Effortless entertaining, breezy bright style, and long sunny days filled with friends and family!

What's the most important thing to consider when styling the perfect bar cart?

Yourself! Don’t feel pressured to stock every last fancy schmancy liqueur or bitter. All you need are your favorites, a few quality spirits to make the classics, a good set of cocktail tools, and some interesting glassware! You'll always be ready to party!

What are some things to keep in mind when it comes to serving/ presenting food and drinks?

I find casual entertaining to be the most fun which means finger foods for all! Nobody wants to sit down to a formal multi-course meal on easy breezy summer nights. Serve small hearty bites that are filling and easy to serve and put that bubbly on ice or better yet, style out a do it yourself Summer Sangria bar cart. You won't be stuck playing bartender and your guests can help themselves, as often as they like!

What advice do you have for first-time entertainers who want to host their own Summer Soiree (related to people/friends/catching up)?

The power is in the prep! Your duty as the hostess is not only to provide the refreshments but also the energy! If you're running around frantically taking care of last minute tasks, your guests will most likely feel uneasy. If you're mixing, mingling, and having a ball, your party will too!

For more fun visit Chandon! 

Photography by Nicole Crowder

Meet Mary & her husband Nate! They're full of personality and pizazz and definitely know how to host a crowd!

Since you and your husband travel a lot for work, how did you make your home a relaxing place to return to?

My husband is a forensic accountant/financial consultant, and I am a meeting planner. Since we travel so frequently for work, we often joke that we bought a home to never use it. We spent a lot of time in hotels before we bought the house, reading style blogs, and selecting specific themes for rooms. It was really helpful to order the bulk of our furniture from Society Social. Roxy worked with us to specifically customize the pieces we wanted, and offered advice on our selections and fabrics. The white glove delivery service saved us so much money in shipping, and it was great that most of our furniture arrived at the same time, so everything could come together at once. We designated some rooms more for comfort than style, and decorated things in phases so it wasn't too overwhelming. 

Beverly Palm Pillow

Peony in Bloom Pillow 

Chelsea Wing Chair 

Orangerie Rose Pillow

Collins Accent Table 

Duchess Chair in Orangerie Rose 

What was your favorite room in the house to decorate? 

It's a toss up between the living room and putting together my "closet" / dressing room. The living room was a new frontier, as we had only ever lived in apartments beforehand. Having a formal living space to entertain as well as relax in was exciting. Designing my closet layout and finding a home for my shoes and jewelry was so much fun too!

Chelsea Wing Chairs in Black & White Stripe

Orangerie Rose Pillows 

Chrystie Street Desk in Vanilla Table Fabric With Gold Nailheads 

Tell us more about this fabulous walk in closet!

The single walk-in closet in the master bedroom was small, and certainly not enough room for both of us. When I half-joked, we should make the smallest bedroom into my closet, Nate actually agreed. WIN!  We priced out custom closets, but discovered the IKEA Pax system was the best fit for us. It was inexpensive and allowed us to create an entire walk in closet while still retaining the room's integrity. It is easily removable if we ever choose to sell the house someday, and the layout is easily changeable when I need to make adjustments.  

Faux Mongolian Lamb Fur Ottoman

If you had to choose one pair of shoes out of your entire collection which pair would it be?

This is a mean question! It's basically Sophie's Choice! I love my Jimmy Choo Marias best (they were my wedding shoes and a gift from my husband), but I could wear my Kate Spade glitter Charm heels every day of my life. 

Paloma Footstool in Spotted Fabric 

You have lots of personalized pieces all around your home which really makes your space feel unique to you! Do you have a story behind these collected treasures?

My late grandma used to buy and sell from flea markets, so from a young age, we were always going to flea markets and thrift stores. I still have a lot of pieces that I've had since childhood, and other pieces that I've collected along the way. We were very invested in having furniture that was precisely our taste, and Society Social's custom work really made that happen for us! We also chose art pieces and decor that matched our personalities, both as individuals and as a couple. It makes our home seem a little unusual to others, but it's a perfect expression of us!

I collect...

Loren Hope Jewelry (Every piece is a work of art!) and my whole life I've collected horses, paintings, figurines, and other representations. Finding a home for each one without going overboard has been tricky. Impulse control when shopping has been very necessary!

Drink of choice?

Aylesbury Duck (or Tito's) vodka and Diet Coke or an Amaretto Sour. Nate loves a good bourbon or single malt scotch (Roxy's husband Alan can attest, as he and Nate knocked back a bottle or so while we were shooting the house! In fairness, we went through several bottles of champagne, so, I think good times were had by all at our photo shoot)! 

The Sedgewick Bar Cart 

Give us one decorating tip!

 Spend time figuring out the full space before you start purchasing pieces. Visualize the aesthetic in advance and choose pieces that are true to the plan, but also to true to your style and not just a trend of the moment.

And one entertaining tip!

 Always provide good food and good company! Entertaining is more about your guests than you, so make your focus on showing them a great time, and enjoy!

And Mary & Nate did just that with the warmest and most fun welcome ever! Thank you both for inviting us (the entire fam including Oscar Owens!) into your charming home, we had an absolute blast visiting y'all!

Cheers!

Meet Patricia, an antique pineapple collector, a lover of pieces with personality and a firm believer in a Bermuda beach lifestyle! 

Also pictured, our Society Gold Cocktail Shaker, Society Gold Jigger, and Colorful Corkscrew!
Your pup is adorable! Does Abi typically claim the Duchess Chair as her throne?

We love how Patricia symmetrically styled her room with our White and Gold Hexagon Lamps!

Photography by Rebecca McAlpin Photography