Last year, I had the privilege of decorating the Front Terrace for the Cashiers Show House. To say I had fun is an understatement! Cashiers and Highlands are “happy places” for this Farmer, and I relish any chance to gear up and go on up the mountain!

For this year’s Show House, I have the Lower Back Porch – and with a new book on porches, well, I was quite ecstatic for this space to be mine. I cannot share all those images just yet but just you wait! This year’s house and designer roster is a knockout list of folks and I am honored to be a part! Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazine will of course feature the house again, so get ready for some show house fun soon!

For my entry, I took inspiration from an unlikely source – heirloom tomatoes! I love their colors – marigold yellow, burnished bronze, sepia hued reds and sienna backed greens. As ya’ll may know, I am a complete sucker for gingham, buffalo checks, plaids and the sort, thus my statement pillows in marigold buffalo check were delightful and jaunty and just right the ‘maters. Striped seat cushions in the same tints as the tomatoes topped Mainly Basket wicker sofas and dining chairs, and my trusty zinc top table, too, helped to set up the dining and seating arrangements.

Wing back chairs made from salvaged lumber also got a dose of buffalo plaid too!

Being a sucker too for hydrangeas, I filled the planters of this log cabin wonderland with Tardiva, Limelight and Annabelle varieties and loaded up terra cotta pots with ferns, hostas, and Key Lime huechera. Keeping the mustard yellow, tomato inspired accent in check (pun intended with choice diction), groups of deep yellow French confit jars were on display on my iron and glass coffee and side tables – made from old railing and iron pieces.

Now, I did have a few friends that stood guard over my space – keeping a watchful eye over the woodland, mountain terrain – Mr. and Mrs. John Deer and their twin counterparts. A fun part of my travels is finding treasures all across Dixie. I found two pair of deer – a buck and a doe – at Scott’s. Their provenance had been a little town in Alabama where I was about to go on book tour! What a coincidence – the dear deer were meant to be mine. They are now gazing out onto the woods on my family land in Perry, but they told me they wanted to zip back up to Cashiers someday!

Show houses are hard work, expensive, time consuming and logistically challenging – but I love every second of them! This year’s show house is of no exception and ya’ll are going to be pleased as punch with this year’s house!

Come on up to the mountains!