Designing a Legacy: Jackye Lanham on Style, Collections, and Home

In this episode, AH&L Publisher Elizabeth Ralls sits down with designer Jackye Lanham of Jacquelynne P. Lanham Designs, Inc. to explore her remarkable career that has helped shape the design landscape of Atlanta and beyond. From the influence of the British Isles on her early work and the mentors who refined her eye, to her friendships with legendary architects and decorators, Jackye shares the experiences that informed her distinctive style. 

We also discuss collecting with intention, navigating the challenges of merging households, the signature elements that define a Jackye Lanham interior, and the evolution of Atlanta's design scene over the decades. Along the way, she reflects on the women who paved the way in the industry and the timeless principles that continue to guide great design today. 

What You’ll Hear on This Episode:

• 00:55 Welcome & Introduction
• 01:45 Elizabeth's first experience with Jackye's work + the influence the British Isles had on Jackye's early designs
• 04:10 Atlanta's original influencer! How Jackye's time with Tom Hayes shaped her taste
• 07:15 Jackye's business beginnings and friendship with architect Norman Askins
• 10:10 Jackye's collections and how she's curated them throughout the decades
• 15:30 Merging households: How to "pick your favorite children" when pairing down homes
• 20:50 The design greats who shared the stage with Jackye in her early design days, plus the female decorators who paved the way for designers today
• 25:00 Signature details of a Jackye Lanham-designed space
• 29:45 A fabulous foyer by Jackye Lanham and her time as the honorary chair for the Southeastern Designer Showhouse 
• 33:30 Atlanta has evolved over the years, but here's what's remained the same
• 34:50 Closing notes 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to In Residence, a podcast from Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles. I'm Elizabeth Rawls, the publisher, and I'm Lauren Iverson, the editorial director. In this miniseries, we'll speak with the futures and the legends of interior design here in Atlanta. You can find each of our interviewees in our print edition of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles throughout the year or online at Atlantahomesmack.com. Come on in.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Jackie Lanham of Jacqueline P. Lanham Designs has designed residential projects all over the United States, from major cities to the mountains and the beach. Her commercial projects include private clubs in the U.S. and abroad. Jackie's design stamp is synonymous with gracious, inviting, layered, and storied Southern hospitality. So today it is my great honor to have Jackie Lanham of Jaclyn P. Lanham Designs here in Atlanta with us on the In Residence podcast. Welcome, Jackie. Thank you. So Jackie is being honored as one of our um legends in Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazine. We have had the pleasure of featuring her work through the years, through the decades. It's usually always on the cover. And we also get an influx of back issue orders whenever we feature a Jackie Lannon project. It might be me doing it. It's not. We check the addresses. There are some from St. Louis, there are some from all over the South. But Jackie, you are sort of the original influencer. So welcome today. I want to start by taking it back over 20 years. Yeah. My first introduction to your work was when I was at the bottom rung of the editorial ladder at Southern Accents Magazine. And there was a feature, a holiday feature in the November-December issue, probably 2004, 2005, called The Stockings Were Hung. And it was sort of this masterclass for me being young and in my 20s on gracious and inviting, southern entertaining, um, and really placemaking and telling that visual narrative. Do you remember this feature?

