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A House Beautiful report highlights five U.S. destinations that designers recommend for distinctive design sourcing: Portland, Atlanta, Santa Fe, New Orleans and Nashville. The recommendations focus on antiques, art, textiles, architecture and locally distinctive finds; they reflect designers’ experience, not a formal ranking or measured travel trend.
House Beautiful has identified five U.S. design destinations that designers say merit attention from travelers and people sourcing interiors: Portland, Maine; Atlanta; Santa Fe; New Orleans; and Nashville. The report gathers recommendations from interior designers on what visitors might find in each city, from maritime memorabilia and mid-century furniture to Native American art, antique furnishings and architecture.
In Portland, Maine, designer Jennifer Hunter points to early American maritime memorabilia and folk art, connecting the city’s coastal character with the objects available to collectors. The report does not name particular shops there, but frames Portland as a place to look for material tied to its maritime and nature-oriented culture.
Atlanta is described by Laura Jenkins of Laura W. Jenkins Interiors as an overlooked destination for vintage and antiques, despite its established design scene and the presence of ADAC. Her suggested stops include Westside Modern for mid-century pieces, Scott Antique Market for browsing and Peachtree Battle Antiques, where her firm’s team selects items through its auction house.
Designer Jessica Alpert recommends Santa Fe for vintage pieces, textiles, pottery, art and Native American objects. In New Orleans, Sarah Stacey directs attention beyond restaurants and music to the city’s architecture, boutique hotels, antique furniture, colorful homes and contemporary art. Her listed stops include Consign Consign and Ferrara Showman Gallery; Fireside Antiques, while included in her recommendations, is in Baton Rouge. Jenkins’s Nashville-area sourcing route spans Leiper’s Fork, Nashville and Franklin, with stops such as Copper Fox Gallery, Schumacher Design Shop, Eneby Home, Gallery 2o2 and White’s Mercantile.
Where Designers Source Distinctive Finds
The recommendations offer readers a practical alternative to treating design shopping as an afterthought or limiting a trip to a city’s best-known attractions. Each destination is associated with a different mix of objects and places: Atlanta for vintage and antiques, Santa Fe for art and textiles, and New Orleans for a combination of architecture, patina and contemporary work.
That specificity can help travelers plan around their interests, but the guide is not a consumer ranking or an independently tested itinerary. The suggestions come from designers’ professional experience and preferences. Shop availability, prices, opening hours and whether an item can be shipped are not established in the report, so visitors should check directly before making plans.
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Five Cities, Five Sourcing Routes
The list brings together cities with different design identities rather than presenting a single style or region. Portland’s maritime and folk-art references, Santa Fe’s handmade and culturally rooted work, and New Orleans’s varied architecture and decorative arts point to the report’s central idea: design-minded travel can mean looking for locally distinctive pieces as well as visiting familiar cultural attractions.
The recommendations also differ in scale. Nashville-area sourcing requires travel among three communities, according to Jenkins, while New Orleans’s suggested itinerary includes a day trip to Fireside Antiques in Baton Rouge. In Atlanta, Jenkins names specific dealers and a market; in Portland, the source offers a broader description of what to seek rather than a named shopping list.
“Atlanta may be known as a design hub (we have ADAC after all), but I think it is often underrated in terms of people traveling here for vintage and antiques.”
— Laura Jenkins, Laura W. Jenkins Interiors, quoted by House Beautiful
What the Guide Does Not Establish
The source presents personal recommendations from designers, not survey results, sales data or a ranked assessment of U.S. design destinations. It does not establish how widely travelers overlook these cities, how shops compare on price or selection, or whether the named businesses currently carry the particular items described.
The report also provides no publication date in the supplied material, and it does not give opening hours, current inventory or booking details. Eneby Home is identified as appointment-only, but visitors should confirm its arrangements and check all other businesses’ current details before traveling. The recommendations are not a guarantee that specific pieces will be available.
Planning Around Local Availability
For readers considering a visit, the immediate next step is to treat the designers’ lists as starting points: contact shops about hours, appointments, inventory and shipping, and map distances before setting an itinerary. This matters particularly for the Nashville-area stops, which span separate communities, and for the New Orleans recommendation that involves a trip to Baton Rouge.
No new announcement or follow-up development is stated in the source material. The guide’s usefulness will depend on current business information and individual travelers’ interests; the article does not report a formal update schedule or further plans from the designers.
Key Questions
Which five U.S. destinations does the report recommend?
Portland, Maine; Atlanta; Santa Fe; New Orleans; and the Nashville area are the five destinations featured in House Beautiful’s designer-sourced guide.
What kinds of design finds are associated with Atlanta?
Laura Jenkins recommends Atlanta for vintage and antiques, naming Westside Modern, Scott Antique Market and Peachtree Battle Antiques as stops to consider.
What should visitors look for in Santa Fe?
Designer Jessica Alpert points to vintage pieces, textiles, pottery and art, including Native American works and objects she describes as handmade and distinctive.
Are all the New Orleans recommendations located in the city?
No. Sarah Stacey’s list includes Fireside Antiques in Baton Rouge, which the report says is worth a day trip; visitors should confirm travel time and current business details.
Is this a ranking of the best design cities in the United States?
No. The report presents designers’ recommendations, not a ranked list or a data-based comparison of cities.
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