Date:  December 1, 2025  |   Story: Stephanie Maxwell Newton  |   Photography: Rett Peek  |   Styling: Stephanie Maxwell Newton  |  

In Dumas, designer Jeremy Carter reinvigorates a couple’s cherished home while adding subtle scenes of Christmas cheer

For Dumas natives Amber and Martin Henry, it’s as if the Acadian-style house they call home was always meant to be theirs. Located conveniently in between both of their parents’ houses, the home’s original owners put it on the market shortly after the Henrys had their second daughter. “They told us they wanted to sell it, and we moved in when Ellis was just 2 weeks old,” Amber says. “Our daughters grew up with grandparents on either side; they just ran back and forth,” she adds.

Over the past two decades, the couple has completed small projects to make the house their own—most notably a kitchen renovation that eliminated the dining room to create a more open floor plan. Amber loves to collect, so many of her pieces of furniture, art, and accessories are family heirlooms or finds she’s picked up at craft shows and while traveling. “I like to think I have a little bit of a Nancy Meyers type about me,” she says of her style, which combines cottage charm with a laid-back farmhouse feel.

However, she credits a recent connection to Little Rock designer Jeremy Carter, owner of JC Designs and The Shade Above, with elevating her home to the tailored, finished feel it has today. Over the past few years, Jeremy has helped with everything from small room refreshes to a backyard addition. “We’re always tweaking. She’s one of those fun, ongoing clients,” Jeremy says. “She lets me do whatever I want, but I also try to stay in her realm so it feels like her.”

In addition to everyday décor, Jeremy also lends his hand every year around the holidays, embracing and adding to the family’s traditional and vintage decorations. “I’m a classic, Norman Rockwell Christmas kind of guy,” Jeremy says. Boughs of faux greenery with large pinecones, sprigs of red berries, and a tree covered in meaningful ornaments make the home feel cheery while adding to its comfortable air. “I’m so grateful for Jeremy because there are a lot of things I couldn’t have figured out without him,” Amber says. “He’s so good at seeing the big picture. I had pieces I liked, but Jeremy gave us the flair.”

Above: A bountiful bough of faux greenery and pinecones greets guests in the entry, where a chair that once belonged to Amber’s grandmother stands guard year-round.

A family heirloom bookcase and vintage coffee table balance the new upholstered pieces to make the living room feel both cozy and collected.

Pieces of the Past
The kitchen renovation involved pulling down a load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room, necessitating the addition of a beam between the spaces for structural support. “Martin was casually walking through when he heard this and he was like, I have an old beam out at the farm shop,” Amber recalls. Salvaged from a mule barn that was once on the property, parts of the hand-hewn beam were also incorporated into the island. Its rustic feel lends a sense of history to the farmhouse-inspired space.

Collected Charm
Once the formal dining room, the open-concept kitchen allows for a casual dining space adjacent to the island. Jeremy sourced wicker host and hostess chairs, and the rusted Hostess Cupcake sign is a vintage find Amber picked up in Canton, Texas. She painted the artwork above it when they first moved into the house. “It lists all the things we loved at the time. I just can’t seem to part with it,” Amber says. Here and in the kitchen, sprigs of evergreens, red berries, and pinecones point to the holiday season.

Layered & Livable
When the Henrys first moved into the house, Amber and Martin’s room was upstairs with their young daughters. Years later, they relocated the primary bedroom downstairs and took the opportunity to upgrade it, adding a nickel-gap treatment to one wall for architectural interest. When Jeremy started working with them, he introduced a combination of Scalamandre and Holland & Sherry fabrics on the bedding and drapes. “She didn’t have a lot of pattern before because people can get kind of scared of it,” he says. By keeping within a palette of neutrals and soft blues, the new additions fit beautifully with the pieces the couple have collected over the years.

Comfortably Chic
After the Henrys completed their kitchen renovation and added seating at the island, a former breakfast nook became a small sitting area. Jeremy selected cozy swivel chairs in a large gingham plaid, Schumacher drapes, and sconces with custom Holland & Sherry shades to give the room a “finished vibe” he says. “Now it’s one of our favorite places to sit in the mornings with coffee,” Amber says.

Tree Filled with Charm
The Henrys’ Christmas tree is adorned simply with hundreds of meaningful ornaments—including those made by their now-grown daughters, Eleanor and Ellis. “All her ornaments are important to her; she’s been collecting for years,” Jeremy says, noting that the lack of additional ribbon or garland was intentional so as not to detract from the collection. The tree is faux but has a “cut-out-of-the-yard look,” he adds.

All-Year Retreat
After Martin expressed the desire for a place to cook outside, Jeremy dreamed up an addition in the backyard that has space for grilling, serving, and hanging out around the fire. A combination of local cypress, antique bricks, and Arkansas flagstone gives the space character, while durable outdoor furnishings and mounted fans keep it comfortable year-round. Overhead, Jeremy fashioned rattan shades into pendants and hung bistro lights to cast a glow in the evenings. “This is one of those things I could have never planned for, but we use it all the time,” Amber says.

Sun Porch Personality
During the outdoor addition, the Henrys upgraded their enclosed sun porch with central heat and air to make it more usable throughout the seasons. With a dining table, desk, and seating area with a television, it’s a multi-purpose space that now shines with the same mix of new and old as the rest of the house.

“He’s so good at seeing the big picture. I had pieces I liked, but Jeremy gave us the flair.”
—Amber Henry, homeowner

Jeremy brought the Christmas spirit outside with the addition of a small tree adorned with ribbons, beaded strands, baubles, and faux fruits. “I put it in a basket to give it that natural look. We wanted her Christmas to be very authentic,” Jeremy says. Tommy the Bordoodle poses near a pile of presents.

Design Resources
Christmas and interior design Jeremy Carter, JC Designs Accessories Somewhere in Time Antique Mall and Southern Mercantile Antiques Appliances Metro Appliances & More Brick and stone Antique Brick & Block Cabinetry Doyle Bottoms Fabrics and furniture JC Designs and The Shade Above Lighting The Shade Above Rugs Aladdin Rugs