SPEAKER_02 2:17

I do. I do. I I thought I almost killed myself doing it. Oh my gosh. But I got in my, I think I was under the influence at the time of I was doing a project in Ireland. Okay. And um, so I was real into the British Isles. And so everything I had a theme, that that theme that was going on. So I had plaid, I had custom-made plaid wool stockings, and this was for my office. It was our office Christmas party. Yes. A Christmas party. Okay. So I went to Scott's, the um antique market, and bought everybody uh Irish brooches. So they were Scottish um gems. Each one, uh, they're all different, and I pinned them on the stockings. Uh, and there are other things, you know, everything was horn, pottery, lay oh, I loved the combination of the feminine and the masculine, the lace with the with the masculine plaids and um fur. I think I went and bought fake fur. I love it. Throws from the pottery barn to put throw around the tables. It was it was uh it was so fun.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Absolutely. Well, that was um one of many things that I would learn through Southern Accents, but that specifically was my introduction to your work, and I think even today that would resonate. Um, I wish that we still had access to all that beautiful photography because it was probably um not even digital at that point. Um, but there were um carafes that were etched with your employees' monograms on it, um, topped with a Christmas wreath, and there were these elaborately decorated presents with um boughs of pine cones and mistletoe sprigs, um, and really again something that would resonate today and um probably on Instagram or on TikTok. So that's so fun. But I say this because I truly believe that you um were sort of one of Atlanta's original influencers. Um, and I wanted to, you know, take us back. Okay, now we're at 2026. What were your original influences, um, especially um with placemaking and telling a story and a visual narrative? Oh gosh, that's a that's a hard question.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

So um it probably has a lot of answers. Okay. Um, but I will say that first of all, I am um in my head, I love to tell the story because that helps me put things together. So um I'm a I'm a dreamer and a story maker to start with. And then um when I first came to Atlanta, um the huge influence on me was I went to work and I worked for them for about almost 15 years uh for a company, it's an antique company. It's one of the best antique dealers in the South, I think. It's was Hayes Leger. And I worked for Tom Hayes and he has the most beautiful taste and a sense of living. I think that was the whole thing. I learned that you have a sense of living your interior or your surrounding your spaces, and he taught me that. So it's all those things, I guess you're asking me. I learned about um fresh flowers, that they shouldn't look like they came from a florist. They look they should look like I walked outside and I always say I whacked off some branches and shoved them in a base. Because it looks natural. It's just a natural way of learning how to live your environment. And Tom has a huge influence on me for that, and not only that, but he exposed me to the world of antiques and not just here, because I traveled with them to France and England. I would go, I've been to Scotland, Ireland, uh, Spain. Uh, and then we got into the Rattan and um basketry business. And so I would go and we'd design baskets in the Philippines, in Hong Kong, and I'd have to go by myself and um uh you know, be among people that um that were so interesting, you know, and and once again your brain starts making up stories, you know, what were they like, where'd they live, you know, all these things. And so you start combining all those experiences together, and that's what sort of begins what you what I guess you say your style. So maybe that's I hope that answers your question.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Yes, absolutely. So you worked for Tom Hayes for about 15 years, and he um was an interior designer and antiques dealer. Antique dealer, and then mainly baskets, I presume. Right, mainly baskets. Yeah. Okay. So retailer with all the wicker and the exact that's exactly right. And so after 15 years, was that when you decided um to go off on your own? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Yes. So um, and that was um I I will say in the 80s. So, you know, now everybody knows how old I am. Yeah. But um, so I started my business. We bought a building together with Norman Askins. Okay. So Norman and I had uh actually Norman went to high school with my husband. Oh my gosh. And so, like parents do, they say you need to meet, and you think, oh no, I'm gonna like them. But we did, and of course, we had this instant friendship. And he, I think Bill and I were one of his first customers or clients. Oh my gosh. Um and we so I've been working with him since the 80s, 70s actually, I think it was. So when we found this building, and I was gonna go on my own. Do you want to hear the story? Okay. So uh we went to Norman who who will tell you when you all talk to him. He star he had his his office was in his basement. And his people that work for him uh drew next to the washer and dryer. And Bill and I thought, okay, Norman, it's time for you to be a little bit more be a little bit more professional. So the two of us bought our building together, uh, which is on East Paces Ferry Road. Do you know it? You write down the We're new neighbors. So Norman then was my second huge influence. So I had Tom taught me about the beauty of antiques, the patina. I I learned things, you know, the connoisseurship that so many people don't have. I don't think they are given that opportunity to start today. Yeah, yeah. It's just because I was around them. And I also was on the other side of the business. I was I was the the vendor, you know, the dealer, the seller. Right. And I was dealing and selling to very prominent interior designers and architects like Dan Carrithers. Right. So I got to know them from that side. And um, so Norman and I, he taught me architecture and I learned about you know space and planning and all the different terms of architecture, and it made me so I had those two, I had decorative arts and I had the architectural side. Okay. And I mean, you know, that in in its own is a blessing.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Absolutely. And then going back even further, you were um part of a military family, so quite a bit. I did, I did. I moved actually every two and a half years of my life, of which answers one of your questions you'd asked me about home, uh, you don't have a home. You know what you have you you just start to settle in and you're moving again. So everything you own is in a box. Right. And you know, or your footlocker, and those are my things and my treasures that I'd move from home, you know, place to place. So I learned to make my little space my homey place. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Home is where the heart is. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So you learn that from a really young age. I know. Yes, you're right. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

