Tasteful Friends, the late Julia Reeds small Mississippi house known as Delta Folly

She lived most of her adult life in Washington and New York, but moved to New Orleans about 10 years ago and decided to build this 1-bedroom house in her childhood hometown of Greenville as a weekend place and to be near her parents and relatives.

I love the high ceilings, the paint colors, and most of the fabrics.

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by Anonymousreply 66January 30, 2021 3:27 PM

Folly is right. Over the top Southern chintziness.

by Anonymousreply 1September 9, 2020 4:22 AM

Perfection. Total jewel box perfection.

by Anonymousreply 2September 9, 2020 4:31 AM

Hanging pictures on a bookcase is something that I've never seen before.

by Anonymousreply 3September 9, 2020 4:35 AM

Hard right republican. No thanks. You can’t have it both ways - either you’re a fag hag friend of the gays or you’re not. She chose to stick with her far right politics.

by Anonymousreply 4September 9, 2020 4:42 AM

Julia’s own article from Garden&Gun magazine a few months ago with some funny anecdotes about designing and building the house. Sad to have heard she passed away, I always liked her pieces in VOGUE.

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by Anonymousreply 5September 9, 2020 4:43 AM

R4 although a lifelong Republican, I thought she had at least come out as a “Never Trumper” and supported Rick Wilson and the Lincoln Project guys? If not, then yes it would be hard to excuse her politics.

by Anonymousreply 6September 9, 2020 4:46 AM

I'm sorry she was ill and passed.

But not sure I can bring myself to read work by anyone who wrote for a publication called "Garden & Gun."

by Anonymousreply 7September 9, 2020 5:12 AM

The magazine is actually named after a dive bar & disco in Charleston, South Carolina.

They don’t have any articles about guns or hunting, aside from skeet shooting. The features are all about decorating, cooking, travel, and restaurants in the South and it’s audience is young and somewhat hipster... at least for the South.

The name was selected as a “tongue in cheek” joke by the founding editors in 2007, but I know what you’re saying and think it was a stupid choice as most people would have no idea about the origin and assume it has Rethug leanings.

Per Wiki:

“Garden & Gun is based in Charleston, South Carolina and covers art, skeet-shooting, gardens, Southern tradition, and land conservation. The name Garden & Gun is explained as an "inside reference to a popular 1970s Charleston disco called the Garden and Gun Club." It is also explained as a metaphor for the South's land, people, lifestyle, and heritage.”

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by Anonymousreply 8September 9, 2020 5:24 AM

I've never heard of her but I like the house, it's charming.

by Anonymousreply 9September 9, 2020 5:34 AM

Julia’s obit from the NYT for those that weren’t familiar with this lady.

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by Anonymousreply 10September 9, 2020 5:37 AM

Her last column. Although she doesn't mention him by name, it doesn't sound like she supports trump.

She's from an old school Republican family who entertained the likes of William F. Buckley. As a lifelong Democrat I used to enjoy his show on PBS. A world away from the bible-thumping evangelicals who support the current crimimal repuke regime.

She sounds like a really interesting person, quite a character and one of a kind.

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by Anonymousreply 11September 9, 2020 5:46 AM

Great front room and kitchen. Very personal and comfortable. Too bad she wasn't able to enjoy it for long. She would never vote for Trump. She's a Republican and he isn't.

by Anonymousreply 12September 9, 2020 6:03 AM

Her essay on Steel Magnolias

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by Anonymousreply 13September 9, 2020 2:00 PM

I absolutely love it - total perfection as far as I'm concerned - best Tasteful Friends yet. I saw it originally in Garden & Gun (one of my favorite magazines, but I'm from Charleston). She was absolutely iconic and a great writer. I would've have loved to have gone to one of her parties, they were legendary I've heard. I especially love the colors in the house, nothing jarring, very subtle and comfortable.

