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An Interview with Paula Wallace
Author of Perfect Porches
Dave and I are very pleased to introduce you to Paula Wallace, author of the beautiful book Perfect Porches, a quintessential look at forty American porches.
Ms. Wallace's love of porches, southern hospitality and beautiful architecture is very evident in this wonderful must-have book.
Ms. Wallace graciously took the time to share how she got the idea for her book.
As you read excerpts from her interview here, you'll quickly realize the love that Paula Wallace has for porches.
So, sit back and relax as you read this special exchange with Paula S. Wallace, President and co-founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD),
one of the largest art and design schools in the United States.
Reserve your copy of Perfect Porches now.
Enjoy our book summary, too.
 
Excerpts from the Interview
with Paula Wallace
Q: Take us back to the moment and the view that inspired this book.
Where were you and what did you see before you when the concept for Perfect Porches captivated you?
A: That's an easy one! The view was from my front porch in Atlanta, at 2201 Montrose Avenue.
It was the home of my childhood, and how happy it was.
It was our stage and our playground, our library and outdoor family room.
On rainy days, my sister Pam and I would turn tables upside down and build our own cozy rooms.
We were Laura and Mary Ingalls, out on the prairie.
That's what our porch was: a portal, into the world, into stories, into the imagination.
And of course, it was about family...
I remember my grandmother's porch, too, in Collins, Mississippi. We spent summers there.
Actually, there were two porches, front and back. These were very different spaces in form and function.
The front porch, of course, was for company and visiting.
The back porch was for work – shelling peas, snapping beans and cutting watermelon.
Grandmother's back porch wasn't all work, though.
Sometimes, in the evenings, the front porch turned thespian. My Aunt Bess never married, and she lived on the farm with my grandmother.
After supper, we would all retire to the porch for our amateur theatricals.
Aunt Bess would help Pam and I hang sheets, and she would operate the spotlight – which, in this case, was a flashlight...
With memories like those, it was only a matter of time before I took on a book project about porches.
In my previous book...
Right: The author's home in Savannah, GA;; Guests gravitate to this second-story aerie, the perfect spot for conversation or an apres-dinner drink.
It's protected from the elements by translucent corrugated roofing above the shuttered ceiling. Plants, glass vases, paintings and a thick-cushioned Lloyd-Flanders sofa create an appealing and inviting space.
Q: Does the Savannah College of Art and Design teach interior design students how to approach outdoor spaces? Are they much different from indoor spaces?
A: Absolutely, on both counts. We're in the midst of the Great Porch Renaissance, and clients want interior designers and architects to create intentional outdoor spaces – not just for homes, but in any and every kind of structure they might be designing:
hospitals, corporate offices, retail spaces.
SCAD probably has more porches, per capita, than any other university in the country...
And of course, sustainable design is integrated throughout the curriculum in the SCAD School of Building Arts.
This includes not only learning to design with sustainable materials, but also creating energy-efficient homes.
And a well-designed porch can reduce energy use in remarkable ways – keeping direct sunlight off exterior walls and drawing residents outside, which means less television, less air-conditioning, less energy consumption...
A really terrific little chest, armoire, or bench can be the perfect place to tuck things away, depending on the porch’s style.
You have to ask more questions when designing a porch.
How can we design the porch to protect residents from afternoon sun?
Is it deep enough to enjoy during a rainstorm? (I think every porch should be deep enough to enjoy in the rain.)
Q: Are your own porches ever truly finished?
A: My porches evolve, transform, and transfigure all the time!
The two porches at our home in the Savannah historic district are a perfect example.
They're both in the book. My husband and I are both designers, so we're revising the porch on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis.
I like to place sofas and chairs at interesting angles to create energy and an artful imbalance.
It seems that people are more willing to join a conversation if there's a point of entry.
I'm always playing with the arrangement of furniture and lighting and décor, like a production designer for a new play...
Q: What, if any, new accessories or design ideas did you discover while making this book that you hope to try in your porch and aerie this spring?
A: You know, the best part of writing a book on interior design is getting to peek inside so many brilliant homes around the country.
