Southern Charm From HGTV Dream Home 1998

The 1998 Dream Home is a classic low-country beauty, located just outside Beaufort, South Carolina. Its angular red roof, made of tin, and raised-ground floor are common sites on this part of the southern coast. But what really says, "Welcome to the South." are the porches — three of them — and each plays a unique role in the wonderfully relaxed lifestyle of this region.

The back porch

The perfect place for relaxing with a cold refreshment.

The front porch welcomes guests to the Dream Home.

The screened porch is great for keeping out summer pests.

The great room

The kitchen

The guest bedroom

In fact, when the house was built, these traditional outdoor spaces were a source of inspiration for interior designer Linda Woodrum. "We have, of course, the front covered porch," says Woodrum, "which is so traditional, Southern, waiting to greet people, having people drop by, lemonade, iced tea on the front porch. The screened porch, of course, there are times of the year when we need to keep the insects away.

"And then the back porch is great for suntanning. I think it's fun in this house to have three definitely different porches and, again, all very useable at different times of the year." Like all Dream Homes, this one combines a sense of tradition with contemporary touches. You can see it in the inventive design of the open, airy great room.

"People want to live in a larger space where it's free flowing," says architect Bill Allison, "Both for reason of communication and staying in touch with family members." Here, space flows freely from living, to dining, to cooking areas. And because everything is so open, each area is uniquely defined with its own decor.

The kitchen mixes a black-and-white color scheme with natural hues, clearly differentiating it from the living area — only a few steps away — with it's varying tones of red. This house is perfect for relaxed living and reflects the thought and creativity into making it truly carefree.

Consider the weather; here, along the southeast coast, every structure has to contend with heat, wind and moisture. Even the bracing salt air we associate so fondly with the beach can really age a house prematurely. The builders of the 1998 Dream Home met this challenge head on with durable cutting-edge materials and ingenious structural details. The paint is designed to prevent mildew, while the decking, handrails and other wood additions are specially treated.

The Dream Home also takes into account powerful storms. "There are two forces that you are trying to prevent from pushing the house down: one is uplift, because the pressure of the wind will pull the house up. And the strapping ties the house down to the foundation, to the ground, so it won't be lifted up and blown away," says Allison. Relaxed southern charm with imaginative design — it's all part of the spirit of HGTV's Dream Homes.

The winner of this home was Tina Carlson. HGTV's Paul James surprised her at her home in Thousand Oaks, Calif.