Southern Lady: Gracious Spaces

Southern Lady: Gracious Spaces
Author: Phyllis Hoffman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2010-09-21
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 0062043714

In Southern Lady: Gracious Spaces, Phyllis Hoffman showcased dozens of gorgeous tablescapes in some of the most beautiful homes in the South. Now, Phyllis, publisher of Southern Lady magazine, is back with Southern Lady: Gracious Spaces, a lushly illustrated celebration of pretty, soothing, and intimate domestic spaces—both indoors and outdoors. In Southern Lady: Gracious Spaces, Phyllis takes readers on a tour of more gorgeous Southern homes—her own as well as those of a few close friends—to feature areas that have become sanctuaries, treasured spots for retreating from the world and finding solace. In her warm, encouraging voice, Phyllis explains how to employ a personal touch to craft and embellish a space that's both inspirational and functional. Through personal anecdotes and narratives, Phyllis recalls how she developed her own personal style—and how you can develop yours. She advises readers to: Showcase items that reveal your passions, such as music, needlework, or the outdoors Make more of everyday events: for example, turn a picnic into something special by dressing it up with antique linens Find new ways to display your most beloved treasures: why keep your china collection hidden in the cabinet? Turn to nature for inspiration in choosing your color scheme: whimsical lilac, sunny lemon, or soft magenta Set a table for two in unexpected areas, such as a private study, bedroom, or even a foyer There are also two dozen recipes for delectable Southern treats, including Strawberry Patch Cake, Blue Cheese Deviled Eggs, and Raspberry Lemonade Punch, along with tips for casually elegant entertaining. In building your own space, bear in mind that it's not just a physical area but, as Phyllis says, "a canvas for your heart and soul." The more of yourself you put into it, the more the space will please and comfort you and your guests. And that is the essence of graciousness.

Barbara Westbrook: Gracious Rooms

Barbara Westbrook: Gracious Rooms
Author: Barbara Westbrook
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 0847845052

In her first book, the South’s most inviting designer explores her principles for creating a beautiful home rich with comfort and warmth. Barbara Westbrook has been designing classically inspired homes full of Southern charm and a European touch for more than twenty years. A native of Virginia, Westbrook grew up accompanying her mother to antique shops and was introduced by her to Virginia’s rich architectural legacy. With a design vocabulary that ranges from casual American to formal English to French modern, Westbrook’s homes share a welcoming elegance, whether it is a country cottage or a penthouse apartment. In Gracious Rooms, she sets out her principles for creating a house rich with both polish and patina. Walking the reader through a dozen stunning homes—light-filled lake retreats, contemporary houses, and historic mansions—Westbrook shares her accessible, appealing ideas. From the judicious use of symmetry to the importance of including natural elements in a room, utilizing color to unify spaces within a house, and setting a mood with materials, Gracious Rooms is rich with advice and inspiration.

Victoria Living with Blue and White

Victoria Living with Blue and White
Author: Jordan Marxer
Publisher: 83 Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 9781940772905

A classic blue-and-white design scheme has timeless appeal, whether used for whole-house interiors or simply to provide a cheerful note here and there.

Tomorrow's Bread

Tomorrow's Bread
Author: Anna Jean Mayhew
Publisher: Kensington
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2019-03-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0758254105

From the author of the acclaimed The Dry Grass of August comes a richly researched yet lyrical Southern-set novel that explores the conflicts of gentrification—a moving story of loss, love, and resilience. In 1961 Charlotte, North Carolina, the predominantly black neighborhood of Brooklyn is a bustling city within a city. Self-contained and vibrant, it has its own restaurants, schools, theaters, churches, and night clubs. There are shotgun shacks and poverty, along with well-maintained houses like the one Loraylee Hawkins shares with her young son, Hawk, her Uncle Ray, and her grandmother, Bibi. Loraylee’s love for Archibald Griffin, Hawk’s white father and manager of the cafeteria where she works, must be kept secret in the segregated South. Loraylee has heard rumors that the city plans to bulldoze her neighborhood, claiming it’s dilapidated and dangerous. The government promises to provide new housing and relocate businesses. But locals like Pastor Ebenezer Polk, who’s facing the demolition of his church, know the value of Brooklyn does not lie in bricks and mortar. Generations have lived, loved, and died here, supporting and strengthening each other. Yet street by street, longtime residents are being forced out. And Loraylee, searching for a way to keep her family together, will form new alliances—and find an unexpected path that may yet lead her home.

Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life

Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life
Author: Deborah Ford
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2004-03-30
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 9780452285064

The New York Times bestselling Southern girls’ guide to succeeding in life—with a foreword by Fannie Flag. They're called Sweet Potato Queens, Steel Magnolias, Ya-Ya Sisters, and Southern Belles, but at heart they're just plain Grits—Girls Raised in the South! Now, Deborah Ford, founder of Grits® Inc., reveals the code behind the distinctive—and irresistible—style of the Southern woman. Equal parts sweet sincerity and sharp, sly humor, The Grits Guide to Life is chock-full of Southern charm: advice, true-life stories from honest-to-god "Grits," recipes, humor, quotable wisdom, and more. Readers will learn vital lessons, including: how to eat a watermelon in a sundress; how to drink like a Southern lady (sip... a lot); and the real meaning of PMS (Precious Mood Southerner). This charming book is destined to become a bible for the Southern girl—whether born and bred, expatriated, or adoptive—and her many admirers. “Funny, wise, charming, and smart...Grits deserves a place on your shelf between Gone With the Wind and the Memphis Junior League cookbook, and I predict in the years to come it will be passed down to daughter along with the family silver and great-grandmother's lace doilies.”—Fannie Flag, from her foreword to The Grits Guide to Life

All the Forgivenesses

All the Forgivenesses
Author: Elizabeth Hardinger
Publisher: A John Scognamiglio Book
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2020-09-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1496720458

Growing up on a farm in rural Kentucky, fifteen-year-old Albertina "Bertie" Winslow knows how to do a lot, but when her mom dies after a young illness, Bertie finds herself in charge of four younger siblings and struggling to keep the family together.

The Well Adorned Home

The Well Adorned Home
Author: Cathy Kincaid
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 0847863565

Renowned interior designer Cathy Kincaid's first book provides a fresh approach to combining classic and contemporary design with a refined sensibility. Known for her carefully nuanced color palettes and attention to detail, Cathy Kincaid creates warm and gracious interiors. Her worldly taste in collecting art and furnishings, her intricate layering of patterns, and the customized details--from trelliswork to lacquered surfaces--she applies to every room are hallmarks of her style. Presented are varied residences, ranging from a ship captain's cottage and a 1920s Spanish Colonial to a bucolic farmhouse and a family house in the country, in such locations as Dallas, Connecticut, and the South of France. Sprinkled throughout is Kincaid's advice on such topics as selecting the right lighting, whether it be sconces or lamps; ways to showcase blue-and-white porcelain; and suggestions for how to edit one's home. She has been long involved in historic preservation, working on many landmarked dwellings. Learn from this design expert how to achieve a comfortable yet sumptuous home environment.

Bless Her Dead Little Heart

Bless Her Dead Little Heart
Author: Miranda James
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2014-10-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0698148282

New York Times bestselling author Miranda James returns to Athena, Mississippi, with the first Southern Ladies mystery featuring Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, two snoopy sisters who are always ready to lend a helping hand. With the Mississippi sun beating down, An’gel and Dickce are taking a break to cool off and pet sit their friend Charlie Harris’s cat, Diesel, when their former sorority sister, Rosabelle Sultan, shows up at their door unexpectedly, with her ne’er-do-well adult children not far behind. Rosabelle’s selfish offspring are desperate to discover what’s in her will, and it soon becomes clear that one of them would kill to get their hands on the inheritance. Suddenly caught up in a deadly tangle of duplicitous suspects and deep-fried motives, it will take all of the sisters’ Southern charm to catch a decidedly ill-mannered killer…

A Southern Girl

A Southern Girl
Author: John Warley
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2014-05-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1611173922

A Southern family’s adoption of a Korean orphan uncovers long-buried tensions in this novel of family, heritage, and clashing cultures. Set in the insular South of Broad neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina, A Southern Girl is a tale of international adoption and Southern identity, of family bonds and hidden biases. With two sons and a successful career, Coleman Carter’s life seems complete until his wife, Elizabeth, champions their adoption of a Korean orphan. This seemingly altruistic mission estranges Coleman’s conservative parents and sends him headlong on a journey into the unknown. The arrival of Soo Yun (later called Allie) opens Coleman’s eyes to the subtle racism that had always dominated his sheltered life. Now Coleman must come to terms with his past in order to help Allie on her own life journey. Deftly told through the voices of Allie’s birth mother, her orphanage nurse, her adoptive mother Elizabeth, and finally Coleman himself, A Southern Girl brings readers into Allie’s plights—first for her very survival and then for her sense of identity and belonging. John Warley guides us through the enclaves of southern privilege, the poverty-stricken back alleys of Seoul, South Korea, the jungles of Vietnam, and the stone sidewalks of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, as the bonds between father and daughter become strong enough to confront the trials of their pasts and present alike. Foreword by New York Times bestselling novelist Therese Ann Fowler