Those are all so romantic and beautiful.

I love visiting NOLA just to see those porches.

In the summer, everything sticks to you. I think of southern style including architectural elements and furnishings that enhance cooling. Wide breezeways. Linen and cotton fabrics. Shade awnings. Tropical plants. Tall glassware. Fans.

There's DEFINITELY a Southern style.

Aside from "skyscraper cities" like Atlanta, Houston or Dallas, Southerners have a deep appreciation of old things, especially 19th century stuff. It's one of the few regions where antique dealers can still make a living. When I visit family in Louisiana, the only time I see MCM is when someone's grandparents are still using with their 1960s living room suite.

Southern style isn't really kitsch, but the Victorian aesthetic IS a bit ornate for Northern taste.

I was born and raised in North Carolina. Spanish moss, painted porch ceilings, wicker: definitely southern. Not so sure about the tassels, or rather, those tassels. I tend to see the more traditional upholstery tassels a bit. Heirlooms are big down here since we're so family-oriented (the longer your family has been in the south, the better!), so silver service, silverware, and well-built wooden tables are everywhere. Big rose gardens are built into the memory of many a-southerner, and unfortunately the "pink and green" aesthetic is also very big. There's something a bit prudish about a lot of design down here, as well--very innocent and clean.

Not just "painted ceilings", but haint blue painted ceilings!

Savannah, baby, Savannah.

I don't think that "Salvaged pieces..." are particularly "Southern Style" any more than they might be "New England" or "Midwestern".

When I think "Southern Style" I think of wide wrap-around porches with Neo-Classical columns and pediments, broad manicured lawns dotted with magnolia trees, wrought iron fences and balcony railings, ornately carved oversized heirloom mahogany furniture, fringed silk or painted glass lampshades, sweetened iced tea, pineapple motifs as doorknockers & fenceposts, silver julep cups, brass hardware, huge cast-iron clawfoot tubs set in the middle of what used to be a bedroom, outdoor "Canning Kitchens", ladies who say "Bless Her Heart" when speaking ill of a neighbor...

How exciting a "southern style" article. I live right outside of Baton Rouge and was much more south in Houma, LA. I just bought a house and am trying to incorporate the southern style that I adore (my family isn't from here so I probably appreciate it more than others :) ) without of course being tacky. Then I tend to get more modern pieces and you should see how hard it is to mesh all that together!! Ha... Geaux Tigers!

All that frou frou stuff may be what is thought of as Southern, but I'd just like to point out that the Triangle (raleigh-durham-chapel hill, nc) has the 4th greatest concentration of modernist homes in the country.

yay for a southern post--now to get a Miami edition!

(love the haint blue porch ceiling--but it doesn't fit my mcm ranch!)

Wrought iron for sure (it's everywhere here in Charleston). Milk Glass/Carnival glass. Palm tree themes. Sleeping porches. Porch swings. Jasmine.

I've lived my whole life in the deep south (still am here!) and my family on both sides is southern for generations. I think the most obvious way the south varies from other regions' styles is exterior--both home architecture and gardening. Architecture: big porches with seating areas, wide windows, central front door, neoclassical details. Most people think of these characteristics in big "southern plantation" type homes, but you also see them in smaller homes throughout the south. Gardens: camellias (blooming now!), magnolias, gardenias, hydrangeas, and a variety of oak trees all are common. Very symmetrical landscaping is typical. (Actually, symmetry is common in all areas of southern style.)

I do disagree with the article that southerners are kitschy (some are--but there is kitsch in all regions), but will agree that we tend to be more traditional (both in aesthetics and in lifestyle). Even more modern southern interiors often still include a family antique.

AT--I'm so glad you'll be blogging from a southern city!

Finally!! Atlanta representation! Welcome Claire!

big porches with painted ceilings and painted wooden floors, rocking chairs. Wall papers and upholstery printed with large botanicals (pineapples and palm fronds are popular). Heavy concrete planters and wrought iron. All popular details in the south. I live in a modest ranch though and love MCM, even in SC.

Pineapples are an old symbol of hospitality. They are meant to show travelers and visitors that they are welcome.

Just so you know.

jelly containers for drinking glasses :)

I recently visited Savannah, and saw ceiling fans in the outdoor porches! Definitely not something done up here in the north.

I just want to sink into one of those wicker chairs. I love this style.

I'll be traveling to New Orleans for the first time in a few weeks--does anyone happen to know of any architecture tours in the area? I've tried to search online but did not come up with much.

As someone who inherited a whole bunch of Southern antiques AND MCM, I have no qualms about mixing it up.

