This Gorgeous Home is Filled with Neutral Colors & Natural Light

Details abound in this new construction in Nashville, TN’s Belle Meade Highlands neighborhood. Alan Looney and the Castle Homes design team succeeded in creating a bright, open space that grabs your attention from the moment you lay eyes on the front door. The exterior offers interest through the incorporation of mature landscaping, architectural elements, such as the copper awning, and the use of limestone. The foyer greets you with textured wallpaper and the downstairs living space, including a study, gathering room and kitchen, invites you to enjoy hours in sedate surroundings. Up the stairway, you will find rooms in which the homeowners and guests retire to a good night’s sleep, enhanced by calming color schemes. “It all the little details that make each house unique,” Alan says.

Check out the curb appeal on this Castle Homes house! — We adore the copper awning that sits above the windows in the home’s gathering space. Paired with the English-inspired design of the exterior, this architectural element creates eye-catching curb appeal.

Castle Homes specializes in custom-home building and sticks by the client’s side from start to finish. What makes working with their team such a unique experience is their dedication not only to crafting a space their clients are sure to love, but setting a budget and sticking to it. For this project, Alan drove the design for the floor plan, cabinetry and interior finishes, his design team assisted in adding the final touches and Rebekah Woodard, of Atlas Interiors, brought the home together with décor, furniture, paint color selections and design choices. She worked with the Castle Homes team and was delighted by the great quality and efficiency of their work. But most importantly, the 11-month project left the homeowners with a space they love.

“We created an open floor plan and designed the house to bring in plenty of natural light,” Alan shares. “The homeowners made minimal changes to the design.” The natural light is heightened by the neutral color palette found throughout the home. “White is still the cool color,” Alan says, speaking to the decision to paint the majority of the home in Benjamin Moore’s Dove White. But allowing white to be the primary color does not mean the space lacks interest. Subtle pops of color can be found everywhere from the bar area in the gathering room to the throw pillows in the master bedroom. “We wanted a contemporary look that still looked warm and inviting. The rich fabrics make the home feel comfortable,” homeowner Elizabeth Frist says. “My favorite is the shiplap in the main room. It makes the home feel established; it gives character and texture to the space.”

The kitchen is outfitted with Turkish Carrera marble, which is carried into the laundry room and up the stairs into the master bath. In the kitchen, the marble runs up the wall to act as a backsplash and focal point behind the range and hood, and is offset by a light gray, textured, woven wallpaper and subway tiling. As a kitchen should, this one acts a central gathering place of the home. With a four-seat, eat-in island, the young homeowners take advantage of the openness and light, airy environment. In one direction, the kitchen leads to the main gathering room and study while the other takes you to an office space and laundry room.

Warm up your white kitchen with dynamic design pieces — Although white is the primary color in the kitchen, a sense of warmth is offered by the wide oak plank flooring and décor pieces, such as the drop lighting, textured wallpaper and playful rug.

Statement range and vent hoods are great focal points for kitchens of all sizes and styles — It is not news that a statement range and vent hood add a pop of interest to a kitchen and is currently one of the hottest design trends found in updated kitchens. We love how the marble travels up the wall and acts as a backdrop for the steel vent hood.

The perfect light fixtures tie together a room of any kind! — A smart design element in the space, the light fixtures fill the kitchen with soft light as the sun goes down. Rebekah assures us that finishes do not have to be matching as long as they work together — as we see here with the brass light fixtures and the chrome appliances.

Use playful wallpaper to modernize a space! — Off the kitchen sits a desk and workspace, covered in playful polka dot wallpaper, that acts as a passageway to the laundry room. Elizabeth came to Rebekah with a black-and-white polka dot planner in hand as the inspiration for the office space, which led Rebekah to the Dalmatian-esque wallpaper!

A dream laundry room in a newly constructed home! — In the laundry room, which is spacious and functional, many of the design elements (such as the light fixtures and countertops) are pulled from the kitchen. The Dutch door leads to the backyard, and the doggie door ensures that the homeowners’ four-legged friend can come and go as it pleases!

