Journalist, speaker, taste-maker, world traveler, hostess, Southerner, and Sunday painter, Frances Schultz is an enthusiast on decoration and design, food and entertaining, travel and style.
She is author and co-author of several books, including The Bee Cottage Story—How I Made a Muddle of Things and Decorated My Way Back to Happiness, and her newest, California Cooking and Southern Style, out in the fall of 2019. Frances is also the West Coast contributing editor for Flower magazine and was a longtime contributor to House Beautiful and Veranda magazines. Frances has written also for The Wall Street Journal, Town & Country, Indagare, and others. She was for six years on-air host of the award-winning cable television show Southern Living Presents, with numerous other TV and video appearances to her credit as well.
Born and raised in the small town of Tarboro, North Carolina, she graduated from St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, NC, and from the University of Virginia. Frances is the proud aunt of four, a step-mother and grandmother; and she serves on the boards of the Horticultural Society of New York and the Empowers Africa foundation. With husband Tom Dittmer, dog Stella, and assorted horses and critters, she lives in the Santa Ynez Valley of California and in New York City.
Books
California Cooking & Southern Style
By Frances Schultz with Recipes by Stephanie Valentine
Life is a banquet and you are invited! With over 100 recipes and 150 photographs,
this book will make your mouth water, your eyes dance,
your guests grateful, and your heart happy.
The Bee Cottage Story
By Frances Schultz
Inspired by Frances’ House Beautiful column, what began as a decorating book evolved into a memoir with lots of beautiful photos and a compelling personal story. Fried Green Tomatoes author Fannie Flagg hails it as “charming from start to finish.” Charlotte Moss says it “has you laughing hysterically,” and Veranda editor Clinton Smith says “You’ll never think of decorating the same way again.” Due out in July. Click on image of the book cover to pre-order your signed, personalized copy.
A House in the South
by Frances Schultz and Paula Wallace
Though times have changed, the charm and grace of Southern style endure. In this affectionate portrait of Southern homes, the authors lead a tour of more than twenty of the South’s proudest houses, proving that the legendary graciousness of the Southern home lives on in all forms, from seaside cottages to grand mansions.
Atlanta at Home and Atlanta at Table
By Frances Schultz, photographs by Dot Griffith
Published in 1994 and 1996, respectively, these highly readable books were critically praised for their anecdotal insight into Southern history and hospitality. The first, Atlanta at Home, is stories of people and their places, from the grandest (Anne Cox Chambers) to the humblest (Miss Mary’s Garden in a housing project). The second, Atlanta at Table, is people and their parties, replete with great table-setting ideas, menus and recipes you’ll return to again and again.
Ryan Gainey’s The Well-Set Table
By Ryan Gainey with Frances Schultz
A lavishly photographed and endlessly inspiring book of the inimitable garden and gala designer Ryan Gainey’s table-settings and entertaining tableaux. Out of print but available in secondary markets, via www.alibris.com, www.amazon.com and others.
Frances’ Reel
What they say…
Entire copies of articles referenced below may be obtained through Frances’ office via the Contact tab, above.
Frances’ former Atlanta townhouse was featured in a 10-page-spread in Veranda, 1996.
Interior design by John Oetgen.
“…Love, friendship and warmth emanate equally from Frances Schultz’s home and personality. I walk into a townhouse that is a living, breathing, sunny autobiography… Gallery masterpieces hang alongside a niece’s crayon drawing…It’s a house so personal and clearly reflective of Frances Schultz that the visitor wants only to wander around this museum of memorabilia to learn more about her sharp sense of humor, refined tastes, extensive travels and warm character.”
Dossier Magazine
“Frances Schultz…has built a career on her sense of beauty, her storytelling genius, and her warm Southern charm…”
Signature Magazine
“…Tall and slender, Frances Schultz is vocal about the importance of listening to your inner voice…It is this inner voice that lead her to be a writer. Her mother taught her to appreciate the inherent beauty of even a modest home. “She kept a lovely house full of flowers and pretty things, and she was a wonderful cook. I learned to value those things, but I never imagined I might grow up and make it my life’s work.”
Atlanta 30305
“I think they got tired of hearing about Mama and barbeque, and they wanted to come see it for themselves,” says Frances, host of Turner South network’s Southern Living Presents. “She’s always been proud of her Southern roots,” says the show’s producer, Craig St. John. “That inspired us to come here. A lot of her personality comes from this town. That’s part of what the whole South is about.”