But like so many people, I've heard their stories. I mean, I rearranged my furniture in my little bedroom about a hundred times. You know, never satisfied, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Right. But um and then you would have the opportunity to change it immediately almost if you didn't sound like oh my gosh, I love it. Well, going back to what you mentioned earlier through your work um with Tom and being on the other side of the business, um, you mentioned the word connoisseurship, um, which is something that I think in today's world can get very lost and sort of with that click to buy, instant gratification, dupe culture. Um, so I want to talk a little bit about, I think that is one thing that is really so indicative when I see an image of your work. And I think so many of us who love design and love our homes can look at your work if it was in Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles last month or if it was in Southern Accents 20 years ago. They can look at a project and see your work and say, that must be Jackie Lanham. And I think that kind of sewership has something to do with it. Of course, there's um several other incredible um features, I think, of um a Jackie Lanham interior. But talk to me a little bit about your collections because you must be um a shopper, a serious shopper by default. Um, and I know you we have such great resources here in Atlanta in terms of antique shops and of course ADAC at your fingertips. But where do you go to source your collections and or complete a collection? Or um are you at auction or are you around the world shopping?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Uh well, first of all, I had age on my side. So, and I also had I was on, you know, I was on a dealer. I'm not gonna say I was the dealer, but I traveled and bought for a business. Okay. And so I was exposed to a lot of different things. And you know, when you are young, you have, you know, so much money. And so you start looking at things that you like or intrigued with and buy what you can afford. Right. So I uh as an advice to most people, I always tell a client or anybody to buy the best you can afford. So don't, you know, don't give in to what a trend is or anything. If you see something, then buy the best you can afford. Right. So starting with that, um, I had I got I I was exposed to a lot of different sources. And I think now that that's the nice thing about the internet is uh is if you know the source and you know what they sell and you can trust them, you can buy it on the internet. And I'm not yes, you have a relationship and I'm not worried about the quality. So so much of things online now, I I worry about the quality. Right. Because I think, well, that looks good. Yeah, you never know what you're gonna get. Are the two legs up front, great, and the two in the back broken. So you just don't know. Uh so it's hard. And the sources here around us, so many of them have closed. Like my dear friend Tom Hayes is no longer in business. Our wonderful uh Barry Hutner closed his shop. I almost died. And um, it's just so many of those things have closed down, and then unless you can develop and travel yourself to New York or Charlotte or any you know, and find your own sources, right? I think it's hard. Right. I really do. So um, but I do go online and I have bought some great things at auction. Okay. Um, and it's one of those things, one of the things we did. I I love silver and I love coin silver. And I saw um on it Bronx auction, uh, there was some silver um flatware that was that had come up that belonged to the past former governor of South Carolina back in you know like the 18th, eight, eighteenth, uh 19th century. And so I thought, oh, I've got to have that. And so we put a bit in and I forgot about it. And we were Bill and I were driving down, uh going somewhere, like to Florida, and I said, Oh my gosh, that silver is coming up now. And I said, Bill, how many pieces were there? We didn't even I don't even know what it is. I said, we could get four 49 demitas spoons. Well, what do I need for that? Well, anyway, we uh we we got it. We got this lot of like 70 pieces, and they're fabulous forks, real heavy, that heavy silver, coin silver, forks and dinner spoons. And um, I I thought we had we had hit, as we say, pay dirt. Yes. So um that was a great thing on auction. So it's sort of I thought, okay, I think I can do this. Right. There's an element of the treasure hunting that I'm sure is part of the like a um a correction chair, a correctional chair, which it's a anyway, it's a little chair, they're hard to find. And I collect um actually um horn cups, hunting cups, yes, uh, with silver mounts, and that those are hard to find. So when I see them on auction, I figure, what the heck? Yeah, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah, anyway, so you know, things like that. And so when you have such a massive collection, for instance, like you just discussed that you have won at auction, um, are you keeping all of them? Are you potentially divesting some of them with your clients if they're interested? Or No. No, okay, you don't share it.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