by Anonymousreply 14September 9, 2020 2:33 PM

She used to be on Hardball quite a bit. She was the kind of real broad that DL loves. An interesting woman. Clarke Read, her father, who, at 92, survived her, was a real player in GOP circles in the ‘60s & ‘’70s as head of the Mississippi state party. It was his surprise support for Jerry Ford in the ‘76 primaries that may well have been decisive in Ford ultimately prevailing over Ronald Reagan. If not a liberal, his daughter’s politics seemed more moderate than her background might suggest.

by Anonymousreply 15September 9, 2020 3:39 PM

A very smart house design, and for me a perfect small (not tiny) house with it's one fine tripke-aspect room with extra high ceilings and off that pavilion the basic s: kitchen, bathroom, mudroom, bedroom. It's simple ideas and simple materials expressed as elegant spaces in large part because of the confidence that a simple concept is luxury.

The exterior treatment may be too cottagey for me, and inside some of the chintz and furnishings are too girly or fussy for me but the layout, the key pieces of furniture, the way the main room accommodates a lot of freedom of movement and mood and activity, hear things are all great.

I like that there's no obvious extravagance other than, say, the height of the main room. There's nothing flashy, the windows are stock sash elements, the woodwork and custom moldings are simple designs; it's a house that shows off good design more than the expense of design. (Of course it's not a cheap house, the pair of Jamb lanterns cost about 18,000 in a town where you can buy a modest but pleasant house from under 50,000 but mostly the expense was in portable things not the construction.

I could live comfortably there and regard it as a luxury of space because of its design and utility.

by Anonymousreply 16September 9, 2020 4:30 PM

I love it with the exception of the bed. The dead pheasant and moss display are strange, but overall love it. Beautiful colours. I could live there very happily. My first Tasteful Friends 10/10

by Anonymousreply 17September 9, 2020 5:52 PM

According to the NYT article, she was friends with historian Jon Meacham, a frequent commentator on MSNBC.

by Anonymousreply 18September 9, 2020 5:56 PM

Love everything about it, right down to the choice of rug in the bathroom. Adore the kitchen. Maybe I'd replace the bed (prefer a nice brass bed, no bed hangings. But that's it. P.S. Love the pics hung on the bookcase, but she stole that idea from me; been doing that for years!!

by Anonymousreply 19September 9, 2020 8:16 PM

Proof that it is indeed possible to be too tasteful, friends.

by Anonymousreply 20September 9, 2020 8:18 PM

And, R18, her business partner was Keith Smythe Meacham, Jon's wife.

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by Anonymousreply 21September 9, 2020 8:39 PM

Here she is on Morning Joe in 2011, remembering Christopher Hitchens.

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by Anonymousreply 22September 9, 2020 8:42 PM

I like it but it's too busy for me. The kitchen is perfect; the hallway is ok. I hate most of the art. Love the plants and the pink chair. Am very put off by the paintings/kitschy mirrors hung on the bookshelves. And the furniture right in front of them. Didn't she need access to those books? People who do this use books as mere decoration which is really not a good look for a writer.

I'm also amazed that a seemingly tiny country hut (from the outside) can contain such a grand and chintzy Jane Ostinesque interior. It's like the Old woman's shoe.

by Anonymousreply 23September 9, 2020 9:39 PM

I love the house, but the décor is too too much. GIANT CLAM SHELLS ON A BENCH WHERE SOMEONE MIGHT WANT TO SIT???

If someone gave me the house and the power to move it somewhere I'd like to live, I'd take it, move it, and auction off the knick-knacks and frou-frou to you bitches. The house itself is perfect for an aging bachelor, just the right amount of space, enough shelves for anything I might want, nice simple exterior.

by Anonymousreply 24September 9, 2020 10:19 PM

Her architect, James Carter, has a really great classic sense of style. I love his work.