In fact, my very proper Southern lady mother is the master at it - putting alabaster marble pineapple lamps on top of Paul McCobb bedside tables, a 1960's gray leather lounge chair next to an antique oil portrait of a relative circa the civil war era, and mixing her bentwood Cherner chairs (now mine, btw) with the Georgian style dining room table and sideboard that she in turn inherited from her Grandmother. Also little things too such as mixing her mid-century style amber wedding crystal with antique silverware or the bright flowered Marimeko sheets with an old plantation bed. Somehow it all just worked, without a kitsch factor in the bunch.

Southern style. It ain't one style. It's an approach.

But I agree, there are elements that are consistent, and y'all have pretty much nailed them.

And New Orleans is a world all unto it's own, with intense Caribbean influences and colors rarely used in other parts of the US, or South for that matter. There's also the extra interior design challenge of decorating shotgun floor plans.

universal mod- if you like to walk you can break it up over a couple of day on your own. The St. Charles Avenue Streetcar line is a great way to see the Garden District, and around the zoo are some amazing homes. Lots of Classic Greek Revival and some Italianate Style.

Here is a website that offers tours- the garden tours which are big there so are the cemeteries.
http://www.tour-new-orleans.com/garden-district.htm

I would contact their public library to see what else is offered.

I do not like the quarters but the around them and the outer part is fascinating and beautiful.

And the food!

universal mod-
Don't miss the cemetaries, they are amazing! I hope they didn't suffer too much damage from Katrina (I haven't been back since '03), but they were definitely my favorite part of New Orleans. The architecture of the monuments is just mind-blowing.

I'd suggest taking an organized cemetery tour. Don't go by yourself, you'll probably get mugged.

Roam around the French Quarter for sure, especially the residential areas (headed east, away from the CBD). The Gallier House is a great example of a Victorian townhome in the Quarter, beautifully restored. HIGHLY recommend the tour there, and not just because I used to work there.

Upper Garden District, First Street, et al - Anne Rice's House, Julia Reed's House, the Wedding Cake house further down St. Charles Avenue, all fantastic.

You can find a more modern home at Longue Vue House & Gardens out toward Metairie, though the gardens suffered a great deal in the storm and I don't know how recovered they are.

The botanical gardens and sculpture garden in City Park are terrific, and are right next to the New Orleans Museum of Art, a must-see. The drive from the French Quarter, down Esplanade, to NOMA, will show you some of the best of Creole architecture in the city. Do not, however, decide to walk that route, as it is sketchy in several spots. I mean, unless you really WANT to buy some crack.

There is a large kiosk full of info about tours near Cafe du Monde, just off Jackson Square, with zillions of brochures. Go there and you will surely find the info on garden district, french quarter, gay history, haunted house, cemetery, swamp tours, you name it.

If you are going for Mardi Gras, ignore this entire post. You'll just have to come back another time, because you can't do anything BUT Carnival during Carnival.

FINALLY, a voice from Atlanta! Now I won't feel so alone down here!

southern style?
Metal gliders (and chairs)
wooden porch swings with peeling white paint
magnolia trees
crape myrtles
spanish moss
four poster high beds (need a ladder to get in)
sweet tea

universal mod-
Hey there are a couple of tourist information centers, I know that the one in Jackson square near the church (you'll see) anywho they have a pamphlet for a walking tour of all the old buildings and they give you all the neat history on the iron balconys and such.. it was alot of fun and you can go at your own pace! I certainly recommend that one. And talk to people. We talk ALOT.. they'll tell you everything about the buildings in the area and be very proud to tell you where you need to visit and such. I hope you enjoy!!!

Painted porch ceilings, that's always something I've wanted to carry over to my little midwestern bungalow. Haint Blue is the way to go if I'm trying to do southern apparently!

Bottle trees!

A good air conditioner!!

Sorry, just had to throw that joke in. ;)

Erika 1971, I second "bottle trees" on the list. I have a second cousin in North Carolina whose whole dining room is filled with her craft supplies for making bottle trees.
I grew up with pictures of General Lee and Norfolk Southern Railway trains on the wall right beside modern art. It's not all traditional in the South. It's perfectly fine to mix it up.

I second the ceiling fans on porches! I live in houston and lots of people, even in the suburbs have a ceiling fan outside. you would too if you lived here!!! It is HOT in summer.

Southern style is not just plantation style. I guess traditionally, we think of southern style as more ornate, but that is no longer necessarily true either.

http://www.southernaccents.com/decorating/style-design/winning-spaces-00400000036596/page14.html

I agree with the sentiment that southern style isnt a style, its an approach. I'm from boston, but always describe my personal style as natural-southern-modern if that makes any sense. I have family from Memphis and South Carolina and from them I picked up a lot of my sense of style..the ability to incorporate a romantic, softer and traditional look with some really modern pieces, and have it somehow look seamless!