No, no, but you asked me, one of the questions you asked me was about had I collected things from my favorites and had I purge some things.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yes, because you, um, as I understand it, you had merged um two households when you moved to Kiowa island. And so you were merging a Charleston piety terror as well as the Florida residents. Right. And so how do you pick your favorite children and what goes where?

SPEAKER_02 15:48

It's really hard. That was hard because um uh the house in Florida was um my vision of living in Greece. Okay. So and of which I did live in Greece. And so I remember it, I conjured up my whole uh, you know, I was in like junior high living there, and you know what it was like. And so I I reimagined it in Florida like 30 years ago. And so I had a lot of that white and blue and you know, bottles and found objects, sharks' teeth, and because I love fossils and um fossilized horse bones. I mean, these are all things you know, you have to be kind of crazy like all that. Anyway, so I had all of that. Uh we also collect um antique maps. So I think Bill is interested in this. Yes. And we had some fab I have some fabulous maps of Florida that are all from 1830. And so I had all that beachy stuff, and then in Charleston, it was very um pristine, Charlestonian in my head, you know, yeah, serious mahogany pieces of furniture. Excuse me. And so we did this house, uh, which I don't want to go into it too much in Kiowa, and I was scared, literally, I was scared to put furniture in it because it was designed by Stan Dixon, and it was this beautiful um different uh uh tabby house. Right. And I was afraid I would ruin it, you know, it was one of those things. Well, it's just how do you merge these things? Right. So I made up a story. Okay. And that's that's your brain. Right. So I made up a story, if you want to hear it, um, about uh it was uh this building was an outbuilding from the old Van Dross plantation on Kiowa. Okay. So it put because it was a found building, right? And it was two stable blocks where the horse they kept the horses. And when the old man died, Van Dross died, he left his daughter, the only daughter, these stables because her brothers inherited the plantation and she got nothing. But what she got was all the leftovers. So she got the leftover chairs, all the leftover artwork, you know, the things that nobody wanted. Uh forks like things with a lot of meaning. Things that had meaning, but she got four forks instead of a set. You know, she got two chairs that didn't match. And so that helped me put these two houses together. Right. So it helped me have some formal pieces of furniture with some very country rustic pieces. It helped me merge silver and pottery together because of the two different um, you know, she she literally was given the leftovers. Right. And so that helped me create that whole house, the interiors. I love that story.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Anyway, yes, yeah. So it's just makeup. Right. Well, and that probably helps you with your clients as well when you you've had to go through that process and you understand how do I do this? Right. And just picking favorite things, especially if someone's downsizing, you know, and they only want to choose certain objects that are important to them. That's true. Okay, yeah. And so where did everything else go from that project?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Well, um I've given a lot away. Okay. And um I also have a lot in the a warehouse.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

So do we need a Jackie Lana warehouse sale? We do, we do.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

I've got to get rid of a lot of it.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

