About South House Designs

Over 30 years ago, my creative career adventure began with South House Designs. It allowed me to escape the Corporate Jungle and sprout my entrepreneurial wings while nurturing and guiding three amazing young people from their cribs into productive, happy young adults.

Initially, my home decor accessories were sold from four wholesale showrooms around the country.

This evolved into designing sewn textile products for mail-order catalogs (Victorian Papers, Horchow, Sugar Hill, Hall’s) and large traditional retailers. Generally, these retailers also hired me to act as the general contractor handling purchasing and production.

That was the essence of South House Designs.

That was all fine and good (and supplemented my dear hubby’s teaching salary), but I was still entwined in the Corporate Jungle. Once the youngest was in Middle School, it was finally my time to RAMP UP THE FUN FACTOR!

South House Boutique, my Etsy shop, was added to serve as my playground, my sandbox, a place where I could explore, play and flex some creative muscle. And like all good playgrounds it is So. Much.  Fun.

I thought that Etsy Boutique would be my quirky little sidebar to my larger story; a place for me to experiment with techniques and materials to create products that come from my heart without the concern for “sale-ability” and “market reach.” Lo and behold, my quirky Etsy playground was not only feeding my soul and creative spirit, but also feeding the kids.

SouthHouseDesigns.com was conceived to support my customers and as the vehicle for sharing my obsession with creative thinking & making. Oh, and projects!

And now? Now, 20 years later, it’s on its fourth major evolution — melding blog, shop and support all together as one.

SouthHouseDesigns.com is now one space for all functions, and all intermingled — as life should be, and my brain always is.

Blog and shop together – no more switching back and forth. When you are looking at a product, there will be any associated blog posts appearing on that same page. When you are reading a blog post, if there is a South House product involved, it will appear on that same page.

The shop side will have everything that the Etsy shop, South House Boutique, has but also some Exclusives and Limited Editions. The cart is powered by Shopify using their excellent security. The only information South House can access is your email and your ship-to address.

This is the newest and most exciting evolution of the South House story. It is challenging and at times daunting. But we are learning, growing and evolving,

Please don’t hesitate to contact me [“contact me” links to contact form] with any comments and suggestions. Or if you’re a ‘grammer, feel free to DM me

Who am I, Diane?

I’m a rebellious traditionalist!

I adore timeless style with an unexpected twist, a modern punch, a wow factor. Nothing beats a solid balance of style, function and persnickety detailing. …….  And my customers agree.

I gravitate toward rich textiles full of character. For me, it’s always been about the textiles – I’ll grab for a scarf over a necklace everytime, well, unless we’re talking pearls and that’s a whole other love affair.

A handsome houndstooth, a floral linen, rustic burlap can all tug at my heartstrings; a fabulous pop of color can make me weak in the knees.

A bargain, a garage sale find or curbside treasure that’s loaded with potential — that’s always fun.

I’ll pick a veggie over fruit — crazy, I know!

And jelly beans over chocolate — even crazier!

And tea over coffee most definitely — the rest of you are the crazy ones!

I did have an obsession for every shade of green, but now I’m in a blue phase. But blue and white are timeless so I may be here for a while!

I love eating outdoors, playing games outdoors, just being outdoors.

 

So what drives me?

A crazy compulsion for puzzles for one.

Yes, I’m addicted to Sudoku and cryptoquips and absolutely mad about Ken-Ken. Crossword puzzles, not so much. It’s the reasoning, logic and visual that gets me tingling – not so much knowing the ancient coin of Lithuania.

Maybe this explains my devotion to creative problem solving – which is really what puzzles are all about.

I love figuring out how to make something — rarely if ever have I followed a pattern to the end. If I start with a pattern it’s a pretty quick detour down my own path. But I thrive on inspiration from others and the creative DIY-er/Maker/Crafter community I have found throughout the internet.

I’d love to learn more about you! Drop me a message. What drives you?

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