Nashville Southern Living Showcase Home- Our design plans

Do any two words conjure up images of sophistication and stylish living more than the words, “Southern Living”? I can still remember the time I saw my first Southern Living Magazine.

It was about 10 years ago. I had just moved into a new home and was invited to a Southern Living at Home party in the new neighborhood. This was an in home party much like a Tupperware party, except they were selling beautiful home decor items. As a special deal that night, you could also get a subscription to Southern Living Magazine for under $10. Little did I know how much that one decision to order that magazine that night would influence  my personal decorating style over the next few years.

My family knew that on the days those magazines came in the mail that I was to be undisturbed, alone with my Southern Living Magazine until it was read cover to cover. My favorite issues were the ones that included the design concept homes. I would study each photo, read every caption and the accompanying article, trying to wring every last design secret from the pages. I absorbed the images and ideas like a sponge and then used them as inspiration in both our home and our decorative painting business.  When I heard that Castle Homes was designing and building a Southern Living Showcase Home in Nashville, I was thrilled. When our business was invited to participate by providing decorative finishes for the Showcase House, I was over the moon.

Working with the design team at Castle Home Builders has been a great experience. There are 13 designers participating in the home. Each one is designing a room. We were asked to submit a design for the downstairs powder bath. Most of the downstairs of the home is being finished in silvery greys and pearly whites. So, in keeping with that palette, we are created a Royal Design Studio stenciled finish that has shimmer and bling. Here is our inspiration photo.

Here is our sample board.

We will also be doing a distressed silver foil finish on the ceiling.

It’s going to be fabulous.

In addition to the powder room, we are creating a faux pewter finish for the range hood and also working with a couple of fabulous designers on their rooms as well.

Kristen Finney of Finney Interiors is doing two rooms. She is designing a little girl’s room and we will be applying a pearlescent glaze to the ceiling. She is also designing the outdoor space. I am really excited about this room. If you read Southern Living, you know how much they love to photograph outdoor spaces. I think this space should have a great chance of being featured in the magazine. Kristen has been extremely gracious and patient with me and all of my ideas for how we can finish the space. After much discussion with Kristen and the builder’s design team we have settled on a fabulous concrete carpet design for the outdoor space. It was very much a collaborative effort. Melanie Royals, of Modello Designs was integral in the process by providing the patterned design and color palette. Melanie has a great eye and has mastered the art of melding pattern and a color in a way that is unparallelled. I am grateful for her input and guidance. Also a huge help in the design process was the technical expertise of Katrina Johnson from the product manufacturer, Skimstone. She even offered the assistance of a product specialist to help with the installation, her brother, Pablo. We are totally taking her up on that offer and are working out flight details now to get him to Nashville for the install in late September. Here is a photo of Melanie Royal’s Modello concrete carpet design we will be installing.

Here is a photo of the inspirational color palette.

We are also working with the fabulous Nashville interior designer, Amanda Burdge of AB Home Interiors. She wrote about her 1960’s Marilyn Monroe glam meets Modern Day design she is executing at the Southern Living Showcase Home on her AB Home Interiors blog here. She had a great idea of adding some candy cane stripes in the entry of her room. Here is her photo mock up of her concept that we will be painting.

Should be gorgeous and glamorous. We were honored to be invited to help with her room too.

We (Brooks) will be full force in the throws of creating these gorgeous finishes over the next several weeks. Don’t forget to mark your calendars to come and see all the fabulous designs at the Nashville Southern Living Showcase Home by Castle Homes. It will be open to the public October 21- November 6th.

You can follow our progress on the project by LIKING the Bella Tucker Decorative Finishes Facebook Page. If you’d like to talk to us about how to give your home some custom designed Southern Living Charm please email me at [email protected]