After spending years painting more than 200 native plants of Kiawah Island, Lowcountry artist and author Audrey Straus found a new subject much closer to home.
Straus, her husband and young son traded their Kiawah life to renovate a 3.4-acre waterfront property on Johns Island, where a 1989 house, guest cottage, workshop and barn sit along Abbapoola Creek.
Instead of treating the property as a blank slate, Straus approached the renovation with the same attention she brings to her artwork: observing what’s already there and building around it.
The entryway Audrey Straus’s Abbapoola Creek home Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, on Johns Island.
Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
“There was a lot going on that just needed a refresh,” Straus said. “I did white walls, dark floors — I’m a little bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to decorating, because I just like it to have a neutral palette.”
They officially moved in in April, and although she’s still adjusting to the new place, she said she’s feeling more settled.
“We can take a deep breath now and just enjoy the fall, which I think is going to be the best time to be here,” she said.
Lowcountry-based author and artist of the book “Native Plants of Kiawah Island: A Collection of Watercolors,” Audrey Straus in her studio Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, on Johns Island.
Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
The property’s mature live oaks, towering palms, marsh views and access to the creek became central to the design. The goal was less to create a polished house disconnected from its surroundings than to make the existing landscape an integral part of daily life.
“The previous owner of the house was a gardener, so she had all these really lovely little vignettes all over the place,” she said, sharing that her own approach to the property is more so about doing little ongoing projects rather than overhauling.
“That’s kind of the beauty of it — having the different things to always be working on,” she added.
Her favorite room in the house is the kitchen, which is where she decided to put the sitting room.
The renovated kitchen space in Audrey Straus’s Abbapoola Creek home Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, on Johns Island.
Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
“Everyone ends up in the kitchen anyway,” she said. “If you’re having people over or you’re having family time, everybody’s just in the kitchen, which I love.”
With a background in interior design, Straus took the lead on reworking the property, updating the main house and its collection of outbuildings into a compound suited to everyday living and entertaining.