The art of living well, almost anywhere The Seattle Times

08.09.11

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The house on the Bohicket River is not the worst place Sheila and Peter Potter have ever lived. But its weird, empty spaces — the double-height "great" room, the floating gallery — and abundance of wet bars make it one of the most awkward, as Peter Potter might say, stroking each syllable with a William F. Buckley Jr. drawl.

Despite these architectural impediments, the Potters have turned the house, a developer's special built three years ago, into a home, filling it with their eclectic, elegant belongings: foot-worn, antique Chinese rugs; tiny, early 18th-century beds; 19th-century artwork. Taming one of the wet bars is an armada of family photos — Peter Potter's diplomat parents in a paneled library, Sheila Potter and her seven siblings in a living room on Sutton Place in Manhattan. And on the stereo the other day was Bach lute music, "a cool sound for a hot afternoon," Potter said.

The nearly 5,000-square-foot house, on the market for $1.499 million, has been home to the Potters since March. It is their 14th residence here in as many years — and their 14th project as live-in home stagers. For anyone familiar with the perky, manic staging professionals on HGTV, the Potters are a curious example of the breed.

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