Southern Lady #6 Jan/Feb Southern Style Spring

When Virginia couple Winston and Sarah Price moved into his parents’ 1906 house, known as Whiskey Hill, they knew they wanted “colorful, unexpected” décor, and they knew the designer who could help them achieve it. “Color is kind of my thing,” says Mary Hannon Reid, a longtime friend and North Carolina interior designer who had worked on three previous projects in the Richmond area with the Prices. “I love using color. I’m very confident in my choices, even if they are not the norm.” The vivid hot pinks, emerald greens, richly saturated blues, and deep golds that Mary Hannon chose for the décor lend a singular freshness to the colonial farmhouse. Every architectural detail of the structure is traditional—dentil crown moldings, wood flooring, mantels. Even most of the windows are original to…

Turning an uninhabited Hilton Head property into a new nest for a growing young family was no easy task, but designer Sharon Cleland had an instant connection with her clients that made all the difference. Before joining J. Banks Design, Sharon ran a successful design firm in her native Ireland. During her initial meeting with the homeowners, she learned that one of them had British roots. Their shared British Isles heritage produced a shorthand to the design process. “The property was purchased by a young couple from California expecting their first child,” Sharon says. “They wanted a very elegant Lowcountry-style home that was conducive to family entertaining. And because she’s English, we had a different approach to the design.” Sharon introduced British colonial elements to the Southern seaside aesthetic. She installed plantation…

The furnishings of designer Jan Ware’s 1928 home seem to whisper of stories to tell. From a cocktail table with carved deer legs to a ring of crystal birds perched on a dining-room chandelier, each is a showpiece adding notes of character, personality, and whimsy to the space it occupies. The home is a work in progress, constantly evolving and changing as Jan finds a new object to admire. “I just pick things that I love and incorporate them into my style,” says the Birmingham, Alabama, designer. The result is a beautiful mix of traditional antiques, modern pieces, and an ever-growing collection of local artwork. One element that helps tie the design all together is Jan’s love for textiles. She enjoys breathing life into pieces by reupholstering them and adding the tactile…

Mitzi and Mark Knust dreamed of a coastal getaway, a place of respite to share with their friends, grown children, and new grandchildren. While their original intention was to custom-tailor a modern retreat from the ground up, the Knusts stumbled upon a diamond in the rough that offered an unmatched waterfront view of Galveston Bay in Texas. Eager to breathe new life into the dark and dated house and make it truly shine, they enlisted the expertise of interior designer Marie Flanigan. From floors to countertops to walls, nearly every surface was reimagined and refreshed without major reconstruction. “Our end goal was to update and streamline, creating a fresh new gathering space for their family that pays homage to their contemporary sense of style,” Marie says. A subdued palette of cream,…

When the Anderson family stumbled upon this 1970s cottage on North Carolina’s scenic Lake Norman, about an hour from their Wilkesboro home, there was an instant connection. “The view is absolutely priceless,” homeowner and designer Erin Anderson says. “The second we walked in, we knew we had to have it.” Inside, they were struck by another view: a stunning two-story, double-sided river rock fireplace that separates the living room from the kitchen and soars into a vaulted ceiling, with prominent wood beams stretching through both spaces. With such a great foundation in place, the Andersons went years without changing a thing, but the project never strayed far from Erin’s mind. “I had been redesigning the house in my head for several years and knew exactly what I wanted to do,” she…

When designers Joann Kandrac and Kelly Kole first visited the Smyrna, Georgia, home of Karee Lang and Page Porter, they saw no discernible signs of the couple’s effervescent personalities. Despite large windows and open spaces, the rooms felt dim and generic. Intense color schemes and heavy furnishings seemed as anonymous as a furniture store showroom. “The house was so impersonal,” Kelly says. “They didn’t have family pictures up, didn’t have art that meant something to them, and there was no reflection of their lives together.” She and Joann set out to make the homestead as vibrant as its occupants, adding meaningful pieces and an array of global influences. The personal touches start in the foyer with a hand-carved Thai lotus art piece, which reminds the owners of past overseas excursions and…