But um, but that'll come, you know, it'll come. Okay. So slowly, slowly but surely. But I was gonna tell you, one of the collections I had, I I fell in love a long time ago. Well, I love Staffisher pottery. Yes. And the rabbit form of Staffisher is a very rare form. And um, and they're beautiful because they're just sort of crunched down, and I love this rabbit pair of rabbits, so I bought them. And um uh, and then I found a Venetian bronze, I found a Chinese piece of porcelain, they're all rabbits, and um, and they kind of grew. And then my friends knew I liked a rabbit, and so they would start giving me things that weren't exactly rare or charming. Right. So they were like, you know, like salt and paper sh salt and pepper shakers or uh uh you know a a hair, well, a heron rabbit, or a uh I don't know, just they it was growing. And so I I thought I gotta stop. A whole flock of bunnies. I had too many bunnies. We had to stop the bunny bursts. Okay. So I got rid of those. Right. I purged. And um, I gave a lot away to a young girl who loves rabbits. Right. And so I was thrilled for her to have them. Oh my gosh. So they're out, they're out.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Oh my gosh. Well, going back to um some of these greats that you've mentioned, um, Barry Hutner, for instance, um, there was a picture or a post, I should say, of you with um Furlough Gatewood, who is another incredible design grade, and Barry Hutner, um, and John Rosselli, who's also a retired um antique stealer, um, Bunny Williams' husband. Um, and first of all, I was struck by, you know, my gosh, all of you in one room together, you know, I'd love to be a fly on the wall. And I assume that was for, was that for the ICAA potentially? It was, yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Um, so fur um Furlow um won the uh Lifetime Achievement Award. And he was in his 90s and he could not come to Atlanta. Okay. So Barry and I um drove to him in Americas, and that was such a special meeting for all for us. And of course John Rosselli was there. So what a great we had a great afternoon. We had lunch together and um uh you know, we got him to sign a lot of books that we brought up to the ICAA Shutze Awards. And um, so uh yeah, it was it was very special.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Well, and the other thing that struck me about that. Photo was that you came of age at a time where you were probably one of a select few um female decorators designing women, so to speak. So what was that like? Um you went on your own, what is the late 80s or 80s, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

In the late 80s. So um, you know, that's I knew you asked me that question, and um I I really honestly didn't really never register. And never register. I never thought about what you loved. I just was doing my thing and I had my loan business and I've always worked with men. So, you know, I worked with Tom Hayes and Bert Leger, then I worked with Norman, right, and then um uh then I started working for golf clubs, and it was always the managers, the club managers, or the club presidents. So I was always dealing my world with men. So I never thought about you know being different. Right. And so I thought back and I thought, but you know, that time there were some really, really powerful, strong interior designers, women. So it would be like Dottie Travis, right? I mean, she was amazing. Uh Jane Marsden, look what she built up, you know, uh uh an empire. Oh, so did Dottie, right? Um uh Susan Wilcox, um uh uh Marie Warren, remember? I don't know if you knew Marie. Marie had beautiful taste. Okay. And of course Nancy Braithwaite. So Nancy and I were kind of we were more um contemporary contemporaries, yeah. And she was sort of did her thing and I did kind of my thing. Okay. So but we were friends and got, you know, I just I don't I never thought about as being a select for you.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Right, okay. Well I love that because clearly you were very complimentary to um all of these styles and all of these men and brought a nuance to the project that um you know the female perspective can bring.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Um, and that's so interesting. But when you said what was the name of the chair you mentioned earlier, the Oh the correction chair. The correction chairs, yes, because uh when I think of Nancy, I think of all those um chairs. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

She loved primitive, I guess, um American furniture.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Yeah. Right, yeah. Okay. Um, but what a great class of um women to be surrounded by. Um totally. Yeah, totally. One thing that I feel like about the Atlanta design community, um, and it clearly dates back to even the 80s, is that I do feel like there is such a support network here. Um, regardless, you could be competitors, but everyone is still so gracious to one another and supportive. And um, you know, there's enough work to go around for everyone, certainly. Um, but that's great to know that it's been going on for for decades. For a long time. So yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

