When Jeff and Jill Morris started plan-ning
their Harbor Island home, there were
two non-negotiables. It had to have lots of
outdoor living spaces and windows to take
advantage of the views of Motts Channel and
the waters beyond. And the interior had to
be designed around Jill’s art collection.
Jeff, a custom builder and owner of Old
Fort Building & Development, worked with
Sullivan Design Company to achieve the
former. The ground level features cooking
and seating areas around the pool. The two
upper levels offer unobstructed views of the
dock and great expanses of marsh grass and
water.
The couple used Liz Carroll of Liz Carroll
Interiors to design the décor around the art.
“I’ve been collecting art for 20 years,” Jill
says. “The house started with
all the artwork and we did
everything around it. Jeff had
worked with Liz and loved
her. It was a good collabora-tion.
She was really good
with sticking to our vision.”
The couple didn’t originally
plan to settle in Wrightsville
Beach.
“We had a lot on Figure
Eight we were going to build
on,” Jill says. “We worked
with an architect, and worked
on the plans a long time. It
didn’t pan out. We found this
lot and decided we’d rather
be in town.”
The new home replaced a
small house that was built in
the early 1970s.
“It was a small little
A-frame that was sitting
about seven feet off the
ground,” Jeff says. “I don’t
know if they knew what they
had with the view. Now it’s
similar to if you’re looking out
of a house on the backside of
Figure Eight.”
home of distinction
AN UNTITLED PAINTING BY CHRIS WENTZE
76
WBM september 2018