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by Anonymousreply 25September 10, 2020 3:39 PM

R25 - agreed - beautiful houses

by Anonymousreply 26September 10, 2020 3:57 PM

I would take it and not change a thing. Perfect size and I love everything in it . I am a maximalist at heart though,so I might be prejudiced !

by Anonymousreply 27September 10, 2020 5:59 PM

I’ve always wanted to build a small pavilion like this, with a couple of grandly scaled rooms, with the basic necessities tacked on . It’s pretty perfect.

by Anonymousreply 28September 10, 2020 6:12 PM

I wish Julia was around to have seen Trump lose. She was a Steve Schmidt style “Never Trumper”.

by Anonymousreply 29January 23, 2021 10:21 PM

No idea who this person is but she had a nice house.

by Anonymousreply 31January 23, 2021 10:35 PM

Love it, although like R27 I am also a maximalist. Only thing I'd change are the big brass lamps in the lounge (jamb lanterns?) for something else.

Everything else is perfect, its right sized and reasonable

by Anonymousreply 32January 23, 2021 10:42 PM

I love this house! Manageable size with one large grand room. The decor is that Wasp / Anglo look that is virtually extinct today. Big 👍🏻

by Anonymousreply 33January 23, 2021 10:43 PM

I've never heard of Julia Reed. Does that matter?

by Anonymousreply 34January 23, 2021 10:53 PM

A house that shows intelligence and culture.

by Anonymousreply 35January 23, 2021 11:00 PM

I'm amazed they could build a house that from all appearances looks like it has been there for 75 years or more.

by Anonymousreply 36January 23, 2021 11:00 PM

I wonder if they sell plans for this house? It’s the right size for one person.

by Anonymousreply 37January 23, 2021 11:02 PM

I was worried with all the stuff she accumulated it would look disorganized but nope! Neat little place, cozy.

by Anonymousreply 38January 23, 2021 11:20 PM

Nearly perfect. Love the field of daffodils...

by Anonymousreply 39January 29, 2021 2:22 PM

I'm reading one of her books right now, called "But Mama Always Put Vodka in the Sangria!" - it's a funny memoir-cum-cookbook and about half of the content is about alcohol.

Julia was a drinkin', smokin' sassy Southern gal from a "good" family that had great style. She was indeed a Republican and there are some subtle digs at Democrats in this book, but I still enjoy her and would like to have known her.

Incidentally, the style of her little house is heavily, heavily influenced by a little-known designer named Furlow Gatewood, about whom she wrote a book, called "One Man's Folly". The book is about Mr. Gatewood - a lifelong bachelor Southern gentleman designer and antiques dealer - who took a plot of family land in Americas, Georgia and proceeded to plop down several modest, antique homes, then decorate them in fabulous, fabulous taste.

Here's an image of a few of Furlow Gatewood's interiors, where you can get a sense of his influence over Julia's interior style:

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by Anonymousreply 40January 29, 2021 2:39 PM

Mississippi Delta taste at its best. My relatives there are of her ilk--staunch Republicans who shuddered at Trump and sat out the presidential race in their solid red anyway state. The pictures in front of the books are over the top, but the ceilings are so high that some central anchor is needed to break up the height. Perhaps surprisingly, many of her class are well read. The Shelby Foote volumes paired with a bio of Henry Clay make a point, I'd say (not my own point of view, but....) Nice Wolf stove in the kitchen (no GE or even Bosch here). Odd since Viking stoves are a locally-made product.

The only problem with Garden and Gun is that the adverts are all for things that are impossibly priced even for those with a comfortable living. Like the fancy men's shops on King St. in Charleston, where polo shirts are $130 and up. (Yes, you get telling little whales or whatever at that price.)

I don't think I could save enough from not wearing socks with my Gucci loafers to afford the polo shirt to go with them.

by Anonymousreply 41January 29, 2021 2:41 PM

Not that it will cause a Data Lounge rush to the wire transfer funds, but they are giving away houses in Greenville, Mississippi.

They seem also to be giving away left over Vaseline from the filming of Lucile Ball's "Mame." It doesn't there's a realtor in Greenville with a clean camera lens.

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by Anonymousreply 42January 29, 2021 3:15 PM

R41: Aren't polo shirts directly proportionate to class or class-aspiration in Charleston and any smart posh corner of the South - or anywhere? Sure, you can buy them for 19.99, but the ones with a Ben Silver palmetto logo, or a Fred Perry wreath, or a Hackett H, or a Carolina Herrera CH they will be $130/£130/€130, and there's usually some significant uptick (beyond the logo) in construction -- the Fred Perrys, especially, last years and years and years without losing any shape.)