They say if you want to learn how to write a novel, then read.
Well, if you want to learn how to design your perfect porch, then go look at three dozen other porches!
You fill the treasure chest of your mind with design ideas that comingle and coalesce into something entirely new and surprising.
I discovered quite a few new ideas while writing the book.
I especially enjoyed seeing how homeowners used fabric and light in surprising ways.
At one home in California, the owner had taken cantina lights and treated the rafters with a gauzy, translucent fabric – which created the most enchanting lighting effects.
The book features a number of porches that use curtains and shutters to shade the sunlight and to create more privacy (especially for city porches that are close to the sidewalk).
And, of course, when it comes to fabric for porch furniture, the Sunbrella company has been a gift from above!
Before Sunbrella, porch furniture was beautiful, but either too fragile, too uncomfortable, or both...
Q: What makes Savannah an ideal home base for this book, and what does Savannah as a city have to teach the rest of the world about porches?
A: Savannah has it all.
Within twenty minutes of the city, you can find every species of American porch:
urban porches, beach porches, rural porches, marsh porches, river porches, grand porches, cottage porches, everything.
There aren't many bad views in the Lowcountry.
Everywhere you cast an eye, there's something to capture the imagination [in Savannah], whether you’re nature-watching or people-watching.
Savannah also has the temperate weather that makes us one of the porch capitals of the world.
Our springs and falls are long and lovely, providing the perfect environment for porch living.
Our great big rainstorms are a spectacle to behold from the front porch.
I must say, though, that I miss the fireflies we had in Atlanta.
That was its own kind of show, silently sparkling in the summer air...
Savannah can always teach the world something about hospitality and entertaining, whether on a porch, courtyard, lawn, or lagoon.
There's a reason they call us the Hostess City of the South...
Entertaining is not something we only do at dinner parties in Savannah. It's a way of life...
We invite people in. We sit. We visit. We have lemonade, a julep, or our all-season favorite, minted ice tea.
All great porch design starts with people. The colors, the décor, the art, everything should reflect the porchers’ values, ideals, and spirit...
Want to read the entire interview? You will learn...
- How Paula and her husband change their porches around for dinner parties, impromptu cocktail parties and other celebrations.
- How Paula and her sister, Pam, created "high art" on their grandmother's porch as children.
- How designing a porch and a living room compare.
- Why porches became less popular in the middle of last century and why they are having a resurgence today.
- How porches are incorporated into the architecture at the campus of Savannah College of Art and Design.
- Why Savannah, Georgia is known for porches and why it is called the "Hostess City of the South"
Meet Paula Wallace
Paula Wallace is President and co-founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), one of the largest art and design colleges in the United States.
As President of SCAD since the year 2000, Paula Wallace has led the university in unprecedented growth and established three new campuses including SCAD Atlanta, SCAD eLearning and SCAD Lacoste in France. She is currently establishing SCAD Hong Kong.
Under her leadership, the college has earned awards from many organizations, including the American Institute of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the International Downtown Association, the Art Deco Societies of America, and the Historic Savannah Foundation.
Ms. Wallace has been highly instrumental in bringing artistic endeavors to Savannah, Georgia. She organizes art fairs, exhibits on the college campus and film festivals.
Ms. Wallace co-authored A House in the South. She has also written seven children's books in the "World" series where she discusses a specific topic in each book and how that topic relates to each of ten countries - for example birthdays, sports, food and holidays.
Ms. Wallace also co-authored a book with Frances Schultz titled A House in the South: Old-Fashioned Graciousness for New-Fashioned Times.
Paula Wallace 's vision has been celebrated by many leaders in the art and design world. Diane von Furstenberg, the well-known designer said "I am extremely impressed by the fact that one woman had a vision and she made it happen, and is helping so many people."
We thank Paula Wallace for authoring such a beautiful book about porches.
Enjoy our book summary of Perfect Porches.
Book cover above reprinted from the book Perfect Porches by Paula Wallace. Copyright (c) 2010 by Paula Wallace. Photographs copyright (c) 2010 by Chia Chong and Adam Kuehl. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc.
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