2025 Southern Living Showcase Home by Allen Patterson Builders

For slow mornings and long evenings, look no further than this Southern Living Showcase home, built by Allen Patterson Builders, member of the Southern Living Custom Builders Network. Located in the Habersham neighborhood of Beaufort, South Carolina, the island home celebrates beautiful, panoramic views from every corner.  

The home’s guiding philosophy of ‘better together’ informed the entire build process and every design decision. We sat down with the home’s architect, Eric Moser of MK Design Group, builder, Allen Patterson of Allen Patterson Builders, and homeowner and designer, Dana Bacher of Dana Bacher Design, to discover how their collaboration brought the showcase home to life.

Rooted in classic Lowcountry architecture, the home blends time-honored style with modern performance. Known for its elevated foundations, large porches, optimized airflow and natural light, these climate-driven homes are synonymous with the coastal Carolinas. 

In the island neighborhood of Habersham, the homeowners enjoy views of the rising and falling tides in the river and tidal marsh adjacent. “This house is looking straight towards the southwest, which is where we get our prevailing breezes from,” describes Moser as he shows us around the site. “The whole idea was to open up this house, which allows living both inside and out on every floor.” This intentional connection to the landscape naturally extends into one of the home’s defining features: its porches.

Porches are more than an architectural feature for the home—they’re a way of life. “Hanging on a porch is what you do in the South,” Bacher explains, “We did big porches because we wanted to have that space to be together and admire the view.” Oriented towards marsh and river views on multiple levels of the home, the various outdoor spaces serve as extensions of the interior. They encourage slow moments, where families can connect over a cup of coffee or a meal while they take in the nature that surrounds them.

Tall windows with the region’s hallmark traditional grille pattern are strategically placed around the home to capture the breeze and help cool the home in the summer months. Patterson, the home’s prestigious builder with over four decades of experience, adds, “I've learned over the years that when you build a house on the marsh, the windows are really important from a design standpoint—for lighting and everything. You want to bring the outside of the house in.”

Featuring deliberate proportions and intricate profiles, Pella Reserve – Traditional wood windows were chosen for the build. Moser explains, “They are a very authentic window in that they represent and emulate some very old, beautiful windows that we have in this region.”

He continues, “We primarily have the double-hung windows because their profiles and traditional proportions are just excellent. We also filtered in a few casement windows where we need them and where we like the smaller profile.”

In an area prone to hurricanes, it is important the windows add more than just style, they need to help protect the home too. Pella Reserve – Traditional windows with hurricane impact-resistant glass adorn the home, ready to withstand intense wind and rain. In addition to impact glass, they also feature low-maintenance aluminum-cladding called EnduraClad® to shield them from the elements for years to come. “These are really low-maintenance windows that have longevity here, a good price point on them and we think they're really a great product,” Patterson remarks.

The home is designed as more than just a showcase home, but a multi-generational one—featuring one primary suite for Bacher and her husband, and a second for her 84-year-old mother to call home. 

From one primary suite, the homeowners can watch the rise and the fall of the tide over the course of the day. Inspired by coastal blues and greens, the home takes a moodier approach to add more depth than you traditionally see in a coastal home. Rich blues and greens in the wallpaper and furnishings invite the colors of nature in and add the homeowner and designer’s unique touch. 

From the other corner of the home, her mother can see the tidal marsh and Hammock Park. “[My mother] loves the natural light coming in. She loves the pretty windows and is one of those people who doesn’t like to have a lot of window coverings because she loves all the light coming in,” Bacher explains. The windows in her suite feature white shutters that allow her to control the light—allowing her to maximize light throughout the day while affording privacy and seclusion when desired.

In addition to the private primary suites, the home features spaces that prioritize togetherness. “We wanted two equally exciting, spacious spaces to retreat, but also places where we would come together and connect,” said Bacher. The family lives the home’s moto of ‘better together’ through a large kitchen island for cooking with one another, a game table upstairs and large porches the whole family can enjoy. 

Bringing the shared vision of ‘better together’ to life required not only thoughtful design, but a commitment by all involved to craftsmanship and trusted collaboration. As a Southern Living Showcase home, this build spares no details from exceptional quality. Started in 1993, the Southern Living Custom Builder Network showcases some of the South’s most elite custom homebuilders. Allen Patterson Builders was hand-selected as the exclusive Southern Living custom homebuilder in their area—recognizing them for their reputation and commitment to excellence.

As a member of the network, Allen Patterson Builders connects with some of the top products in the industry for use in their showcase home. The relationship between Pella, Patterson and Moser, however, precedes that. “I'm always excited about Pella windows because they make my work look so good,” boasts Patterson.

Moser adds, “We love the range of sizes and the quality that we get from Pella—they're beautiful.”

From the architect’s first sketches to the final interior details, the home was designed from the inside out, with livability as the priority. Equal attention was given to privacy, comfort and shared spaces—proving that a Southern Living showcase home can be both aspirational and deeply personal.

Pella is proud to be the exclusive window sponsor of the Southern Living Custom Builder Network.