I think we all appreciate each other's um perspective and um and everybody is really different, right, you know, in their approach, I think. So um yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Good. Um, well, I wanted to get into a little bit. Um, I mentioned that whenever we feature a Jackie Landon project, you're typically on the cover and we get a lot of um fangirls that come out um who all of a sudden are, you know, reabsorbed in the style. And um, I think the one thing, um, not the one thing, but one of many things, um, there's just this effortless ease to your projects. In addition to being beautiful and elegant, it feels like you can see your client's personality shine through. Um, it feels like you can also pick up your feet and stay a while because it's very inviting. Um, and that kind of sewership that you spoke about earlier kind of comes through. And I'm sure that you have a hand in guiding your clients, you know, towards certain collections or um thoughtful arrangements and such. Um, so tell me what um a Jackie Lanham signature is for you, um, to where you would say, you know, maybe um, you know, I know talking to Phoebe Howard, she'll say, every woman who leaves, Phoebe Howard knows how to make a bed. And I will always say that if you leave here with one thing, it's you know how to make a bed properly. So, what is one thing that maybe a former employer or someone would say a Jackie Lanham interior is never without? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Um, that's a hard question to also. That's what I mean. Your questions are very thought provoking. Um I feel like um uh I love pr well, these are things I love. I love I love pretty curtains. And I like curtains that have detail. You know, that there's more than just sewing up s you know, two sides or excuse me. So I love um I like um I love wall display. I think it's really interesting to take. I think uh at the early in the early days I used to do a lot with plates. Right. And 'cause I I like porcelain and pottery and it's to put them on the walls with different brackets and mirrors. Right. Um I I think that just makes sort of a spectacular statement. And I think that comes from traveling a lot to these English country homes and castles, the way that you know they would display their wealth on the walls with um porcelain or um well well, I got my idea for golf clubs because they would put all their swords and all their armory on the walls that said, you know, I'm a powerful person. So I loved that idea and I think it's kind of cool to take interesting things and put them on the walls. Right. And tell a story. And it tells a story, and you know, it's the things that are your clients things that are um, you know, like I've uh one client had a uh um the mother-in-law, her ex not ex-mother-in-law, her mother-in-law had a whole collection of silver spoons that she collected from traveling all over Europe, you know, like the European Grand Tour. Right. And so we framed them all. I shadow boxed them. And so all those silver spoons are not just thrown in a drawer or you're hanging on some rack. I mean, they're framed and look very important. Uh and I've done that with sharks' teeth, I've done it with um rattle snake tails. Oh wow. Uh that are all documented where they're found, you know, with fossils, with shells. I love all that. Right. So I'm not saying that's a Jackie Lanham thing, but the thought that goes in to something like that. So maybe maybe the Jackie Lanham thing is that um she's really not a decorator. Um uh I I'm saying she wants the house to feel like a home. So it feels I I like 'em, I like it to feel like you belong there, not some decorator just left the door. So I like it to look like where, you know, I always say where where's the owner? You know, where do they sit? There should be somewhere where they sit, want to sit, be a part of. Right. And so I like the house to look a little bit off, maybe a little bit more frumpy. So it looks like maybe you know, the owner just got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen to fix a drink. I like it, I like it like that. Not perfect. Right. So um, so it is inviting, comfortable, um, not um uh, you know, uh not what is the word I want? Not predictable. Well, not predictable, but not um intimidating. I don't I like rooms that are not intimidating. I feel like there's always an element of surprise too. I like that too. Yes. Something a little off. I like that. You know, it's always sort of that whimsy something. Right. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Well, while I have not hired you to work for our family before, I feel like the closest I got to working together with you was um on that Haverty house, the show house, where you were our honorary chair. Um, I think it was over 10 years ago now, but um, that was such a special um way to work together. And that was the foyer of uh historic Jim James Maine's um house um with the black and white um tile in the entry. That was amazing, yeah. Um, and I just remember, and you know, of course, that stairwell had some charm as well. Um, but I felt felt like you really captured that kind of storybook charm of that residence. Um, and then we ended up, we shot it, of course, with the showhouse. It gets photographed every which way, right? And people rent it on in the newspaper and their blogs and on social media. I think at that point social media was just starting to take off. But um, I remember we were there the last Wednesday before we closed. I was there with the photographer and we were trying to capture, you know, every last gasp of that home. And we turned around and we looked at it from the opposite direction. And so instead of walking through the front door and looking in, we turned around towards the uh front door facing out towards the street. Um, and we captured this view that we said, no one's taken this photo yet of this space. Um and that ended up running on our cover. And we were able to see some of the original hardware from the door, um, some of the bones of that house. Um, because that was one of the few historic renovations that we've done as a show house. But that was so special and um just seeing the way that you were able to bring that to life and you know, tell your your the dreams that you had made up for that space. And that was, you know, this probably what a couple hundred square feet or less. Exactly. Exactly, exactly. But it was very undecorated, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Um, I think. Um the space.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah, yeah. But you had those collections, you had the walking sticks in there, yes. And um I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Yeah. You know, it's interesting because I did. I put a I put portiers up. Yes. I don't know if you remember. Yes. Um, and that was maybe one of the first times anybody had done that. But I I realized that um I didn't have any fabric. You know, there was nothing there because I had no windows or anything. So I thought, well, let's just do curtains on the doorways. And um, they ran that in the Wall Street Journal. They I didn't know if you knew that. No, they had an article on portiers. Oh my gosh. And this random woman called me and you know, yeah. I don't know how long ago that was, but anyway. Oh my gosh. So I love it. So your house showed up somewhere else. Good, good.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

