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Design Perspectives

Ya'll Come Back Now, Ya Hear?
For refined and for informal living spaces, we're still inspired by Sothern Hospitality.

by Karla Nielson, ASID Allied Member,WCAA

America has a Deep South Tradition. It is synonymous with a unique kind of hospitality that makes us want to return again and again to the Sunbelt, and especially to the homes of those we are lucky enough to know are true Southerners—people not only with that wonderful, infectious Southern accent, but whose manners convey a genuine warmth for people.

You may remember an early black-and-white television sitcom, “The Beverly Hillbillies,” about a family who struck oil on their Deep South property and consequently moved to Beverly Hills, CA, bringing their backwoods ways with them. The neighbors were shocked and dismayed at their antics, but the audience fell in love with this family of misfits who exposed the modern corporate world to the open-door policy and love-of-life disdained by the uptight wealthy class in their zeal to convey perfection in order to impress one another.

And long before the first television sets, right back to the Colonial era, residents of southern states seemed to take it as a personal responsibility to educate their Northern neighbors about how to treat guests with genuine hospitality.

Of the many historic examples of this graciousness, President Thomas Jefferson stands out as an icon of Southern Hospitality. As the pen of the documents that emerged from the Continental Congress, this brilliant young man was sought before and after he became the leader of our fledgling independent nation. Following his years in the capital, he retired to his beloved Monticello (his home built from 1768 to 1782), where he fulfilled his dream with the creation of a Roman-style Federal home atop a knoll near Charlottesville, VA.

He equipped this lovely planter’s home with many of his own inventions: the cannonball clock, his writing desk and arrangement of his bedroom to take notes when inspired thoughts awoke him, his dramatically effective skylight and Greek-inspired architecture. Perhaps the most ingenious invention was the dumbwaiter in the fireplace mantle used to draw liquor from the cellar so servants would not hear the politically sensitive conversations while his guests enjoyed refreshment.

To visit someone during these critical Colonial years was more than just a visit. It was often a stay of several weeks, making the laborious journey worthwhile. Jefferson was so profoundly respected and sought-out that parties would come and stay, enjoying the lavish spread of meals that came from his own gardens, made successful from his study and travels where he brought back seeds and learned crop rotation. Although this tradition of hospitality left him nearly bankrupt in the end, he never failed to provide a warm and welcoming experience for his guests.

Among his architectural inventions were triple-hung sash windows, serving also as doors to his gardens. Thus was born the home connected with its environs, where beauty reigned inside and out. Jefferson made plain his joy and satisfaction in creating order and beauty. He was an architect and a fine interior designer who enjoyed decorating for the season.

He was also an intellect and endowed with great wisdom, so that visiting him was important training for the finest minds of the day. His tenure in the White House was without his wife; he was a widower whose niece acted as First Lady, becoming the gracious hostess required for the many dinners and receptions. History has indeed bequeathed to us a rich heritage of good manners.

A RETURN TO GRACIOUS LIVING
One of my favorite teachers in my early college days used to say, “We need a return to gracious living.” Thirty-two years later I am still pondering her words and wondering how to imbue my life and the lives of those I know and serve with an element of graciousness. Certainly three ingredients are: personal interest in your guests, stimulating intelligent conversation, and good food and appropriate beverages. As important, perhaps, is an environment where visitors can feel accepted, uplifted, nourished and thus rejuvenated.

And it is important that they are inspired by their surroundings. Never at any time in our history have so many beautiful and elegant homes in the Southern Tradition been created, and never before have there been so many intimate gatherings of friends and family in these lovely, gracious settings. Quiet, at-home entertaining of large and small groups with people dressed in many different colors, means that backgrounds must serve to make the people feel important. These interiors should bring about feelings of happiness and security.

