Working a Shift at the Southern Living Idea House 2025

As a DIY decorating blogger I have been to many decorator show homes and idea homes in my 16 years of blogging. HGTV, Kips Bay, and Southern Living are a few.

I have shared them here on the blog over the years, but this past weekend I had the opportunity to tour this year’s Southern Living Idea House, but in a completely new to me way.

Earlier in the summer my daughter, Mandy who lives in the Charlottesville, Va area was asked by her employer if she would like to volunteer for a shift at the Southern Living Idea House 2025 that is right outside of Charlottesville in a town called Keswick. Where she works is one of this year’s charity recipients of the proceeds of the idea house ticket sales.

She thought it would be fun to do and called me to see if I wanted to do it with her. Of course I signed right up.

This past weekend, Ed and I drove up to Virginia to not only go to the house, but to also spend the weekend with Mandy and her hubby Matt and help them paint a room and hang molding in another.

On Saturday morning, Mandy and I headed to the idea house for our shift as docents – a fancy name for volunteer tour guides who were in place to tell the story of the house and the reasons behind the way the house was designed and decorated.

Each of the docents for each shift were assigned a room to be in. I was assigned the kitchen and Mandy took on the second floor rooms.

Idea House Size and Sale Price

The house is tucked away as all the homes in the neighborhood are. It sits on a 5 secluded wooded acre lot with a lake near the backyard. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths and is 4,974 square feet.

The house is listed on Realtor.com: Southern Living Idea House 2025 in Keswick, VA. The listing has the sale price of the house at: $6,500,000 – furnishings not included.

The house was designed by, Rosney Co. Architects, built by Alexander Nicholson and designed by Charlotte Moss and her team of designers. It is a big house with lots of rooms.

Above is the entry that was intentionally left empty so that there was a visual flow from the front to the back of the house. It was also done so anyone standing in the foyer could see nature out through the back of the living room.

The house was designed in traditional Charlotte Moss style. I saw many of her touches throughout the house.

To keep this post from being too long, I thought I would focus on the kitchen where I was stationed and also the DIY touches I found in many of the other rooms that I liked and know that you can do yourself in your own style.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is where I was stationed. It was a square room with plenty of cabinets for storage. It was bright and cheery and had many nice features.

My favorite part of the room was the plate wall filled with a collection of colorful plates.

I loved this purple Transferware plate. I found one on Etsy so you may be seeing a similar one in my house soon. :-)

I also liked the pocket doors between the kitchen and dining room. All the doors in the house had the vertical lined panel on them.

The best feature of the room though is this sink counter with the wall of windows that looks out to the backyard and lake beyond.

It is a pretty impressive counter.

The cafe style curtains were made from a vintage tablecloth. The counter is Mont Blanc Quartzite.

The fabric hung inside the glass cabinet doors that frame the long counter wall is from Pierre Frey. The pattern name is Amalfi Carreaux Prune.

One of the most interesting aspects of chatting with all the visitors touring the house was to hear their conversations. Almost everyone remarked on how little counter space was around the cooktop. It is all very pretty, but I had to agree with them.

Many also wanted to see a coffee station in the kitchen and not in the scullery that was around the corner from the kitchen where a coffee machine was.

It seemed like it was placed there without much thought and too far away from the kitchen. To put a positive spin on their complaints, I told them to just think how many daily steps they could get in every morning going to make and get coffee.

Back in the kitchen, I think the designers made the solid wood island in the center of the kitchen as a place to do most of the counter work.

And everyone enjoyed the fact that the fridge and freezer were separate. On the left is the fridge and the right is the freezer with storage in-between and on top.

The DIY Decorating Ideas I Liked

Now that you have seen the kitchen, I want to show you the decorating details in the other rooms of the house that I liked.

If you look closely you can see the chartreuse cord detailing on the shade.

To hide the unfinished bottom of this vase, the designer covered it with wallpaper.

Along the scullery wall was a hinged extension of the window sill. When lifted up and clicked into a locked position…

…it becomes a place to pass food and drinks through to the screened-in porch.

In the Studio

My favorite room was the studio… or craft room were there were many creative decorating ideas that anyone can do. To get to the room you leave the house and walk through a breezeway, it is separate from the house.

Every wall was painted a different color. The card chandelier above the work table centers the room.

Yes there is a light in the middle of all the cards.

This chalkboard wall is a great spot to write down inspiration, ideas and even a to-do list that you won’t misplace.

The wall surrounding the door to the room was covered with pegboard that makes it easy to switch around what is hanging on the wall.

How fun is this paint swatch fabric? It was the fabric used to cover the cushion on a daybed in the room.

Being that this studio is separate from the main house, it has its own powder room and this was the cute wallpaper on the walls.

In the Bedrooms

In two of the bedrooms there were DIY wrapped fabric frame mirrors. This one was in the primary bedroom. The leaves on the fabric are raised which made the mirror all the more unique.

In the guest room the mirror was covered with a bold printed fabric that had a brushed texture.

In the Library

Isn’t this blue and white striped slipcovered chair so cute?

And I loved this little bean shaped side table that is secured under a leg on the chair so it won’t tip over… such a great design. It is from Charlotte Moss, LLC. I was told it could be from her private collection. I don’t have a link for it and couldn’t find anything like it doing my own search online.

This is a very simple DIY to cover a lampshade using extra wallpaper so that it matches with the walls.

In the Foyer

I created a hidden door under a stairway like this in my house. Mine opens to a closet. Here in the idea house it opens…

…to a pretty powder room.

It was more spacious than you would think and very pretty.

I also liked this staircase runner and would like to add something like it to my foyer staircase one day.

In the Girls Bedroom

The primary bedroom was downstairs in the house, the other 3 were upstairs. I liked the girls room the best. It was very colorful and filled with pattern.

In the Boot Room Powder Room

In this boot room powder room I like the wall papered ceiling. It makes the space so cozy with that extra designer touch.

On a sideboard in the boot room was this lamp that had a bandana covered lampshade.

Where to See The Rest of The Rooms in in the House

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, to keep the post from being too long, I focused on the decor and details that inspired me.

If you would like to see the rest of the rooms in the house, you can see them over on Southern Living’s website.

If you have a question about a source for something you see, leave it in the comments as I have a booklet with all the sources listed for most of the items.

How To Tour the Charlottesville Southern Living Idea House

The 2025 Southern Living Idea House is open August 14 through December 21—Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. Buy tickets at keswick.com.

A portion of the proceeds goes to three local organizations: Yellow Door Foundation, Hospice of the Piedmont, and Building Goodness Foundation.