A Note from Susanne

This October, Ellen, Ryan and I toured the 2026 Triangle Parade of Homes in North Ridge, Raleigh. We walked through two homes by Raleigh Custom Homes, The Vanderbilt and The Rockefeller, and came home with a camera roll full of details. These are the ones we’re still talking about.

The common thread was detail. Both homes leaned into traditional, classic architecture: paneled walls, framed openings, picture rails, even a porthole window in a scullery door. It’s the kind of detail that gives a new house the character of an older one, and we loved seeing so much of it.

Framed Openings and Paneled Walls

One of my favorite spaces turned out to be a hallway. A shaped arch frames the view down the hall to the stair, and painted trim in a soft gray blue outlines each doorway, so every room is framed as you walk toward it. The walls carry paneling in a warm greige that adds shadow and texture without adding another color. A framed opening is a simple detail to plan into a new home or a renovation, and it gives you a view from one room into the next.

Shaped arched opening framing a hallway that leads to the stair — A shaped arch

Doorways cased in gray blue painted trim, one opening framed inside the next — Painted door casings

Wall paneling painted warm greige, with vertical boards above a framed panel — Paneling in warm greige

Romantic Drapery in Niches

Our favorite moment was a bath where the tub sits in an arched alcove under a small window, with full drapery panels hung at the opening and tied back on each side. It turns the tub into a little room of its own. Fabric is one of the easiest ways to soften a bathroom, where almost every surface is tile, stone or glass. In the living room at the top of this post, long panels hung high frame a wall of windows and soften all that glass.

Bathtub in an arched alcove with drapery panels tied back on either side — A draped tub alcove

Sculptural Lighting

The lighting was chosen like art, and often where you would least expect it. A scalloped ceiling fixture glows over a bird mural in a powder room, and glass globes drop down a stairwell. A cascading fringe chandelier hangs in a closet, and in another powder room, two pendants hang on either side of the mirror in place of sconces.

Scalloped ceiling light glowing above a powder room papered in a bird mural — A scalloped fixture over a bird mural

Cascading fringe chandelier in a closet with dark wood cabinetry — A fringe chandelier in the closet

Glass globe lights dropping down a stairwell — Glass globes down the stairwell

Powder room with scenic wallpaper, a round mirror and a pendant light on each side — Pendants on either side of the mirror

A Few More Favorites

A scullery tucked behind the kitchen, with a porthole window in its door and a checkered floor. Brass shelves running across a dark bar wall. And a mahjong table set up in the living room, ready for game night.

Scullery with gray green cabinets, a checkered floor and a porthole window in the door — The porthole scullery door

Brass and glass shelves across a dark bar wall above a black countertop — Brass shelving at the bar

Mahjong tiles laid out on a game table beside a brass lamp — Mahjong, set up for a game

If traditional details like these speak to you, take a look at our residential design projects, or read more about how custom millwork shapes a home.

Did you tour the Parade this year? We’d love to hear which detail stayed with you. Tell us on Instagram at @houseofmaevie.

Photos by House of Maevie at the 2026 Triangle Parade of Homes.