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Leslie May’s Bespoke Homes for Families: Elegant Rooms Built for Real Life

When it comes to family homes, the realities of muddy-pawed pets, children’s homework strewn across the coffee table, and laundry piles make themselves apparent, but interior designer Leslie May of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, knows that an elegantly appointed home complete with wallpapered ceilings, detailed millwork, and heirloom wood furnishings is still within reach. Leslie creates couture spaces that are equipped to serve the functions of family life, holding their own while children play and later catering to guests who arrive for a soirée in cocktail attire.

The cover of Bespoke Homes for Families by Leslie May, showing a blue-and-white living room with tufted sofa and leopard-print chairs
Each chapter of Leslie May’s debut book closes with a gathering, menus and recipes included.

Leslie has mastered the delicate dance of weaving beauty and livability together. In her hardcover book, Bespoke Homes for Families, readers are invited to tour her home and those of her clients, learning her principles behind creating spaces that are both deeply personal and highly functional.

Read the full story in the Autumn 2026 issue of Southern Lady.

Styling by Leslie May · Photography by Anna Routh Barzen

Home is where you kick off shoes, eat popcorn during movie nights, or sip Champagne from crystal flutes to toast accomplishments. In her debut book, one designer makes the case that dwellings can be all things at once: sumptuously decorated, warmly inviting, and perfectly suited to the rhythms of everyday life.
A green trellis-papered entryway with a lacquered green ceiling, white staircase, and a spaniel resting on the wood floor

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