Southern Accents Rosemary Beach Showhouse

Southern Accents Rosemary Beach Showhouse

In early 2000, one of our clients, Interior Designer Phillip Sides, asked us to meet with us concerning an upcoming project. Over our twenty years in the business, we have moved many whole hospitals, large corporate headquarters, and labs for the EPA and ADEM—but the project that Phillip had for us would end up being one of our most challenging and memorable.

The project was for a new development called Rosemary Beach along highway 30 A in Florida. The client was Southern Accents magazine, and this was going to be for their highly publicized and well-known feature: the Annual Showhouse. Each year the magazine would construct a lavish home and pick a top interior designer to furnish it from top to bottom, exhibiting their unique style. The magazine would feature detailed photos of each room with in-depth descriptions and attention to detail.

Our job? To receive all fixtures, furniture, artwork and interiors for Southern Accents over a period of about a year, then deliver and set up the house in time for the grand reveal. As soon as we agreed to take on this task, trucks began showing up and the task of keeping an accurate inventory began. It soon became obvious that this was not going to be an ordinary project. The sheer volume made it an intense and complex job. The importance of each piece being received added to the level of stress. Juggling purchase orders and inventories from so many different companies was quite a challenge to keep up with—not to mention making sure that everyone was kept abreast of the progress. We did not doubt that we could perform to the standards needed for this level of clientele. Southern Accents and Phillip Sides gave us this task because of our reputation in the business, and because of the quality of work we had done for Phillip Sides previously.

Deliver Install

A little over a year later, all of the interiors were in and ready to go. We ended having six truck loads—one of our largest projects. Upon arrival we were confronted with our next challenge: getting all of the inventory into the house. Rosemary Beach is of the New Urbanism design, which by definition means it was not accessible at all to our large trucks. Not to mention that the whole area was still under construction with trucks and equipment all around this signature home. Because of the tight space and active construction, we used the Rosemary Beach Town Hall to unload, store, and assemble all of the furniture and fixtures before moving them to their final location. We then carefully placed the items on piano boards and walked each piece of furniture over a third of a mile to the destination site. Needless to say, with six truckloads there was quite a bit of walking back and forth.

The next challenge was the weather. As we loading the items on the trucks and began the drive to the beach house a hurricane was heading towards the Gulf. As the day progressed and we continued our work, the rain and wind began to pound the shore. For the safety of all our crew and the items in our care, we had to secure everything and retire for the night. I remember wondering a few times that night if there would even be a home or furniture come morning.

Interior Design Project Management

When day dawned, we awoke to find that the project was spared. We finished our delivery and the signature home was photographed and featured in a full issue of Southern Accents magazine. I was in town a few days ago and saw that the home had recently sold for 7.5 million dollars. While Southern Accents is no longer being published, the home and the whole project amazes me still. We have had many moves and many challenging projects on the coast since that time, but none are as memorable as the 2001 Southern Accents Showhouse.

If you should need help with a project large or small we are here to help, even if it is just for advice. Call 877-816-3454 or visit Admiral Movers.

If you should need help with a project large or small we are here to help, even if it is just for advice.