The 2024 Southern Living Idea House

There’s no such thing as a bad view from the 2024 Southern Living Idea House in Kiawah River, a coastal community just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Out front, a live oak stretches its moss-covered limbs, reaching towards the neighboring farm. Behind, Abbapoola Creek laps the marshy shoreline, welcoming abundant wildlife. This natural wonderland dictated nearly every choice we made as we built our Sea Island farmhouse, from its careful position on the lot to the earthy color palette and scenery-highlighting windows. Read on to meet the Palmetto State visionaries who brought our salty, storied Idea House to life.

Meet The Team

Allison Elebash, Designer

Allison Elebash Interior Design
“Often, my instinct for a color palette is brighter greens and blues, But there was something about this house, where it sits facing the water and the marsh,” Allison says. “The marsh grass changes hues through the seasons. In the summer, it’s a soft green; i the fall, it’s a golden brown; and in the winter, it turns aubergine.Those were the shades that we drew from for the palette.” She brought the nature-informed plan to life alongside senior designerNatalie Whicker. Allison was inspired by her surroundings in other ways too: “I’m amazed by how much talent we have in Charleston and wanted to highlight that wherever possible.”

Tom Dillard, Builder

Dillard-Jones
“It was important to make this place look like it could have been here for a long time...not just in the architecture, but in the materials—the cedar shingles, the painted lap siding, the copper. We tried to choose things that could’ve been used years ago and that blend in with the surroundings,” explainsTom. “But there’s a lot of technology packed into it, so though the home appears like it’s been here for a while, it’s performing like it’s new.”

Kirsten Schoettelkotte, Architect

MHK Architecture
“It helps tell a story,” says Kirsten of the architectural form, which was guided by her archival research of coastal South Carolina farmhouses and hours spent driving backroads.“I want somebody to walk up to it and feel like the trees grew around it,” she adds about the project, which architectural associate Josef Pautsch contributed to. “If it had been here forever, this is how it would have grown.”

Scott Parker, Landscape Architect

DesignWorks
“In the South, we have a deep connection to our natural environment,” says Scott, who together with designer Diandre Sunner created a combination of formal and organic spaces.“We planned this landscape so that it’s not just something that you glance at but that it’s also something you actually inhabit and are drawn to. You have this innate feeling that you want to be out there.”

John Darby, Developer

Kiawah River
“We kept coming back to life onJohns Island—what it’s been for decades, if not centuries. Farming, this idea of living off the land, and nature kept resonating,” says John. “This place has an aura about it that just makes you calm down. It’s not a big, robust life. It’s quiet.The culture here is focused on preserving the agricultural past with local farmers and different organizations as well as a commitment to environ-mental stewardship.”

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Local Artisans

Andrea "Annie" Cayetano-Jefferson

A collection of sweetgrass baskets by this sixth-generation Gullah artist are featured on a wall in the primary bedroom hall. Basket weaving is one of the oldest African art forms still practiced in the United States, notes the creative, and it can be traced back to enslaved people. Cayetano-Jefferson (shown above, at left) learned her craft from her aunts and mother, and now she's passing on the tradition to her daughter Chelsea (shown above, at right), as well.

Rebecca Atwood

The artistry of this textile designer and painter reveals itself throughout the house, from the camellias that she hand painted on the powder room's grasscloth wallpaper to the whimsical wallpaper and fabric that wrap the upstairs primary. Much of her work is inspired by the natural beauty of her native Cape Cod, as well as that of her current home base of Charleston, South Carolina: The mural in the entry hall, for example, is based on trees that grow in downtown's Hampton Park.

Stephanie Summerson Hall

Inspired by her grandmother's own love of rainbow-hued dishes, Hall launched Estelle Colored Glass in October 2019, peddling drinking vessels and cake plates that reflect a nostalgic take on elevated style. You'll spot Hall's Instagram-famous couples, flutes, and wine glasses in a number of the home's entertaining spaces, including the friends' entrance and the second-floor den. Wherever they're displayed, the jewel-toned stemware lends another layer of decorative flair.

Isaac Morton

It wouldn't be a Southern kitchen without a cast iron skillet (or five), and the founder of Smithey Ironware offers a modern take on the culinary heirloom, marrying the hardworking classic with new technology. The collection of hand-forged cookware ranges from cast iron flat-top griddles to carbon steel woks, and they all come with a lifetime guarantee, plus you can engrave them for extra-special gifts.. Smithey even has a Restoration Shop, where they'll service cast iron (their brand or your own hand-me-down treasures) in need of a little TLC.

Tour Our Idea House

The 2024 Southern Living Idea House is open August 9 through December 22—Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Buy tickets at dillardjones.com. A portion of the proceeds goes to Communities In Schools of South Carolina, Sea Island Habitat for Humanity, and the Mother Emanuel Memorial Foundation.