Inside

     An 18th-century walnut corner cupboard from the Shenandoah Valley provided a starting point for the kitchen color palette. Marvin Daniels and Brian Pilgrim of KDWHome designed and installed the kitchen as well as the adjacent mudroom and butler’s pantry and all the bathrooms in the house. Working closely with Cindy, her sister and West, they devised a layout that Martha Stewart would envy. Cabinets and trim match the antique cupboard’s warm patina. A huge ceiling beam salvaged from an old mill in Stuart’s Draft, Virginia, and rough-hewn support timbers add an element of reassuring permanence to the room. Hammered copper on the range hood and breakfast bar contribute yet another warm color and interesting texture.

     According to McCallen, the goal when furnishing the house was “to find unique pieces that would play up the architecture of the house. I wanted the house to look like it evolved.”

     The sisters’ shared DNA doubtless made the shopping easier, Cindy suggests. “When my sister and I go shopping, we immediately go for the same things.” Several of their antique store finds were adapted for new uses. The headboard in the master bedroom had an earlier life as a French door surround. Pieces of antique gates were reconfigured into living room sconces.

     Exuberant holiday decorations accentuate the home’s rhythm and flow while adding a dollop of seasonal cheer. The floral designers at Freckled Fox, a Virginia Beach home accessories store, made heavy custom garlands intertwined with wide silk ribbons. All the decorations are appropriately scaled to the architecture and don’t get lost in the space. Cindy, who’s collected Christmas ornaments since high school, decorated the trees in the dining and family rooms.

     In the end, as builder Jim Sykes acknowledges, getting Compass Pointe right was no easy task, but he’s more than pleased with the result. “I think everybody involved made extraordinary efforts because they liked the owners so much, and the owners were there almost every day. When the house was finished, Jeff and Cindy had a big Christmas party for everyone who’d worked on it.” A lot of people showed up.