Midsummer’s eve has long been a time for savoring the season’s bounty while celebrating the longest day of the year. For St. Simons Island, Georgia, residents Judy and Jack Powell, the date also happened to coincide with the completion of their new guesthouse and potting shed. “I thought it would be fun to mark the occasion by inviting guests over for drinks on the porch and then surprise them by serving dinner in the shed,” Judy said.
A garden folly as well as a functional structure, the Powells’ shed looks inviting from the start. “When you drive up to the property, it resembles a carriage house,” says architect John Shackelford, whose inspiration for the design came from early Coastal Georgia architecture. Like a carriage house, the shed has an aligned pair of wide openings equipped with strap-hinge doors and windows with wrought-iron grates. Walls of reclaimed local brick, thickly slathered mortar, and tabby hark back to the handmade materials coastal settlers used for their houses and dependencies. Only the skylight hints of modern design.
Neither architect nor client envisioned the shed as an entertaining destination, but its location steps away from the guesthouse kitchen, view of the marsh, and cross-ventilation make it ideal for the purpose. It was Judy’s co-host, Linda Heagy, who came up with the idea of serving the dinner there.
“With long sunsets and breezy evenings, the sea islands are ideal for dining outdoors,” observes Linda, who frequently hosts parties on her wide porch in neighboring Sea Island. “When you set a table outdoors, it’s pleasing to make it unexpectedly elegant, with silver, crystal, and china, but also to echo your natural surroundings.”
The magical midsummer table setting began with place mats of philodendron leaves cut from the garden and laid directly on the wood surface of an old worktable. Their natural color contrasts with the shimmering bronze-doré trunks of palm tree-shaped candlesticks. Chargers and plates with pink-and-green borders of flowers and foliage echo the colors and shapes of informally massed arrangements of hydrangea, lotus, and snapdragons.
“Combining indoor luxuries with a touch of the rustic and the gifts of nature is one of the best presents you can give your guests,” says Judy, whose plans for her shed have expanded beyond nursing houseplants and overwintering orchids. “There really isn’t any better dinner music than the sounds of swimming dolphins and the wind in the oaks.”
Written and photographed by Susan Sully
For more inspiration from Susan Sully, check out her book Southern Hospitality at Home: The Art of Gracious Living (Rizzoli New York, 2019).