Southern Home January/February 2022

Before & After As we have learned over the past year, customizing our homes to suit our needs and preferences is more important than ever. While living and working from home has presented challenges, it has also allowed us to view our spaces through a new lens. It gave us the opportunity to take a hard look at our surroundings and create functional yet beautiful solutions. Within the pages of this special Before & After issue, you’ll learn how homeowners, designers, and architects worked together to turn dreams into realities. Travel to Atlanta, where an architect worked to update a classic home and give it fresh life for his young family (page 27). On page 53, a Virginia-based designer takes on the challenge of making a new build feel classic and…

1 BALBOA BAR AND COUNTER STOOL BY SERENA & LILY; Hand-woven rattan on a mahogany frame with a tailored cushion; $798–$828; serenaandlily.com 2 BAR AND COUNTER STOOL FROM THE JENS RISOM COLLECTION BY KNOLL; Maple or walnut hardwood frame with cotton or Sunbrella webbing for the ultimate in comfort; starting at $1,262; knoll.com 3 LIBBY BAR AND COUNTER STOOL BY GABBY; Barrel styling with a rounded back and sloping arms; crafted from natural rattan; $1,228–$1,268; gabbyhome.com 4 LULU BAR AND COUNTER STOOL BY FOUR HANDS; Constructed of blonde ash with a saddle leather back and cushion upholstered in performance fabric; $599–$579; fourhands.com 5 OVALE BAR AND COUNTER STOOL BY WOODBRIDGE; An oval-back stool with styling derived from late-18th-century French originals; $735; woodbridgefurniture.com 6 HANALEI BAY COUNTER CHAIR BY UNIVERSAL; Chinese Chippendale-inspired wood frame with a…

Southern Home (SH): What is your earliest memory of beauty or your first endeavor at creating it? Matthew Monroe Bees (MB): Most likely my paternal grandmother’s home in rural Crenshaw County, Alabama. She always had a way of making everything beautiful. I was always one step behind her when I was growing up. My life in design truly began in the garden with her; if she had a spade in her hand, I had one in mine. Growing something beautiful and creating something beautiful are two very different things, but they go hand-in-glove, pun intended. SH: Please share your aha moment, when you realized you were destined to decorate. MB: Oh, gosh—I fought hard against my design instinct. Instead, I wanted to pursue law and eventually run for political office. A very stylish…

In their first book, Finding Home, acclaimed architects Ken Pursley and Craig Dixon explore how to create gracious homes with welcoming entryways, soulful interiors, inviting porches, and ebullient gardens. Founded on the simple principle “build beautiful things,” the architectural team of Pursley Dixon is known for blending elements of tradition with a modern lifestyle. In this volume, they share 15 stunning houses in three distinct styles: rustic mountain escapes, dreamy retreats by the water, and elegant houses in town. Each home featured also has its own thoughtful visual narrative, but all are connected by their sense of proportion, attention to detail, and a marvelous affinity with nature. Also highlighting their own interior design work as well as that of acclaimed decorators such as Suzanne Kasler, Phoebe Howard, and Circa Interiors, Finding…

From award-winning photographer Jessica Klewicki Glynn comes Beachside, a new volume of stunning images. The book presents a wide array of houses, organized by room. Filled with photographs of bougainvillea-framed entrances, airy open-plan living and dining rooms, cozy studies, and bedrooms that open onto balconies with sweeping ocean views, Beachside will inspire anyone yearning for a stylish coastal life. Readers will get an up-close look at Windsor, a planned community that sits on a barrier island in Vero Beach, Florida, and offers elegant yet casual seaside living at its best. This village was planned by the renowned New Urbanists Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater Zyberk and boasts houses by A-list architects and top interior designers, among them John Stefanidis, Steven Gambrel, and Alessandra Branca. The exteriors feature steeply pitched roofs, open…

From design expert Andrew Howard comes Style Comfort Home, a family-friendly interior design book that’s perfect for everyone that craves lively, easy-to-adopt decor ideas that bring a breath of fresh air into a home. Howard knows that design books can be intimidating for the average homeowner, and he wants to change that. “Rooms that are designed with a capital D can seem out of reach,” says Howard. “I think there has to be another way, a middle ground between DIY and high design. I want people to know there are things they can do right now to improve how they live, from placing the furniture in a way that is conducive to good conversation, to choosing the best paint colors, to finding art and accessories that make a house feel…