When you live mere steps from Music City’s famed Lower Broadway, it’s a given the strains of honky-tonk drifting in through any window at street that you’ll hear level. But to be able to savor those notes—diffused to a subtle hum—from a penthouse aerie perched 38 stories above the city? That is a rare treat. “This location is a real catbird seat for Nashville,” says designer Ray Booth, adding that the expansive view outclasses even the energetic soundtrack. “The first time I walked into this space, it utterly took my breath away,” he explains. “You walk right up to this huge wall of windows and can’t help but be in awe of the burgeoning skyline before you.”
Spanning 180 degrees, those prized vistas—revealing bustling cityscape, the Cumberland River and the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in the distance—are exactly what lured homeowners Tuck Hardie and Jennifer Coyle to the newly constructed Four Seasons Private Residences Nashville in the heart of downtown. Though the pair splits their time between New York City and the Tennessee capital, they consider the latter their home base. So, with most of their brood having graduated from college, they traded in their Green Hills suburban abode for the perks of luxury high-rise living. “As couples get older, you appreciate the ability to lock the door and go,” Jennifer notes. “This better suits our lifestyle now. Plus, the views are pretty enticing.”
By the time Booth came on board, the couple already had selected several of their home’s finishes, including herringbone wood floors and veneered kitchen cabinetry, from the building’s standard offerings. Teaming with Tuck and Jennifer’s longtime general contractor, Ian Hartert, Booth then added heft and gravitas to the understated interior architecture. These refined millwork updates include a built-in media wall in the primary bedroom, rift-sawn white oak cabinetry for her closet and quarter-sawn walnut for his.
Greeted by three walls of windows, Booth gravitated toward furniture and lighting that would not obstruct the glorious views. Examples include the low-slung console placed before the great room windows and slender kitchen pendants that maintain a minimalist profile in absence of upper cabinets. “We wanted to ensure everything was oriented toward looking outward, not inward,” Jennifer explains. “The design needed to be elevated enough to be worthy of the building but subdued enough to not compete with the scenery.”
Anchoring Terra Legno floors, the kitchen’s Mystery White marble island hosts a mix of custom Bjork Studio dining benches and Chris Lehrecke-designed pedestals from Ralph Pucci. Slim Apparatus pendants from R Hughes keep the focus on the views.
Because his clients love entertaining, Booth brought the open-format great room down to a more intimate scale using intuitive seating groups that naturally invite conversation. The central question became: “How can furnishings act as architecture to help break down a space and make it cozy, comfortable and intimate, and feel like a home?” says the designer, who chose pieces with strong, architectural silhouettes. The dining table—which he designed with clean lines to evoke Mies Van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion—contrasts with more organic forms, such as the amorphous coffee tables and a rounded sofa that floats like a nebulous cloud between the living and dining spaces. Echoing this theme of angles and curves is a pair of dynamic, sculptural chandeliers featuring intersecting rods and discs. Booth likens the composition of furniture and lighting to the way punctuation brings pauses and emphasis to a sentence: These pieces are “like adding a comma here and an exclamation point there,” he muses.
The color palette proved equally dynamic, with bold tones of amethyst, eggplant, topaz and teal dotting a predominantly neutral backdrop. “When it came to color, they were ‘coming in hot,’ as they say,” Booth shares with a laugh. Each of the unexpected hues was pulled directly from the clients’ art collection, which includes the realistic sculpture of Lothar Vigelandzoon and the ultra-colorful paintings of George Rodrigue. With limited wall space to showcase these treasured acquisitions, editing was key. “Ray would say, ‘You tell us the most special pieces and we will figure out a way to make it all work,’ ” Jennifer relays. “His team made a real effort to understand what matters to us and how we live in our space.” And in the end, that extra effort made the results that much more dynamic, successful and surprising. “Special projects like these are an opportunity to evolve how you perceive design for yourself and your clients,” Booth says. “The high-rise context creates a challenge and a chance to think, and we’re always excited to try new things.”
Booth accented the guest bedroom with Holland & Sherry’s Volutes wallpaper and Stewart Furniture’s Larson bed featuring Designs of the Times’ Farrar fabric. Community Manufacturing’s Sling side table serves as a nightstand.
A Ross Gardam chandelier from Fair commands one corner of the great room, where a JD Staron rug grounds J.M. Szymanski coffee tables from 1stdibs. The circa-1958 Erwin-Lambeth for Tomlinson slipper chair was reupholstered in Mokum Textiles’ ochre Alpaca Velvet from Paul Plus.
Anchoring Terra Legno floors, the kitchen’s Mystery White marble island hosts a mix of custom Bjork Studio dining benches and Chris Lehrecke-designed pedestals from Ralph Pucci. Slim Apparatus pendants from R Hughes keep the focus on the views.
Shades of eggplant—seen in an Alicia Adams Alpaca throw and coordinating Dot stools by Avenue Road—accent the great room’s Collection Particulière sectional from R Hughes. Draperies of Casamance’s linen-blend Zazen textile from Ernest Gaspard soften the backdrop.
A Jan Kath rug anchors the Block dining table and Taperback side chairs, all of which Booth authored for Hickory Chair. Holland & Sherry wool on the latter nods to the surrounding purple hills while an Abramczyk Studio chandelier from Ralph Pucci echoes the clouds.
Porter Teleo wallpaper from Travis and Company makes a graphic statement in the primary bedroom, where Elan Atelier’s Twig chair from Paul Plus rests upon a Crosby Street Studios rug. The Liaigre sofa wears Rose Tarlow Melrose House’s Duncan fabric in Maple from Jerry Pair.
Booth accented the guest bedroom with Holland & Sherry’s Volutes wallpaper and Stewart Furniture’s Larson bed featuring Designs of the Times’ Farrar fabric. Community Manufacturing’s Sling side table serves as a nightstand.
In the dressing area, Hudson Valley Lighting Group sconces illuminate a custom vanity by Hartert-Russell with Amerock hardware. Powell & Bonnell’s Obi stool from R Hughes, upholstered in Yarn Collective mohair from Wareco, completes the vignette.
