Ornate as a château and cloaked in climbing roses, a French-inspired residence nestled into woodlands near Nashville was everything one might expect for a country music legend’s former home. From its intricate coffered ceilings to its enfilade of vaulted rooms framed by archways, this ceremonious estate embraced decadence at every turn.
But the clients of designer Julie Couch, recent Tennessee transplants by way of California, were partial to edited, clutter-free environments. To reconcile two such disparate styles might have seemed intimidating, if not impossible, for some. Fortunately, Couch found the challenge exciting.
“The home was very formal and dark, but it needed to feel like a young family lived there,” explains Couch, whose clients had been swayed by the romantic landscape and sweeping views. “The wife wanted to maintain that French style but make it modern. She didn’t want to strip away what made sense for the house.” With those simple directives, Couch was granted full creative control for the abode’s next chapter.
The designer preferred not to fight the house’s inherent formality, instead distilling its features down to their most essential elements. To Couch, that meant “removing some of the visual noise.” Her collaboration with general contractor Johnny Phipps, in fact, left all existing walls intact. Despite this preserved framework, however, “every single surface changed,” the designer notes. The duo stripped away one elaborate wallpaper after the next, also swapping heavy carpeting for tailored new wools as bathrooms were overhauled with crisp white vanities and quartz countertops. Fresh coats of paint brightened dark millwork in key areas like the kitchen, whose cabinetry now dons pale gray. Phipps’ crew also surgically removed excess decorative molding, then replaced the copper hood with a more subdued version in limestone.
Couch updated hardware and plumbing fixtures throughout the house for an appealing mix: matte black and antique brass balanced by touches of polished nickel in a few bathrooms. Equally important were the details she left untouched: the living room’s existing carved limestone fireplace, inlaid wood floors, plaster medallions gracing ceilings, and richly stained woods adorning crown moldings, doors and archways.
Keeping to a restrained palette of warm wood, cream, gray and metallic also helped the designer marry diverse styles while letting the architecture speak for itself. Perhaps no space better exemplifies this than the paneled library, where Couch’s high-contrast palette achieved something of a yin-and-yang effect. By retaining the dark backdrop, she imbued the upholstery with an ethereal feeling while turning the classic collection of books and objets d’art into a graphic tableau.
The couple’s minimalist habits directly informed the pared-down furniture silhouettes Couch selected, particularly upholstery “with clean lines and simplified shapes,” says the designer, who gravitated toward soft curves to harmonize with the home’s many arches. “We wanted to find that happy medium—between the traditional residence and their modern preferences—that still made sense within the architecture.” Plentiful performance fabrics (including those with the appearance of linen, chenille or velvet) hold up to the rigors of daily life with three young children.
Room by room, the designer accented her scheme with a finishing layer of appropriately traditional accents: a gilt armchair here, a classic tête-à-tête there. A Grecian bust stands proudly in one corner and a Renaissance-style angel sculpture hovers in another while the parlor plays host to an assemblage of antique fragments by Mississippi artist Abby Price. In every instance, Couch took care not to introduce excess. “A lack of clutter was very important to them. And since the furnishings were kept simple, we had to be strategic about those final touches; it was about having fewer, more impactful pieces that were artful and special.”
Such elements also reflect the femininity of the wife, whom Couch channeled throughout the design. “She was trusting enough to give me an idea of what she wanted, then to let go and count on me to do it,” the designer says. “It’s a gift when a client has that confidence, because the results come out more beautiful and cohesive.” The wife even enjoyed discovering little surprises over time, Couch recounts, since the project was installed in phases. And for a grand house with quite a colorful past, one family’s West Coast roots offered the chance to be transformed—and appreciated anew.
