Open space in a home can be hard to come by for some homeowners. Many can struggle with furnishing rooms without hitting that tipping point at which a room is overcrowded. But for Mary Parker Liles, open space is not a problem.

Liles’ Cypress Landing home is full of space. Twenty-foot ceilings give the living room and den an open feel, and multi-paned, modified Palladian windows allow plenty of natural light to shine in the two-story contemporary brick home, something that Liles says gives the home an inviting feel to it.

Walking through the front door, mahogany double doors with oval-etched glass open up to a foyer marked by tall ceilings and a sweeping staircase. Two upstairs bedrooms and a guest suite empty out onto a balcony overlooking the den and dining rooms. Lilies moved into the home in 2007 with her family, making the open space that much more necessary.

“When I came to look at this and showed the kids, my daughter said she could visualize herself coming down the stairs to go to prom,” Liles said.

In the kitchen, granite counters top the six-seat bar, a two-seat island with a vegetable sink and bottom cabinets. A gas range with a middle grill and a double sink make for a perfect space for the aspiring gourmet chef. Liles, being an avid cook, uses the kitchen frequently to prepare meals for herself, family and friends when having family gatherings and other social events, she said.

“Cooking is a creative process where you need a little space to move around. I love entertaining family and friends and being able to host them and enjoy their company while I’m cooking and preparing food is great,” Liles said. “There is plenty of space for lots of people. The gatherings end up with plenty of people around the kitchen without them getting in my way.”

The kitchen leads to a pantry across from a nook that doubles as a wine bar and opens into the dining area, highlighted by a crystal chandelier. The dining room is a perfect place for family dinners and holiday feasts, Liles said.

A gas granite fireplace, powered with the flip of an electrical switch, marks the great room and arched nooks to either side of it are stocked with decorative pieces, books and vases. The room is full of family heirlooms and antiques dating back to as early as the mid-1700s, some of which were built by Liles’ ancestors, she said.

Out back, one steps onto a concrete veranda that leads down to a yard surrounded by a single concave wooden fence, and a retaining wall elevates the yard. An in-ground pool is surrounded by flora of all kinds — banana trees, palmetto trees, crepe myrtles, several kinds of fruit trees and other plants native to the region — a nod to Liles’ green thumb.

“One of my favorite things about this house is I keep the pool open year-round,” Lilies said. “The sunlight glimmers off my pool and makes patterns of shining light on my ceiling. I’m also an avid gardener, and the space around the pool has inspired my creativity and my gardening, and I love doing big mixed pots of plants and growing tropical plants, which is one of my favorite things to do.”

Liles said the home has allowed her to enjoy some of her favorite hobbies and even expand on those hobbies, and with two kids in college and out-of-state family, it’s also allowed her to be the one who steps up and hosts extended family for holidays and special occasions.

“I love having family visit from out of town and having gatherings of friends and family,” Liles said. “The home has allowed me to not only continue some of my favorite hobbies and pastimes, but it’s even allowed to expand on some of those hobbies and try new things.”