Caroline Bondy was a student in Clemson University’s graduate accounting program in Greenville, South Carolina, when she first met Spence Taylor Jr. in the elevator of the condo building where they both lived. There was an instant spark, “but then I didn’t see him again for six months, even though he lived across the hall,” Caroline recalls. “Finally, I decided to slip a note under his doormat asking for his phone number as an emergency neighbor contact.”

That little note broke the ice, and a few days later, they had their first date. Nearly two years later, Spence proposed on Caroline’s last day in Greenville before moving back to her hometown of Baton Rouge. The couple got married in April of 2024 at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, with a ceremony and reception that brought together Spence’s South Carolina family members and Caroline’s South Louisiana clan.

While planning their wedding, Caroline and Spence were also picking out their first home together. They found it in the small Highland Meadow neighborhood adjacent to Magnolia Woods. Previous owners had completed thoughtful renovations, including the addition of a keeping room and second-story mother-in-law suite, so Caroline—who took residence here while Spence was still living in South Carolina—focused her energy on all the little details involved in creating a welcoming space for her and her husband after the big day. “I wanted to pour my heart into making this house a home,” she says.

To help her achieve that goal, Caroline reconnected with a childhood friend, Emily Wood, who, since their days together at St. Aloysius Catholic School and St. Joseph’s Academy, had gone on to graduate from LSU and launch her own business, Emily Wood Interiors. After an initial lunch together at Beausoleil, Emily was up to speed on Caroline’s desire to bring warmth and personality into each room of the house, much like the welcoming Southern ambiance of the home in which Spence grew up. “Most newlyweds do one room at a time, but Caroline said she wanted Spence to come home to a finished house when he moved to Baton Rouge,” Emily says. “But she didn’t want it to look like we ordered everything out of a catalog.”

Emily and Caroline scouted for furnishings and accent pieces from a wide range of sources, including Emily’s booth at The Foyer as well as garage and estate sales and Facebook Marketplace. “We liked the idea of using things that tell a story,” Emily says, “so we mixed a lot of high and low as well as old and new.”

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They also filled the rooms with family photos, art and decorative items that tied back to their roots. For the wall above the living room fireplace, friends of Spence’s parents gave the couple a painting of the gates of the boarding school he attended in Asheville, North Carolina. Perched on the brick hearth below is an old brass milk jug engraved with the name of Caroline’s grandfather, Auguste Arthur Bondy. A nearby end table came from Spence’s family.

Family also played an important role in getting this house ready for the newlyweds. Caroline’s father, Charles Bondy, a former contractor, advised the couple from even before the purchase and then refinished the oak floors, and her mother Nancy shared design inspiration and a host of blue and white porcelain pieces to help fill the built-in bookshelves in the living room.

Emily fulfilled Caroline’s request for “a lot of color” in the design in a big way, beginning in the first space guests see when they walk through the front door. The walls of the entryway are awash in a deep green hue pulled from the pattern of the rug below, and green was carried into the dining room on chairs and the Greek key-banded curtains. “We were very excited about the green foyer,” says Caroline. “I knew I didn’t want all white, and color is just so comforting to me.”

The mother-in-law suite above the keeping room now serves as a home away from home for Spence’s family members when they visit. Caroline grew up in the nearby neighborhood of Woodstone, where her family still lives, and the couple also loves to entertain their in-town friends and family members as often as they can.

“My mother and mother-in-law are both amazing hosts, so it is somewhat instilled in all of us,” Caroline says, rattling off a list of regular gatherings ranging from football watch parties and backyard barbecues to baby showers. “In the wintertime, we enjoy having people over for dinner and building a fire in the living room,” she adds. “And I regularly host mahjong parties with some of my friends. We set up two games—one in the dining room and the other at the kitchen table—and eat Calvin’s chicken salad sandwiches and homemade cookies. We really have the best time!”

Even when it’s just the two of them, Caroline says she enjoys rolling up her sleeves in the kitchen and cooking, even after a busy day working in her family business. “It’s so relaxing to me,” she says, noting that her go-to winter dishes have included chili, pot roast and soups. “After a long day, I truly look forward to coming home and cooking for Spence and me.”

Meanwhile, Spence can often be found on the back porch grilling and smoking meats with his Big Green Egg. “You just can’t beat burger night,” he says, but he has also already tackled smoked pork butt, beef tenderloin and turkey as well.

With four bedrooms and plenty of space for hosting future gatherings, the Taylors say they plan to stick around for a while. “This house has so much character and charm, and it’s so perfect for us,” Caroline says. “We love that we have room to grow into the house, and we look forward to raising a family here.”