Tour Southern Designer James Farmer's Refined, Traditional Home

Farmdale is the main residence of designer, author and lifestyle expert James Farmer, whose latest book, Arriving Home, is now on pre-sale and shipping September 2020. Farmer built the four-bedroom, four-bath home on family land in Perry, Georgia, and has lived there since 2015. "I always knew I wanted to build there," Farmer says. He hired his friend Robert Norris as the architect. For inspiration and in keeping with his family roots, Farmer showed Norris a painting of where his grandfather grew up — an old general store and post office combo in Alabama, made from cedar and complete with a clipped hip gable and side steps. "Since I live in the middle of Georgia woodlands," he says, "I felt the elegance of a simple, Southern vernacular was apropos."

"I like to create what I call 'welcome home moments,'" Farmer says, like this one off the waller room, the name he bestowed on the downstairs master-turned-den. "It’s where I sit and 'waller' and watch TV. My Mimi called that wallering.'" Handcrafted copper lanterns by CopperSmith and brick painted in Benjamin Moore Linen White complete the welcome home look, creating the rustic vibe you'd hope to encounter in a Georgia country cabin.

Farmer's living room conveniently opens to the kitchen so that he can relocate chairs from the kitchen table as needed for additional seating. Decor-wise, farm doors add a dramatic focal point. "Be sure to paint your interior doors in either a soft color or a darker brown that is almost black," Farmer advises. He chose Benjamin Moore's Otter Brown. (The home's exterior is painted with Dark Chocolate by Valspar.) "I also like to anchor a room with a sisal or jute rug and then layer it with a beautiful tribal runner for color and texture," he says.

In between the doors, Farmer contrasted glazed red pottery from Vicki Miller with antique blue and white vases against reclaimed brick and pecky cypress. His mother’s childhood friend gifted the painting.