By Haskell Harris | June/July 2009 | 

The Perfect Fit

Menswear designer Sid Mashburn’s Atlanta porch redefines Southern comfort

You’d be hard-pressed to find a screened porch in downtown Manhattan. So when Sid Mashburn finally made a break from New York (and from life as the design director at J. Crew and Ralph Lauren) to open the menswear shop that bears his name in Atlanta, he was more than thrilled to find a house that came with a particularly idyllic porch.

When he, wife Ann, and their five daughters moved in, it was already Mashburn’s kind of room. Mostly because the previous owners put in details like an old-fashioned painted floor and industrial-inspired lights, a contrast that had the same contemporary-meets-traditional vibe that Mashburn’s clothes are known for.

But, true to form, Mashburn and his wife (who collaborate constantly when it comes to design) added their own inventive touches, too. Like taking indoor furniture outside and upholstering it in graphic black outdoor fabric. “We like black,” he says. “We’re in that mode right now. It’s our modern twist.”

The rest of the space is filled with pieces they’ve collected over time, namely the couch that came from a Boy Scouts sale and an antique trunk they turned into a coffee table. “What I love about the porch is that it’s a great place to steal away—whether we’re all out there having dinner or nobody’s out there except me, listening to the rain hitting the trees.”