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Belmont-Hillsboro · Nashville · Built 2023

The Collector’s Townhome

We’ve worked with clients who have beautiful collections of books and art before, but when these clients also showed up with a vintage rug collection and a preloved wallpaper collection, we knew we were about to have a lot of fun.

They were combining residences into a brand-new townhome, and it was a total blank slate: white walls everywhere. They wanted character and coziness ASAP, plus help deciding what to keep, what to leave behind, and what to hunt for next.

We started with the open concept space, carpentry first. The library wall and the paneled peninsula in the kitchen anchored opposite ends of the room, and that was when the green color scheme settled in. The wallpaper idea came later: her collection, hung side-by-side right in the open floor plan. Unconventional, yes, and exactly suited to their taste and mine. We went for it, and we are obsessed with how it all turned out.

A library table with a brass lamp and fresh flowers in front of floor-to-ceiling walnut bookshelves built around two windows

The Living Room & Library

We put three papers from her collection to work in the main open space: a vintage green plaid in the library, a black-and-white stripe in the living room, and the black brushstroke in the dining room. We topped the horse lamps with new shades, set them on vintage tables, and found the antique coffee table on Facebook Marketplace. The preloved chesterfield and leather club chairs keep the reading seats broken in.

A charcoal velvet chesterfield with a pink seat cushion under a large fiery abstract painting, flanked by striped and black-and-white wallpapered walls, horse-head lamps, and a vintage rug
The library wall: walnut built-in bookshelves surrounding the windows, a library table with brass lamps, leather club chairs, and layered vintage rugs

The Dining Room & Kitchen

We painted the kitchen deep green and paneled the peninsula first, tying that end of the room to the library wall. Then the brushstroke paper went up alongside the other two, and the whole dining wall became a backdrop for art.

The dining room: bold black brushstroke wallpaper behind an oak table with navy plaid chairs, an abstract painting, a sculptural porcelain chandelier, and a red vintage rug
The kitchen: deep green walls, a wood island with white quartz counters, a figurative painting beside the window, and a vintage runner on the floor

The Powder Room

We took the powder room dark and maximal: London-print wallpaper floor to ceiling (another leftover from her previous home), a midcentury pendant, and a single portrait hung right on top of the pattern. Just outside, we parked the record player on a secondhand glass-front cabinet. Both the pendant and the cabinet were Marketplace finds.

A secondhand glass-front cabinet holding records and leather-bound sets against the black brushstroke wallpaper, with a turntable and trailing pothos on top
The powder room wrapped in black and gold London-motif wallpaper with a woven pendant light, a bamboo-framed mirror, and a small framed portrait

Up the Stairs

We put their art to work across all three flights, mixing small gallery arrangements with large single pieces. Underfoot, vintage rugs make the climb as one long patchwork runner. Going upstairs is really fun.

The stairwell as a gallery: a wall of collected paintings in gold frames rising alongside white stairs, with built-in bookshelves and a dark accent wall above
A close view of the stair runner: multiple vintage Persian and Turkish rugs joined into a single patchwork climbing the treads

The Primary Bedroom

Upstairs, we slowed everything down with hare-and-tortoise wallpaper on every wall. The rug and the art were already hers (the art got new custom frames), and we rehung the drapery panels from her previous residence. The burl headboard and lamps came from local vintage dealers, and the nightstands were a Marketplace score.

The primary bedroom: slate-blue hare-and-tortoise wallpaper, a burl wood headboard, vintage nightstands with sculptural green lamps, and a soft blue quilted bed

His Office

His book collection needed serious square footage, so we lined every wall with open stained-wood shelves. The green club chairs came from their previous home, the rug and lamp are vintage, and the side table is antique, as is my favorite detail: the green leather footstool. It’s the perfect place to read, study, and write.

His office: two green channel-tufted velvet swivel chairs and a leather footstool in front of floor-to-ceiling ladder-style bookshelves, with a brass floor lamp
A corner of the office shelves: antique leather-bound volumes above rows of modern paperbacks, with a rush-seat ladder-back chair and a vintage wooden measure

The Exit

We even built shelves around the front door. More of their art collection lines the way out, and the green pendants were a Marketplace find. In this house, the books see you in and see you out.

Looking down the rug-runner stairs toward the front door, where built-in walnut bookshelves frame the glass door and a potted plant catches the light
The entry: a black front door framed entirely by built-in walnut bookshelves, with a magenta overdyed runner and a slatted wood bench

Remember the blank slate? Neither do they. Every collection they own finally lives together in one home, with room on the shelves for whatever they find next.

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