Flower Magazine Showhouse 2021

Introduction

Located about an hour outside of Birmingham, Alabama, the Flower Magazine 2021 showhouse is the personal home of Flower’s editor in chief, Margot Shaw, and the house is built on property that has been in her husband’s family for generations. Shaw assembled the team of architect Pete Pritchard, interior designer Mary Evelyn McKee, and landscape architect Ben Page with the request for a simple, elegant fieldstone farmhouse. The result is a home that blends the natural elements beautifully and serves as a true retreat away from the busyness of the world.

The  Story

Tucked in the woods with an incredible front porch, extensive backyard terrace and firepit, one of the design challenges was to center the color palette of the interior to reflect the natural and peacefulness of the exterior. Just one example of the outside blending inside would be the floors and the beams in the home that are salvaged reclaimed wood from a mill.

Mary Evelyn McKee designed the master bathroom beautifully mixing hard pine, rustic twine, and Crossville’s Altered State collection. For the floors, she chose the Steel Gaze hue picking up blue and gray tones and artfully mimicking oxidized steel to contrast the dark stain of the pine wood cabinetry. To help create a space that looks larger than the actual area, she installed Altered State in White Hot in the 12” x 24” size in an offset pattern in the shower walls. Complementing the white wall tile, McKee selected Crossville’s Yin + Yang in Lotus Blossom for the shower bench, shower floor, and ceiling offering natural variation in color, movement, and texture.

Although most of the showhouse is low-key, natural, and subdued, the guest bathroom injects the home with a surprise combination of graphics and shapes that make the small space very distinct. The tones in the guest bath reflect the natural colors throughout the rest of the property, yet interior designer Mary Evelyn McKee added a fun style with the union of unique materials.