A star designer, Washington’s Pamela Hughes made a little history of her own as the interior designer of The Cloister at Sea Island, a five-star historic resort, after a $350 million renovation.

In 2003, the original building was razed. The new Cloister hotel, as well as The Spa at Sea Island, have been painstakingly rebuilt to capture the essence, charm and history of the original buildings. After interviewing several interior design firms, Washington’s own Pamela Hughes was chosen to design The Cloister and The Spa at Sea Island – two of the resort’s most lauded buildings.

The design team began by poring over old photos and original Mizner drawings in The Cloister archives. “We got our hands on everything we possibly could and just devoured it. We read all the books about Sea Island, Mizner and Palm Beach architecture,” Hughes recalled of the experience. “It was really fun to put ourselves into Mizner’s head and try to visualize how he would have designed these rooms.”

When it came to furnishings, Hughes coupled old world craftsmanship with modern ingenuity. For the 750 custom designed rugs, she enlisted the help of her friend, rug specialist George Jervremovic, in employing workers in numerous villages in Turkey. Rugs were made with natural vegetable dyes on the same looms used over 200 years ago by early weavers. “Nowhere in the world will you see a collection like this,” she said, adding that it seemed as if “all of Turkey knew about The Cloister.”

Fine art was purchased from galleries and collectors throughout the U.S. and Europe. Many of the works are from the American South, emphasizing the Sea Island landscape. Hughes received assistance from local gallery owner Laura Guarisco, who canvassed the New York and London galleries for paintings of appropriate age and genre.