ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A former Jefferson County resident has designed a cozy mountain cottage overlooking the Black Mountains in western North Carolina, with the scent of rhododendrons and soothing flow of a nearby stream creating nature’s retreat from stress.

The residence is one of four homes that await contestants who enter the Southern Living Choose Your Home Giveaway presented by MyHomeIdeas.

“I think we’re the only ones that didn’t put a TV in our house,” designer Stephen Chambliss said. “We left space and we wired for it, but we just didn’t do it because we felt like with what you’re living in, you want to get away from all of that. You want to be able to enjoy the area you’re in.”

Chambliss began designing interiors of homes located in the mountains of North Carolina a few years ago, and has since continued to operate businesses with his sister, Judy Shawback, who both currently own a furniture and accessories store in the same state. He was introduced to the developers of Whisper Mountain, Charles and Troy Ball, last spring, who then introduced him to Southern Living as the designer they wanted to decorate the giveaway home that would be located there.

“It’s really fun,” Chambliss said. “I’m very fortunate because I’m very visual, so I can kind of tell what things are going to look like in my head. But a lot of people can’t, so sometimes it’s hard to make people understand what it’s going to look like.

“The Southern Living house was a lot more fun for that reason because I really had free-range to do what I wanted to do. There were no constraints.” Chambliss found inspiration in the natural environment and developed a plan that incorporated recycled materials and local resources. Last October he presented his ideas to the magazine, which was thrilled with the overall design and paint choices, including soft mustard yellow shades.

In about eight months, Chambliss transformed the interior from bare walls and floors to an intimate, inviting home. A hand-scraped black walnut floor, coffered ceiling in the master bedroom, oil paintings and English furniture are just a few features that add color. Natural and recycled materials used during construction and decorating included cypress siding, locust posts and floors, tin, a recycled copper table and gutter located above the front porch with a chain hanging over a barrel to collect rainwater. A family and their guests can enjoy nature through the broad windows, or by relaxing on the porch or at the outside dining area.

“All the projects are always fun but every project is different,” Chambliss said. “There are always new dilemmas. Doing the Southern Living house was a big challenge but it was also a very rewarding challenge. I felt honored to be asked and I was glad I did it. It’s quite an honor.”

Chambliss, who now lives in Atlanta, and his sister, who resides near Champaign, both spent time at the property and helped with finishing touches before the contest began in March.

“It’s just something he’s always enjoyed doing from the time he was very, very young,” Shawback said. “When he was in 4-H he did flower arranging and anything like that. He was so good at it and he’s such a visionary. I am so proud of what he’s able to accomplish.”

When a husband and wife visited their North Carolina store a few years ago, Shawback said the woman thought she would like two separate patterns until Chambliss told her she would not and rearranged a display to include the colors. Once she saw what he was able to conceive in advance, she realized he was right and the husband immediately told Chambliss they wanted him to redecorate their house.

“You’re the first man that’s ever been able to tell my wife ‘no,’ and she listened to you,” the husband said.

Shawback said her brother is able to look at all details, from building doorways wide enough for a wheelchair to fit through in the future, to planning a diagram of what furniture would be placed in a house and where by only looking at photographs of each empty room.

Chambliss said being raised on a farm and attending Panther Fork Missionary Baptist Church in Texico, where his father, the late Melvin Chambliss, was pastor for more than 40 years, helped cultivate his interests. His mother, Barbara, and other family members currently live in Wayne City and throughout the area.

“My life has just been so wonderful,” Chambliss said. “It’s kind of funny whenever people are talking to me they’ll always ask, ‘Where did you come from? Well, where’d you go to finishing school?’ I say, ‘Finishing school? I guess that would be Panther Fork Missionary Baptist Church.’ I had these wonderful people around that were just so nurturing and so wonderful, so I’m really proud to be from Southern Illinois.”

Since January of this year, Chambliss and his sister have worked on eight houses, with eight more being planned for the remainder of the year and three in drawing for next year. By working on houses “from conception to when homeowners pull in the driveway and the lights go on,” Chambliss said they have met many new people, some who work with them on more than one house.

“There are certain houses that stick out that I’ve done that I would say were really hard to hand off to the client and walk away from,” Chambliss said. “But the great thing about my clients is most of them I’ve become friends with and they become family. I get a new family every time I do another house.

“When you’re decorating for people, a lot of them come from very, very small means and small towns. So it’s really nice to relate on that level.”

To learn more or to enter the contest you may visit www.southernliving.com/chooseyourhome.