Text: Tiffany Adams Photography: Dustin Peck An empty, lakeside lot in an established Raleigh neighborhood seemed like a too-good-to-be-true scenario, but it’s exactly where dreams began to take shape for Mary Margaret and Kade Ross and their two young children. Planning to build a forever home, they assembled a team that included builder John Sanders, architect Carter Skinner, and interior designer Katherine Connell. “I try to get my clients to think ahead when they are building,” Sanders says. “Your kids are going to grow and be bigger than they are now, so you need to make sure there’s spa ..read more

Text: Margaret Zainy Roux Photography: Jessie Preza “Growing up, there was always that one house where all the kids would end up, and I wanted our home to be ‘that house’ for our twelve-year-old daughter and her friends,” says interior designer Tiffany Hinton of Lola Interiors. How could it not be? Located on one acre overlooking the river, the Hintons’ Amelia Island new build boasts resort-style amenities—a gym, pool, and putting green, to name a few—combined with all the comforts of home. The neighborhood tweens are not the only ones who have declared the residence their de facto headquarte ..read more

Text and Styling: Charlotte Safavi Photography: Robert Radifera “My design philosophy is steadfast: I believe home should wholeheartedly reflect you and the story of your family. It is intimate, very personal, and a constantly evolving canvas,” says interior designer Alex Deringer of Deringer Design when speaking of the 1912 renovated farmhouse she has shared with her husband and three children for 12 years. Since then, the four-bedroom 4,850-square-foot Alexandria, Virginia, home sits upon two beautifully landscaped acres by Suzanne Fyffe. The footprint of the original farmhouse incorporates ..read more

Text: Sherry Moeller Photography: Kelli Boyd Wanting a second home designed for entertaining and filled with bright tones, the owners of this new build in the resort community of Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina were introduced to Shell Neely of Kelly Caron Designs by their builder, H2 Builders. Known for her bold use of color, Neely immediately hit it off with the owners, especially after seeing several wallpapers from one of the owner’s favorite artists, Kerri Rosenthal. “When the homeowner showed me pictures of her wallpaper inspiration, I knew we were going to get along and this was going ..read more

In Gil Schafer’s third book, Home at Last: Enduring Design for the New American House, the award-winning architect invites readers into eight gorgeous residences, each with its own unique story and celebration of craftsmanship and creativity. From a shingle-style home to a Colonial Revival to a winter retreat in Florida, Schafer’s work embodies the best in classical design and architectural longevity while remaining adaptive to the ebb and flow of life as it evolves over years, and even generations. Schafer brings each home to life with illustrated floor and site plans in addition to personal ..read more

Text: Karen Carroll Photos courtesy of Duke Design Group Southern Home (SH): Tell us about your early memories of being in the garden. Gavin Duke (GD): I grew up in rural Arkansas, and in the summers, my parents would create a vegetable garden, which I helped tend. It wasn’t big, although it seemed so to me as a child. Each grandparent also had a plot at their houses. We were growing a lot of our own food, canning, and storing things in season. My maternal grandfather was a carpenter, and I also developed a curiosity about building blocks and nailing things together at an early age. Combining ..read more

Home is as much a feeling as it is a physical presence. In The Landscape of Home: In the Country, by the Sea, in the City, Edmund Hollander takes readers through richly diverse projects and shares how he seamlessly designs the landscaping to perfectly complement the house. His choices of hard surfaces are sensitive to the materials used on the house, and the details of the landscape design are always totally compatible with the architecture. Throughout, Hollander discusses essential elements in his firm’s work: the importance of the procession of entry to a house as well as its context in the ..read more

Text: Linda MaCarthur, AIA Summertime is not the only time that it’s easy to be outside. In the South, with our temperate climate and easygoing lifestyle, we can be outside year-round, and this seems to be a trend we’re seeing all over the country. In fact, outdoor living has become an obsession, and as architects, we love it. Long-standing historical references as well as new trends make outdoor living areas one of the favorite parts of any house. Your home should add to your wellness, and it’s the connectivity to the world outside that provides a sense of well-being. Without even realizing i ..read more

Text: Jennifer Boles Trellises have been fixtures in well-appointed gardens since ancient times. Conceived as an upright support for climbing vines, whose tendrils could weave up and through the lattice design, wooden trelliswork is believed to have first been employed by Egyptian gardeners. In turn, adopted throughout the Far and Middle East, trellises were also used in ancient Rome, even earning an appearance in one of Pompeii’s surviving wall frescoes. Centuries later, trellises figured prominently in medieval European gardens, which were notable for their semi-enclosed spaces. Entwined wit ..read more

Photography: Emily Followill Lathem Gordon and Cate Dunning of GordonDunning designed this Atlanta home for a young family who had lived in the home for a couple of years and were ready to make it feel like home. Atlanta Home Redesign: GordonDunning Crafts an Eclectic, Artful Oasis for a Young Family Atlanta Home Redesign: GordonDunning Crafts an Eclectic, Artful Oasis for a Young Family Atlanta Home Redesign: GordonDunning Crafts an Eclectic, Artful Oasis for a Young Family Atlanta Home Redesign: GordonDunning Crafts an Eclectic, Artful Oasis for a Young Family Atlanta Home Redesign: Go ..read more