In addition to the Coastal Living Idea House, Belgard® also partners annually with the Meredith Corporation to sponsor the Southern Living Idea House, a long-term partnership that has reaped many benefits for both Belgard and Southern Living magazine, as well as the magazine’s audience.
“Southern Living feeds Southerners’ love for porches and patios by continually showcasing the region’s most beautiful exterior spaces,” explains Zoë Gowen, Senior Editor for Southern Living. “Through our Idea House program partnership with Belgard, readers are able to view and implement these outdoor design ideas with sourcing and access to Belgard’s easy-to-use materials.”
This year’s Idea House was a renovation project that proved to be the perfect example of how to take an unusable backyard and turn it into an attractive and functional entertainment space using Belgard hardscapes. Landscape designer Julie Blakeslee of Big Red Sun used Belgard’s Dublin Cobble® pavers and Weston Stone™ wall as the medium to convert a sloped and rocky terrain into a sweeping multi-level terraced patio.
“The smaller format of the cobbled pavers gave us the vintage look we were going for and allowed us to create a sophisticated entertainment space,” said Blakeslee. “It was a challenging installation, but we were very happy with the look and quality of the products and the end result.”
The project also served to help bring awareness to two new brands to the Oldcastle APG portfolio : ChoiceDek® and Techinseal®. ChoiceDek® composite decking was used to bring an entirely new look to the home’s back porch. Techniseal’s DriBond™ dry mudset was used as the base to overlay the front porch and walkway with Belgard’s Holland Stone pavers.
“We were stressed out about having to keep the original walkway, but the Oldcastle products allowed us to work with that restriction. Everything blended together to give the front of the house an elegant, finished look,” Blakeslee said.
The 2018 Southern Living Idea House opened to the public June 15th and will remain open for tours through November 8th.
