,” Shawn says, “our next chapter is so important.”