Nancy Duffey of Scout for the Home won our ad space competition for this issue of "The Beacham Series."
We think her ad looked beautiful, don't you?
I wanted to ask Nancy a few questions about her background, and she was so great to answer. I loved learning more about her story.
So... here we go :)
Blayne: How long have you been interested in Interior Design? Were you one of those kids who always moved the furniture around in their rooms, or did your interest come later?
Nancy: I have been interested in Design my whole life. I can remember in 5 grade getting to design my own room for the first time. Of course I choose a Laura Ashley bedding set which I can still visualize. I would often change around the furniture arrangement of my room. I think its something about being ADD, ha. My mom is just like me, always moving furniture around, so I grew up with someone that loved her home and her things and wanted them to be fresh and look beautiful. Also my godmother was a huge influence, Carolyn Malone. She would let me work for her some summers and that was probably my first start. I would say that was late high school into college though.
B: What did you major in? How has it impacted your career?
N: Unfortunately when I decided to go to Ole Miss they had just taken away the Interior Design major. I wanted to go there so bad so I went into Art History major instead. I think it was a great thing for me but I do miss some of the things that I would have gained from majoring in Interior Design. I think I got to choose what my taste was and find myself in design. I of course love art and got to experience so many different periods while in my major. Its interesting to go to college and none of your friends are taking the same major. Most of my friends were in business so I would always be off to these random buildings for hours at a time. I think I gained some confidence there because I didn't have anyone to lean on.
B: What was your first job out of college?
N: Ha, my first job was an internship with Dan Carithers. Not unlike a lot of my other girlfriends here. I went from there to helping Susan Bozeman a little bit then I landed a job with Keith. It was a new start up interior design firm and it was very exciting at that time.
B. Why did you decide to open Scout for the Home?
N. I thought about opening Scout about 1 1/2 before I actually did. It was a real leap for me. I always knew I would love my own interior design firm but I began to think how hard it would be to just start. So of course this is no original idea but I decided that if I had a store then it would kind of round out my firm. I was also engaged to Ryan whom also worked at Keith's office and thought it would be nice to have separate jobs before we came back together at some point in our careers.
B: How did you decide on the name "Scout For The Home?"
N: I struggled with names a lot. Then someone said "why don't you name it Scout". I was like well that is perfect but it has to have something else right. So my mom came up with the "For the Home". My dog is named Scout. She is named after my favorite book "To Kill a Mockingbird". I liked the play on words. It's not original as I have come to find out but it makes me happy.
B: I know you recently renovated your own home. How did that go? Are you pleased with the renovation?
N: I LOVE our home. My husband worked so hard on that renovation. He did such a good job.
This is the house before it was renovated.
We really transformed the whole front of the house.
I have lived there for 5 years now and renovated twice, so I think this is the last time for that at this location, ha.
I will say we added a fireplace and screened porch and those are my two favorite things.
B: How did you go about designing your own home? Was it different that designing for a client? How?
N: Well that process is definitely not over. I have a very hard time doing my own home because I see new cool things all the time so I change my mind constantly. I am just not like that with clients, ha. Now my house is very neutral white, flax, brown, and grays. The downstairs is all one room so it has to flow well. I love the palette because it is so calming.
B: What are your plans for the future?
N: That’s an interesting question right now. As me in 6 months, ha. We are planning to live in our home for another 4 or 5 years then I am sure we will move and redo another house. I can see in our lifetime having many moves. Both Ryan and I love to redo and change so that makes for an interesting set of homes. I think that I will expand the store at some point, but never huge. I would just like a little more space. I love designing and have some fabulous clients right now so hopefully I will be lucky enough to keep doing that. This has been a very interesting first year but so much fun and worth every second. I love what I do so hopefully I will be able to continue it!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Nancy! I have loved getting to work with you through this whole ad competition. I love your store and everything you plan to do! I can't wait to see all you do.
To Learn more about Nancy please check out her website and her blog.
Thanks everyone for reading! COme back tomorrow to learn about the two FANTASTIC sales that have happened at Beacham & Company in the past week!!
