--- WHEN MID-AUGUST ARRIVES in Georgia, the only natives you're likely to see out and about are alligators and tree frogs, and even they come to a torpid standstill at midday. So there could be only one explanation for the presence this past August of a New York decorator, two members of his staff, a photographer, an editor, and several truckloads of furniture on the outskirts of Savannah: a designer showhouse was in progress. As the Spanish moss seemed to melt right off the trees, the extremely talented and awfully unflappable Thomas Jayne performed his own sleight of hand inside a 6,000-square-foot neo-Georgian house that was essentially still under construction. The locals were probably watching from their centrally cooled living rooms, wondering, Didn't he know what he was getting himself into?
--- He did. In fact, so did Town & Country, because we were the ones who'd put him up to it.
--- THE SETTING It all started a year ago, when the magazine received an interesting offer. The developers behind the Ford Plantation, a new second-home community just getting under way near Savannah, were about to break ground on their first two houses. They invited us to decorate one at their expense, as long as we agreed to three conditions: that we'd stay within their budget, observe an aggressive deadline, and exercise the supreme good taste their reading of the magazine had led them to believe we possessed. Intrigued, we went down to check out the site. Developments always sound great on paper, but real life usually intrudes about fifteen years down the line, when the neighbors are squabbling over one another's hedge heights and the only available tee times are 5:00 and 6 A.M. Or maybe not. The Ford Plantation hopes to avoid these ruts, and may well do so, thanks to the combined wisdom of its three lead partner, Peter Pollak, Chip Dolan and Steve Schram. Together they've had more than a little luck in the fields of investment banking, real estate sales, and resort turn- around management (at nearby Bray's Island).
The classical style and Georgia waterfront setting of the Town & Country showhouse (preceding page) inspired decorator Thomas Jayne (top left) to scheme the décor in an easygoing traditional vein, one not without his trademark sense of fun. The first thing chosen was the striped wallpaper by Cole & Son in the entry hall (top right); it went on to become the leitmotif of the entire house. OPPOSITE: Chuck Hettinger and George Wittman painted the library with faux boiserie bookshelves to mimic cypress, an indigenous Georgia wood. The 19th century Scandinavian kilim is from Doris Leslie Blau, Ltd.: fabrics on sofa, chair and table are from Brunschwig & Fils. The antique copper urn is from William Lipton Ltd.