G&G was a great surprise when it started out, and a nice nod to a magical 15-minutes of Charleston history.. I lost track of it years ago but it's always been a better version of those vanity city/regional magazines published by someone newly divorce rich, to make people who aren't hicks but live among them feel better about themselves. It takes a lot of slick advertising to land in the rooms of the right hotels, and to not lose so much money for the publisher that he or she says fuck it.

by Anonymousreply 43January 29, 2021 3:21 PM

There's a fucking headless pheasant just hanging from the drinks cart.

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by Anonymousreply 44January 29, 2021 3:23 PM

[quote]She was indeed a Republican and there are some subtle digs at Democrats in this book

Because no matter how much of a "good person" a Republican is, their primary reason for existing is to own the libs.

by Anonymousreply 45January 29, 2021 3:28 PM

I absolutely love it. Although, if it were mine, I would definitely develop a more masculine baseline for the decor. But it's really beautiful, and I'd live there in a heartbeat...if it weren't located in a virulently racist, deep red state.

by Anonymousreply 46January 29, 2021 3:33 PM

She died? I remember reading her pieces in Vogue ....

The house is beautiful, but the kitchen is the only room I'd keep as is.

by Anonymousreply 47January 29, 2021 3:43 PM

I spent a summer(1985) in Greenville, MS opening a Republic Express Airlines station. Strange place, but everybody knew their place!

Uncle Ben's kept their corporate jet there at the airport. That's a cute house!

by Anonymousreply 48January 29, 2021 3:51 PM

Furlow Gatewood, One Man’s Folly. If you want to see some gorgeous photos, head over to Pinterest—I know it’s an annoying site if you’re trying to track down information and you keep getting lead in circles—but people have posted many photos from the book.

by Anonymousreply 50January 29, 2021 4:03 PM

The "property details" of R42's house intrigued me, noting "Central fire and burglar alarm system," which didn't ring any bells: everyone has an alarm, but also "deadbolts on exterior doors," and "security lighting."

Which might come in handy: "With a crime rate of 55 per one thousand residents, Greenville has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 18."

There's always a reason, even in Greenville, MS, why a four bedroom home is listed at $89,000.

by Anonymousreply 51January 29, 2021 4:07 PM

"Furlow Gatewood" sounds like a character on Designing Women.

Or some politician covered by Molly Ivins.

by Anonymousreply 52January 29, 2021 4:25 PM

Learning about her politics, I can't divorce this decorating style from a desire to go back to Antebellum or post-war times.

Mississippi GOP is the worst of conservative politics and ideas. Klan, voter repression, lynching and deep-rooted racism that is still very prevalent today.

I don't care if she is a moderate version of that - anyone who has lived there and has perspective should denounce that violent and aggressive discrimination. To not do so is complicit.

Other than that, I think it's well done, albeit not my taste.

by Anonymousreply 53January 29, 2021 4:38 PM

Even by dreary Mississippi standards, Greenville is a shithole.

by Anonymousreply 54January 29, 2021 5:41 PM

Jesus the mold and dust on all those books, and speaking of dust, who will dust all that schlock? Might as well just put in wall to wall carpet in too. It's got to be the frauest of frau there is.

by Anonymousreply 55January 29, 2021 6:10 PM

Julia was a very close personal friend and we spent a lot of time together. She was a bright, talented and capable woman with the best sense of humor who was good at anything she did. Although she had deep Southern roots and was quite proud of them, she was far too intelligent and enlightened to be weighed down by the history. She had friends from all social levels and backgrounds around the world. And even if she was from a family of Republicans, she could not stand our former President. She started building her 'Folly" when she developed cancer and it gave her a great deal of pleasure before she died.

