Ever wonder how Thomas Jefferson might decorate his dream house today? Warrenton-based designer Barry Dixon has an answer, and it’s writ large in the 2007 Southern Accents Showhouse at The Homestead Preserve (adjacent to the resort of the same name), two hours away in Bath County. "Our inspiration was a direct link to Jeffersonian ideals," Dixon explains. "We wanted to envision how he would design a house, if he were around in the 21st century." (Southern Accents, a Dixie-themed home décor magazine, sponsors a Showhouse each year in a different location, opening it for public tours for a limited time; last year’s house was in Hampton Island, Georgia.)
 Pretty big: This year’s Southern Accents Showhouse pulls out all the stops, TJ style. Just think of it as the pursuit of happiness |
As Lord or Lady of the luxurious three-story Homestead manor, one might wander after dinner down to the semicircular stonefaced 1,200-bottle wine cellar, choose out a bottle, and enjoy a casual glass under the huge rotating disk in the kitchen. For a more highbrow evening, have a read in the map and charting room where, Dixon suggests, Jefferson might have "burned the midnight oil." The place has a wading pool, eight fireplaces and a cool 8,300 square feet full of top-shelf furnishings.
If you’re dying to drool, the Showhouse is open for tours August 30-December 30. Or just keep an eye out for the November/December issue of Southern Accents.