Keith Summerour, An Interview
As many of you who read this blog regularly know, I am a huge fan of Keith Summerour's. Click here to see the post. The earlier post gives some background information on this amazing architect. He designed many of my favorite homes in Atlanta, including this Glennis Beacham listings.
5229 Riverview Road
Architect: Keith Summerour
Builder: Benecki Fine Homes
Landscape Architect: Joe Gayle
6 Bedrooms
7 Full, 1 Half Bath
Carriage House
More Than 3 Gated Acres
It has been featured on the cover of "The Beacham Series."
After listening to The Skirted Roundtable podcast the other day when they interviewed Grant K. Gibson, I got inspired to to interview someone myself. I wrote Keith Summerour an e-mail and asked him some questions about the house. He was so kind to respond.
Blayne: Since I do not have a background in architecture, it is sometimes hard for me to figure out exactly what style a house is. I have gone back and forth with this particular style, because I feel like it is something more than just “European.” I have settled on mission revival style. Am I close?
Keith:"The style is English, influenced by the work of Charles Voysey. He was an English Architect and furniture designer who also designed wall papers and fabrics."
Don't worry guys, I went ahead and did the research for you...
According to Wikipedia, Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857–1941) was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a simple Arts and Crafts style, but he is renowned as the architect of a number of notable country houses. He was one of the first people to understand and appreciate the significance of industrial design. He has been considered one of the pioneers of Modern Architecture, a notion which he rejected. His English domestic architecture draws heavily on vernacular rather than academic tradition, influenced by the ideas of Herbert Tudor Buckland (1869–1951) and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852). Voysey designed every detail of his houses, including the furniture. His houses were inspired by English vernacular sources of the 16th and early 17th centuries, featuring white roughcast walls with horizontal ribbon windows and huge pitched roofs, and used rough plaster, slate and other materials typical of English farmhouses.
Here are some example of Voysey's work...
I can absolutely see the influence! Can't you? I think the very first picture is the best match to 5229 Riverview. What do you think?
Back to the interview...
Blayne:What was your inspiration for the courtyard in front of the home? I am not sure I have ever been inside a home where I have to walk by the pool to the front door. I love it! It’s such a secluded space, and the spa area with the fireplace is just amazing. Have you done that on any of your other homes?
Kieth: "I am not sure where the idea for the pool came from, it was the only place for a pool on the property so I thought that the intimacy of the water seemed the right thing to do."
I absolutely agree with his decision. This pool area is so private, and it really sets the scene and mood as you walk into the home. Here is the view from the pool courtyard.
I could look out at that, couldn't you?
Blayne:The front door of this home is amazing. I noticed it is very similar to the doors you used in your personal home featured in Garden and Gun. Are the doors the same?
Keith: "The doors are the same as the ones I used at my tower."
Here is a picture of Keith's tower from the Garden and Gun article...
And here is a photo of the door from Riverview Road.
Blayne:Every time I write about this house I lead with the stairway. Even though I try to change it up, I always settle with something like, “the three-level, wrought iron suspended stairway is truly the heart of this home.” It is! Did you design the rest of the home around this central staircase.
Keith:"I did design the home around that stair case. It was the core idea and it actually made the house efficient to layout."
I just want to say thank you to Keith Summerour one more time! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions.
Before I leave you guys, I wanted to give you a quick tour through the rest of the home.
This is the Bronze fountain you see before you walk into the courtyard.
This is the view walking through the front door. You can see the dining room through the doors and then the staircase beyond.
Dining Room. You could go to the right here and go into the formal living room, or take a left and go into the family room and kitchen.
The family room.
And the kitchen. You can see the breakfast room through the kitchen.
If you took a left you would go down the back hall.
There is an office space directly to the left of where I'm standing, and a guest room to the right.
Guest Room.
Let's go back to the Living Room.
And finally we will go up and see the master.
Now back outside...
Joe Gayle did an unbelievable job on the landscape architecture. Hope you enjoyed the tour through the home!
Please be sure to check out Keith Summerour's book.
For those of you interested in the photography aspect, these images were not taken with HDR. If you go back to my last post and look at the images, can you tell a difference?
Question, did you enjoy the interview? Did you think it helped you understand the house? What questions would you have asked? Is this a feature we should try again?