Following many years living and operating a showroom in New York, artist and designer Rebecca Atwood relocated to Charleston, South Carolina—with her husband, Steve Bernstein, and young daughter—in August 2021. The next May, Atwood and her family moved into their current home, a 2,100-square-foot property built in the late 1930s.
The majority of the Atwood contingent—including Rebecca’s parents and older sister, Grace, founder of the lifestyle website The Stripe—reside in Charleston. The elder Atwoods moved to the Holy City after selling their family restaurant in Dennis, Massachusetts. The sisters had both completed a six-week trial period in the city during the pandemic before deciding to bid adieu to Brooklyn for good.
“I knew our living room was going to be green from the beginning,” Atwood says. “That was something I could just visually see.” She adds, “I felt like walking in Charleston and the oak trees, you just feel that green. I wanted to bring that in as a way to connect and settle ourselves in a space.”
Atwood and Bernstein rented a place upon relocating to Charleston, using that initial time to better develop their understanding of the city. “We loved Hampton Park,” Atwood says, referring to one of the largest public parks in the city. “So we thought, if anything comes on the market that’s within a five-minute walk of the park, maybe we should consider it.”
While low interest rates were in their favor, inventory was low, and Atwood and her husband struggled getting offers accepted. “We kind of put out a call to everyone we knew,” Atwood shares. “We said, ‘Hey, if you know anybody that’s going to be selling their house and they’re within a five-minute walk of the park, let us know.’” It turned out that a photographer contact of Atwood’s had a neighbor looking to sell. “The house had a good energy,” Atwood reflects of her initial visit to what is now her own residence.