The Leens blended European designs and family heirlooms to create their perfect home
Welcome to the home of Brian and Vickie Leen, whose centerpiece—the first-floor library—echoes European manors of elegance, intimacy … and mystery.
“Just imagine that same 19th-century library with a paneled door in it,” says Brian of their home at The Cliffs at Keowee Falls. “It’s the kind of thing as a kid you grew up thinking about, all the hidden passageways in some of these old buildings.”
The Leens, married 32 years, purchased their homesite at The Cliffs in 2018. Soon, they selected Gabriel Builders, a Preferred Builder at The Cliffs. Gabriel, a Greenville-based, family-owned business, began construction in August 2020. Brian and Vickie moved in June 2022 from Colorado.
Brian describes their 5,800-square-foot home, with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths, as “English cottage-y.” The slate chip driveway and gas lanterns add to the atmosphere.
“Inside, you’ll see Old World flair with details and symmetry used to balance the creative floor plan boasting surprises at every corner,” says Belinda and Gus Rubio, owners of Gabriel Builders.
As Brian explains, “I think the other thing that gives it that estate kind of feel is that we didn’t want the typical wide-open concept design. Vickie and I both like small spaces, we like you to continue to discover smaller places to have a more intimate conversation.”
“Interestingly, the library,” he notes, “is the largest room in the house.” Boasting three French doors, the space opens to a spectacular view of Lake Keowee. Trips to Europe informed much of their design choices. Brian travels for his work in the specialty chemicals industry, selling ingredients for food and beverages, personal cosmetics, and agricultural products, among others. Interior flourishes include Venetian plaster, century-old Italian terracotta, and tastes of Tuscany, both say.
Vickie mentions the Bertazzoni gas stove, an Italian classic whose antique appearance belies its contemporary gourmet technology.
Then she tells of their dining room table. Made of dark wood with light wood inlays, the piece wouldn’t fit in the curved dining room. So, she asked the builders to use it as the top of their kitchen’s island.
“We didn’t want to give it up, it’s so pretty,” she says.
Vickie also has a room of her own: a writing studio on the topmost floor. To get the inspiring view she wanted from the small windows there, builders had to raise the floor 12 inches, compressing the room into a space reminiscent of the romantic garrets of Paris where American expat writers toiled in the 1920s and ’30s.
Overall, Vickie says, the home is designed to reflect their shared tastes and history together. “Both of our families have always collected antiques,” she says, adding that she especially wanted a home that displays their objets d’art along with treasured gifts of great sentimentality.
“I want everything in my house to have meaning,” she says, adding, “We have a lot of different things coming together here, lots of different styles, and we married it all, so every time we walk in the house, it feels like home.”
This story was featured in Cliffs Living magazine. To see more stories like this one and learn more about The Cliffs, subscribe here.
