Rooms With a View, New England’s premier annual design event founded by design legend Albert Hadley, is about to celebrate 30 years! Each November, this annual design event invites a select group of designers to create vignettes in the library and great hall of the historic stone Gothic Revival style Southport Congregational Church. Proceeds from ticket sales go towards supporting a bevy of local charities.
“Nancy Goes Barefoot in Southport”
Sara was invited to participate in the 2024 Rooms with a View, where she had the opportunity to transform a room into her grand vision. Each designer is provided a petite space (6’x8’x8’) to transform in under a week, which is no small feat. Sara took on the challenge last year and designed an elegant and sunny room with a nod to design legend Nancy Lancaster.
Design Inspiration
Sara’s vignette, aptly named “Nancy goes Barefoot in Southport”, took color cues from the famous yellow room that Nancy Lancaster designed with John Fowler in London (if going viral was a thing in the 1950s, this room would have done it!). In lieu of the“buttah yellah” used in the original, Sara selected a more demure shade, incorporating warm yellow elements including gingham curtains, a panel of bird-patterned wallpaper by Brunchswig & Fils, a traditional pendant light by Vaughan Lighting, and a bevy of naturalist inspired decorative elements to create an inviting room with a sense of casual elegance, perfect for curling up with a book or cozying up for a nap.
And It Was All Yellow
Sara’s signature practice of enlivening a space by bringing in natural elements was on display as she sprinkled plants and flowers throughout the vignette.
There’s no doubt that Lancaster, who, like Sara, has Virginia roots, would have approved of this casually sophisticated, inspired, and unique homage!
Thank you to all of our sponsors, and Rooms with a View, for helping bring this vignette to life, including: Jennifer Manners Design, Vaughan Lighting, Hickory Chair Furniture Co, Samuel & Sons, Brunschwig & Fils, and Little Greene Paint.
To learn more about the history of Rooms with a View, and see this year’s vignettes, visit www.roomswithaview.org
You can attend this year’s showhouse in person from November 7-9th in Southport, CT.