LAVISH LUXURY
Interiors of the Deep South are often lavish, elegant and refined. Often two directions of color schemes are seen repeatedly, which give opulence to any interior. One is drenched in white and is filled with pretty, almost ethereal, colors that expand space and seem to cool down an interior. This whitewashed effect laced with trellis and flowers evokes a light and romantic feeling and seems to lighten cares and gently caresses the mind with softness and refinement.

Another direction in Southern luxury is the deep, jewel-like intense palette of the Empire Period. The pre-Civil War era or antebellum period reached its architectural zenith during the American Empire and early Victorian eras. During these years prior to the 1860s, American interiors were heavily influenced by French Napoleonic Empire furnishing styles, colors and motifs. Imperial Roman Red is a color of rich, welcoming hospitality. Red enlivens the taste buds and connects the synapse. People in red rooms have more intelligent or stimulating conversations, feel hungrier and eat heartily—even the taste buds are more alive in red rooms.

Following a satisfying meal and/or refreshments, the power of red mellows into a warm and comforting experience where guests feel enveloped and welcomed for the entire stay. Red with orange, first enjoyed in Europe during the French Renaissance period, produces a coral-family red. The addition of yellow as an undertone imbues the red with keener intelligence, as yellow is the color that most stimulates the logic and thinking process. Thus, rich hues from the coral family encourage conversation.

Empire-inspired interiors of the Southern Hospitality vein are most often overlaid with three other eras that combine to create contemporary interiors—rich and transitional—at home in gracious and elegant settings. The level of sophistication and of formality is a personal matter, but all who desire to enjoy refinement may find it among colors, patterns and furnishings of these combined eras.

Gold as a wall covering or paint color is found in both the Empire and also the American Late Georgian eras when it appeared directly as old Chinese gold utilized by Thomas Chippendale. The Late Georgian era also was a blossoming of the Italian Renaissance colors in America. Today we have found gold a gloriously rich and satisfying color for both living and entertaining. It is a profound color that evokes hunger and thirst (emotions guests like to feel so that satiation is more satisfying). Gold also is a color that assures the guest that the host is well-situated—assuring the impression of wealth. Gold is, however, a potentially overwhelming color, and usually must be relieved with lighter hues in order to not become oppressive. This takes the form of light hues on ceilings, on floors and filtering window treatments that bring a natural cast to outside light.

A key to contemporary traditional design as seen in the first three photos here is that the more intense the color, the more light hues are required to balance the effect. In historic interiors we often saw more furnishings that were deep brown or off-black and, when combined with vivid colors, the effect was heavy, cave-like and almost foreboding. This approach rarely finds favor today. Rather, today’s savvy homeowners like a look that speaks of carefree richness.

Although many people do obtain paid cleaning services, the days of indentured servitude are obsolete. We want materials that repel dirt, that clean easily and with minimum effort and, better yet, that look clean even if dust is present. In short, less clutter, more clean. We simply don’t have time for polishing and detail cleaning.

THE LIGHT SIDE—EASY LIVING
The combination of gracious living and easy living today yields a new generation in Southern charm and hospitality. This kind of life is indoor-outdoor living and entertaining. For these interiors, choose furnishing elements that are less formal yet still beautiful. Specifically, hard flooring near doors that lead to patios, courtyards or swimming pools; lighter colors on walls; and simpler window treatments, sometimes even
bare windows if the exterior yard assures nighttime privacy.

Protecting against the damage of the sun in the Sunbelt can be accomplished with exterior awnings, architectural elements such as handsome porch roofing and columns, or it may be the addition of a quality window film that filters ultraviolet light.

This casual lifestyle need not preclude elegant furnishings, but usually is not composed entirely of precious things. A few lighthearted items echo the simplicity of hard, low-upkeep surfaces. Guests may come indoors dripping wet and so the furnishings need to be more impervious to damage than interiors not connected to the outdoors.

For both refined and elegant interiors and spaces that connect outdoor living to indoor living, we continue to be inspired and appreciative of the tradition of Southern Hospitality that says to us, “Come in. Rest a spell. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?”