Any of you would have been fortunate to have known her. She would have elevated your life in so many ways.

by Anonymousreply 56January 29, 2021 6:45 PM

R56, thanks for that. I absolutely believe you.

by Anonymousreply 57January 29, 2021 7:16 PM

Oh, how nice for her in all her dead privileged glory.

Did Pickles ever visit her there?

by Anonymousreply 58January 29, 2021 7:30 PM

I never heard about her until this thread appeared after her death. She seemed like quite a smart, interesting character.

R56 I am sorry for the loss of your friend. We have plenty to dislike from the conservative arm of politics over the last few decades, but I dislike when someone is automatically reduced to their political party. Peopleare more complex than that.

by Anonymousreply 59January 29, 2021 7:59 PM

R58

When you arrive, I plan to be at the open door to Hell to push you down the steps. I promise to piss on your smoking carcass if you start to burn so as to prolong your agony.

I was also a friend of Julia's and she would have approved of this message and its sincere sentiment.

by Anonymousreply 60January 29, 2021 8:44 PM

Greenville, like most all of Mississippi, is a place of extremes. Extreme wealth and extreme poverty. Extreme high culture and extreme lack thereof. Mississippi has a storied literary history, including William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, John Grisham, Shelby Foote and William Alexander Percy (from Greenville) to name a few. And, yes, Julia Reed. For a small Mississippi city, it once had an opera house that hosted the great Caruso twice. Washington county, where Greenville is located, is the only county in Mississippi to never have had a chapter of the KKK...

by Anonymousreply 61January 30, 2021 12:33 AM

Fairly long, but really great, casual interview with Julia where she talks about Mississippi, her father’s politics, going school at Madeira, how she thinks Dick Cheney isn’t quite a human, her connection to Jean Harris, and how she first started her journalism career at Newsweek, among many other topics.

At about the 11 minute mark she starts talking about how both she and her parents realized she had to get away from the local private “white racist academy” schools and so she left for DC and Madeira.

At the 22 minute mark she talks about the book The Help and race relations in Mississippi.

Anyway, the whole almost hour long conversation here is great and worth the time to listen.

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by Anonymousreply 62January 30, 2021 12:36 AM

To the Friends of Julia — she was indeed tasteful and had a tremendous eye. I lived in GA for five years and learned that there are indeed many liberals and intellectuals in the south, I would never lump someone of her intellect in with the most debased versus of the GOP — and I *despise* the GOP.

Those of us who are Gen X or above can remember that the GOP actually had a faction of highly clever thinkers. The party overall has always been driven by bigotry and nativism, but the flip side is that social consciousness was in its infancy, so the thinkers of the GOP blended in with the rest of the party because they didn’t allow extremists any power. Blahblahblah, I feel like I’m defending the GOP, and I don’t wish to do that as they have earned their exile from polite society. But again, I sincerely believe Julia was more of am intelligent thinker was happened to want small government. Also, Meacham is another figure I admire, so their friendship only cements my opinion of her character. Enough of my political talk!

OP, I give you 10/10 too. I don’t think we’ve had anything so “post-modern American classical”, not sure of the best label. If you enjoy a classical aesthetic, I recommend the linked book which I own.

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by Anonymousreply 63January 30, 2021 2:39 AM

I would empty it out and keep the green walls. I wouldn't go modern but I'd bring a few Rachel Ashwell or Mitchell Gold white slipcovered sofas and chairs and a little stripped pine. Some Teko pottery. A wonderful Morris chair in the corner. White iron bed and a lot of blue and white ticking. Not imaginative, aristocratic or current, I know but a great setting for dogs, a bird and plants,

by Anonymousreply 64January 30, 2021 3:41 AM

R63, Gil Schafer is an amazing architect!! I'm buying that book.

by Anonymousreply 65January 30, 2021 1:59 PM

This is a cluttered mess. And honestly, in the SOUTH? Good lord, there will be bugs and roaches and palmetto creepy crawly things everywhere. It's crap. The books will mildew. Now on a more positive note, I like the way she uses color. I like the high ceilings.

by Anonymousreply 66January 30, 2021 3:27 PM

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