“Southern homes are well-loved. That means bare feet tracking in dirt, kitchen spills, and furry members of the family running up and down the halls. Flooret seamlessly blends the warmth of wood flooring with the durability of vinyl—it’s flooring that can handle whatever life throws at you, and it will look good doing it.” - Shelly Brown, GoodGrit Magazine
Flooret had the chance to sit down with Shelly Brown, editor of Good Grit Magazine, to chat about the newest exciting project: The 2021 Designer Showhouse in Atlanta, Georgia!
The beautifully renovated mid-century modern home is set on 12 acres of lush Georgia land.
Photos (c) Alyssa Rosenheck
Presented by Industry West, along with a string of other curated brands, Good Grit chose Flooret as this showhome’s flooring in one of our newest colors, Queensbury Signature - the darkest in the entire Modin LVP collection. Under design leadership of Shelly, the result is something absolutely worth booking a tour for.
Shelly identifies her individual style as, “whatever the most beautiful version of casual looks like,” and we couldn’t agree more. The show house redefines the world's image of the south, while still keeping strong to its southern roots - reflecting its surroundings in a fresh, stunning light.
“We’re showing our version of the south - the past and history are still there, but it’s what we’re making out of it - the modern gorgeous,” Shelly says.
Photos (c) Alyssa Rosenheck
The home, although beautiful, had bones that had been well-loved over the years. It was in deep need of R&R at a start-from-scratch level. Shelly and her team took to a nearly complete rebuild, uprooting cast-iron pipes and taking the house’s foundation down to its studs.
Equipped with her trademark lived-in, cozy design style, and drawing inspiration from her southern upbringing, Shelly crafted this home to be one that welcomes undone sheets, slightly dusty surfaces, dishes in the sink, and an upturned rug or two. In summary: meticulously undone.
“It is a space that is beautiful, but you don’t have to take your shoes off. It’s a space that is colorful but in a curated way. It is a space that makes you want to crawl into the beds, and you’re not worried about messing them up - it’s lived in, in a minimal, very curated way,” Shelly says.
The concept of this design goes hand-in-hand with Shelly’s principle of letting life happen around your space, and not being insecure about showing it.
Photos (c) Alyssa Rosenheck
She explains that she’s stopped working to ensure her home is picture-perfect and sparkling clean before having company over. Now, she welcomes friends and family without worrying about appearances - this, Shelly notes, is what creates spaces that people feel comfortable in. This is the feeling of the south that she’s trying to emulate through her design.
“The number one thing that makes a home is your attitude,” Shelly says. “How you feel about your home, how comfortable you are, is how your guests are going to feel.”
Photos (c) Alyssa Rosenheck
When designing a home around Queensbury Signature, Shelly needed to take into account the impact of a starkly dark floor against the rest of the decor, since the surrounding space was to be full of white marble accents, bright lighting, and color pops of pale sage and orange rust.
Many would opt for a light floor like Lato Signature to compliment the light tones, but Shelly found beauty in the contrast:
“The rich, dark color of this floor is the perfect backdrop for a lighter surrounding palette,” Shelly says.
Queensbury is a color that presents a challenge to the design eye if you’re not used to working with dramatic colors. A common misconception is that dark wood flooring will make a space feel enclosed or small. However, Shelly found the perfect balance using Queensbury as the foundation for the home.
“There’s something about this dark color that makes this light, bright house feel grounded,” Shelly says.
Photos (c) Alyssa Rosenheck
Shelly added that this show home was built to reflect its southern roots. One common mistake in design, Shelly says, is “trying to emulate a place you aren’t in,” in this case, a beach home or modern mansion, with expansive bleach blonde floors. Queensbury’s espresso brown color is just as rich as the history of the south, drawing the eye in and exuding depth, making its statement by being so unique.
“This home isn’t typical of what people think is southern style,” Shelly says. “It’s modern southern. We have such a melting pot here, and it's representative of what the south really is today.”
We think Shelly and the team did an incredible job with this showhome, and love seeing Queensbury in this beautiful light!
Photos (c) Alyssa Rosenheck
Good Grit Showhome (c) Good Grit Magazine
