The 2016 Southern Living Idea House: Meet Interior Designer, Mark Sikes
In the weeks leading up the grand opening of this year’s Southern Living Idea House at Mt Laurel, we have introduced you to several members of the talented team who have worked tirelessly to conceive and create this beautiful and innovative home: the architect, builder, and landscape architect. Starting this week, we are going to begin introducing you to the remainder of the team—the five designers who were chosen by Southern Living Magazine to curate the interior of the house.
In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Magazine, each of the designers were assigned a room in the house and given pages from past issues to highlight each decade of the magazine’s history and inspire their designs.
This week, we’ll introduce you to Mark Sikes —a California-based designer whose work has been featured in such publications as Garden & Gun, House Beautiful, and The New York Times. In our interview with him, Mark tells us a little bit about his approach to design and experience transforming the living room of the 2016 Southern Living Idea House.
ML: Where do you find inspiration for your interiors?
Mark: I look to the past for most of my inspiration, but I also definitely draw from the vast inspiration provided by social media outlets such as Instagram and Pinterest.
ML: What does Southern Living mean to you?
Mark: To me, Southern Living is defined by the art of hosting and entertaining, and people who love their homes and build them based on a sense of tradition.
ML: What has it been like to work with Southern Living on this project?
Mark: Wonderful! The team has been incredibly supportive and excited about the project.
ML: What era of Southern Living’s history were you given to inspire your room?
Mark: I was given examples of beautiful, neutral living rooms from 1976 and 1987 issues of Southern Living Magazine.
ML: What else inspired you when designing your room?
Mark: The architecture of the house and the space of the living room.
ML: Did the Mt Laurel community influence your design?
Mark: Yes, the natural elements surrounding the home and throughout the community inspired my choices and the overall design of the room.
ML: What should people be most excited about when they visit The House?
Mark: Every room is beautifully designed, but what is so great about the Idea House is that every room looks great together and feels appropriate for the architecture.
If you haven’t already, start planning your trip to the 2016 Southern Living Idea House, so that you can see Mark’s (and all of the designers’) beautiful work in person. The Idea House opens to the public on Saturday, June 25th, and you can find all the details—from hours of operation to ticket price—here.