What Alan refers to as the gathering space includes a sitting area, dining table, inset bar, a pocket door that leads to the study and French doors that open to an outdoor living area. He labels the design as “transitional,” meaning it offers a balanced approach to both formal and casual, modern and classic. In this space, architectural details, such as the shiplap on the walls and the ceiling beams, are warm touches that complement the clean lines of the fireplace and the French doors. Perhaps the most eye-catching feature of the gathering room is the recessed bar painted in a playful greenish/gray color. “I wanted the kitchen to be all white, but the bar adds a little color and separates itself from the kitchen,” Elizabeth says of the color choice. This, alongside the closed-in outdoor patio, allows the young couple to entertain with ease.

This open floor plan is ideal for entertaining! — The gathering space in the home opens into the kitchen, as well as an outdoor living space, which creates a nice flow for entertaining family and friends. The homeowners’ (Bryan and Elizabeth) favorite feature of the space is the shiplap walls! Elizabeth was hesitant about some of the more contemporary pieces that Rebekah brought to their attention, but now they are a few of her favorite things in the home.

Conversation and dining are enjoyed around this cozy table! — Many hours of conversation and dining have happened around this table, which sits between the living area and kitchen. In the summer, the French doors remain almost exclusively open and create an open entertaining space.

The bar offers a pop of color in the otherwise white space — The bar area in the gathering room offers an opportunity for the homeowners to store their barware and opt for easy entertaining while creating a pop of color in the space.

Add a pop of color with a coat of paint! — The color of the bar stands out against the gray/white shiplap walls without pulling all of the attention from the remainder of the space!

Make the most of your outdoor space! — This enclosed living space, outfitted with a fireplace, comfortable seating and a dining table, is used year-round!

At first look, the study’s masculine touch appears to be a deviation from the home’s brightly polished look of blues, grays and whites, but look again and see how the clean lines, mix of modern and traditional décor and rich neutral colors come together to create a cohesive look that complements the remainder of the interior’s design. Moreover, this space is flooded with natural light, as is seen in the remainder of the house. The study offers an escape off the gathering room that can be closed off with the tug of a pocket door.

Use a study as an escape from the rest of the home — More masculine décor can be found the study, but its design is not out of place in the light, open home. Elizabeth’s husband, Bryan, uses the office to showcase animal heads from a hunting trip in Africa.

Blend modern with traditional for a transitional look — Again, modern and traditional design are married to offer a transitional look that can stand the test of time. Rebekah took the lead on marrying the couple’s antique pieces with new, contemporary designs.

Proof that you can make your TV blend in instead of standing out — We like how the television is almost camouflaged by the surrounding pieces of art in the home’s study.

From the foyer, a grand staircase and a bank of staggered windows invite you to the second floor, where the master bed and bath and two additional bedrooms can be found. Each bedroom is established as a peaceful retreat in which to lay your head. The avoidance of loud, bold patterns and colors helps maintain the soothing spirit intended for the space. In the master bath, you will see the continuation of the white-on-white design driven by the Turkish Carrera marble, and we can only imagine the hours spent soaking in that tub.

The entry way sets the tone for this home — These doors take you from the study, into the foyer and up the stairs (which are lined with a bank of staggered windows). It is an inviting entryway that sets the tone of the remainder of the home.

Natural light floods all corners of this stunning home — As previously mentioned, windows travel alongside the stairway to flood the entryway and beyond with natural light.

A master bedroom should be a relaxing retreat — just as this one is! — The master bedroom offers a relaxing retreat for the homeowners, and interesting details can be found in every corner!

Think all white when thinking about your master bathroom! — White on white can be found in this master bathroom. The clean lines and natural light make it a welcoming and relaxing, yet sophisticated, space. Although the countertops are crafted of the same Turkish Carrera marble, they are polished (the downstairs countertops are honed), which gives them a bit of shine.

Rethink the window treatments in your bathroom to create a sophisticated look — We can’t imagine a more relaxing spot than this tub, which itself stands out as a design feature and is softened by the window treatments and offers privacy for the homeowners.

Thank you to Bryan and Elizabeth Frist for opening your home to our readers, to Castle Homes for sharing the ins and outs of the building process, to Rebekah Woodard of Atlas Interiors for giving us insight on the design and décor pieces and to Reed Brown Photography for the lovely images!

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About the Author
Alex Hendrickson

Alex is a Southern writer known for hunting down delicious stories and traveling the world with hunger. Her passions and interests lie in food, travel, interior design and inspiring people, and her dream is to eat a dozen oysters a day.