I mean, they do, they live long after their um, because that's the sad part about show houses and stuff. They come down. I know, I know, I know for sure. Oh my gosh. But yeah, I think and you had also just those thoughtful arrangements. I mean, like you were saying, whether it's the rattletale snakes or the shark's teeth and when they were collected.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

I mean, I think that attention to detail is just um, you know, exactly what I I remember on that particular one I had a girl that used to work for me. Her name is Tyler Colgan. Yes, of course. And Tyler was this wonderful artist, and so um I asked her to do some watercolors of the um of the creeks and rivers of Atlanta.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

And so she did those and then we framed them, and those are in that entrance hall.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

So they all had meaning, you know, to where we were. And I guess that's another thing I like. I like um I like things that are in the rooms or homes that have meaning to where they are, a sense of place. Right. Instead of some random, you know, allig not alligator, um, that does have meaning. Um uh, you know, um, like a tiger. Right. You know, what's the tiger doing in your house? Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

So oh my gosh, I love it. Well, Jackie, you have seen Atlanta change so much over the last few decades. Um, and we touched on this earlier, but what would you say are some of the things that have not changed in the last um couple of decades since you started your career that you still appreciate?

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Well, I think um I've thought about that too. And I feel like um the one thing that has never changed is that Atlantans love their homes and their gardens. Yes and they like, they appreciate, they uh they want them to be as pretty and as beautiful as they can afford. Right. And so there's uh an immense appreciation for that, for the interiors, for the architecture, and for the landscape, which I think is fantastic. And I haven't seen that change at all. I mean, tastes change, right, trends change, we know all that. But that and hospitality, I think there's just always, you know, when talks about the southern hospitality, but it does rain. The continuous threat. Yes, it has not changed at all. So um I think that's you know, without you know, without thinking about skyscrapers and too many houses and too many developments and the roads not being in great condition.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

I mean But Southern hospitality can erase all of that. It really can. It really can. Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, Jockey, thank you so much for your time today. We loved having you.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Thank you. I appreciate I appreciate you having me, and I've had a great time. Thank you.