I grew up in the Deep South in a small town historic neighborhood. Spanish moss, high ceilings, antiques, formal dining rooms, chandeliers, wallpaper, family heirlooms, etc. The historic homes carried histories of the families that had lived in them. The style was all very traditional, and I can appreciate that, although it's not my own taste for my place. I think there can be as much diversity here as anywhere. (I am also in Atlanta.) I am interested in the intersection of the traditions of the South with a more modern aesthetic. I look forward to seeing what comes up from this region.

www.emblemorstain.blogspot.com

thank you for all of this great information about new orleans! i'm going at the end of march for five nights. i just copied all of this information to start planning, thank you!! i'm excited just reading your posts and really appreciate the information.

It's such a joy to finally see a post from the south! Hooray for a poster from Atlanta!

Southern style also should include a large family gathering on one of those wide front porches with several well loved dogs.

Hey, universal mod: you can go to nola.com and/or bestofneworleans.com for the 411 on restaurants, music schedules, and stuff to do. The latter is affiliated with the free weekly, The Gambit, which you should immediately pick up a copy of when you get to NOLA. It'll have club listings, restaurant reviews, events info, etc. for the week.

Claire -- As a born-in-Tennessee-raised-in-North-Carolina Southerner, I'm glad to see the southeast represented on AT.

I have lived in NYC for ages, but hail from Charleston and love this post so much. Here are some great images of Southern Style...
http://gardenandgun.com/galleries

Southern style definitely has an eye towards cool and calm (cool being key). Though it leans traditional, I think our traditional is tempered by simplicity - often light- and natural-colored fabrics, especially linen, contrasted with dark woods. The fabrics are key - though someone said "big floral prints," what comes to mind for me are natural fabrics with texture, like slubby linen, box pleats, or hemstitching. Simple, simple, simple - with cut gardenias, and great modern accents mixed through editorially. Dark woods, light textured linens, and green glass just say "cool" to me. Great on a hundred-degree day!

I was born and raised in TN, so I am happy to see a southern blog!

I think the south has an ease to their decorating that is hard to explain, but you know it when you see it.

The decor is what you all have been saying ! A mixture of antique and new. I think southerners have the corner on repurposing and reusing. I find that most older, southern homes have a well lived in quality. An elegance that comes with fraying edges. I find slipcovers on the furniture in summer, well lived in homes with lots of history and many stories to tell. At least this is what I think of when I think of home in my multi-generational family's homes in Richmond and Charlotte :)

Hooray for an AT post from Atlanta! I'm so glad we Southerners will be represented at last!

Another major element of Southern decorating, at least in Atlanta: portraits. We just love paintings of our family members, and we love to tell stories about them when our visitors ask . . .

Yay ATL!

A huge tradition in my very southern family is handmade quilts. They drape, hang, and display their work all over. The Gee's Bend exhibits are a great example.

Love this post! Finally.
Family trees, family geneology recorded by hand on beautiful old parchment. I've noticed these in other older homes. My family always had these displayed upstairs. I don't know if this is uniquely Southern, but my mother always said personal photographs, family trees, etc should not be displayed in living rooms or hallways.
Wrap-around porches, side porches and breezeways and sleeping porches
Homes with large central hallways
Style with hospitality and comfort in mind
Objects with a great story, provenance

I don't think there's any one "Southern" style. What gets thought of as Southern is deep-south coastal--plantation country. Big porches, big lawns, big trees with Spanish moss, that sense of airy opulence. Where I'm from, there were pretty much no plantations and that sort of style isn't around much, but there is a definite appreciation for age and patina; our antiques just tend more towards the rustic/primitive, and Shaker. Where I am now, Asheville, has a definite craftsman style--every other house seems to be a beautiful old bungalow. That solid aesthetic fits better with the mountains.

Portraits, pewter serving pieces, pottery, deep porches, green lawns and beds of aspidistra, camellias, cannas, daylilies, magnolias, leland cypresses--almost all "pass-alongs" from neighbors and family!

Wreaths on doors, family pass-down furniture, inherited china, formal dining rooms, clotheslines, produce from the "fruit stand" or a neighbors garden.

Quilts, heart pine, porch swings, Battenburg lace and homes filled with family and friends. I love the south!

Now we've got more ideas going. Glad to see this conversation continue.

Blogging domestic and urban design, culture, and lifestyle from Atlanta:

http://emblemorstain.blogspot.com/

Shotgun and Greek Revival houses on the same block...folks who actually know their neighbors (and everyone else in town)...dogwoods, day lilies, four o' clocks, crape myrtle, wisteria, the smell of boxwood...kudzu...