1 of 4
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
2 of 4
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
3 of 4
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
4 of 4
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
Caitlin Evanson, once a fiddle player and background vocalist for music icon Taylor Swift, and her husband, Pedro Talarico, have brought a pop of pink to East Nashville by way of their new short-term rental, the Nashville Pinky.
It all started in 2009 when Evanson purchased a house in East Nashville. Though she was new to the real estate game, she knew that the place had crown molding and that she liked it, and that was good enough. When she wasn’t on the road touring with Swift, Evanson lived in the home, but eventually she decided to take a hiatus and head to San Diego for what she thought would be two weeks—the trip turned into three years when she met her now-husband. She decided to stay and continue beach life, and so, she put her little East Nashville house on VRBO as a short-term rental.
The space’s location—combined with Evanson’s eclectic design style—made it a local favorite. But she’s the first to admit that curating the perfect rental came with a learning curve.
“I love interior design. I cut my teeth on designing that house when I first bought it,” she says. “I had some wonderful friends along the way, like Tonya Roman who is a New York interior designer, who helped me. I began to collect things from around the world on my music tours and add them into the home so that it had a museum feel to it, but when my husband looked at the place he said, ‘Do you mind if I give you a little help on this?’ I said absolutely. He really has a great eye for design.”
And while their first home, fondly named the Birdhouse, is still a trendy, short-term rental in East Nashville, it is the Nashville Pinky, their second rental property that completes their company, Rowdy Howdy’s vision and branding. While exploring the national short-term rental market online, they stumbled upon a couple of places in the United States that had an all-pink theme, which soon got their wheels turning.
“We wanted to do our own version of a color theme,” says Evanson. “When we looked around Nashville, we noticed that nobody was doing quite what we wanted to do. There’s similar ideas here and there but nothing quite like this.”
“This” is the Nashville Pinky. The concept for the bubble gum pink house was actually that of Talarico, who had no fear of embracing a bold color scheme.
1 of 5
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
2 of 5
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
3 of 5
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
4 of 5
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
5 of 5
JULIA STEELE/NATHAN MANTOR
But despite its name, the Nashville Pinky is more than just a pretty in pink place.The house serves Dolly Parton inspo mixed with Palm Spring vibes. While it took the couple only thirty-five days to transform the one bedroom, one bathroom home, the short-term rental has every detail covered. Pink hangers and bathrobes hang in the closet, pink soap bottles dot the bathroom shower, and pink appliances line the top of the pink cabinetry in the kitchen.
Set against a gold and white herringbone hand- tiled wall sits a pink dishwasher and refrigerator. And to say the matching appliances are custom would be an understatement. Through much research, blood, sweat, and tears—not to mention hand-sanding, priming, and painting, Talarico took it upon himself to transform the look of the kitchen from partial pink to full-on pop. (With a little help from coordinating Smeg gadgets on the counters.)
The girlie-meets-glam pink couch was equally difficult to find, but thanks to the magic of the Internet, the couple scored the perfect pink Cinderella-style couch. In the bedroom, the headboard was custom-made by Nashville’s own 1767 Designs, and the funky wallpaper throughout was purposefully picked to finish off each space. The pink and white stripes in the living/dining area reminded the couple of a Victoria’s Secret store, while the flamingo wallpaper in the bathroom ties into the retro chic Palm Springs vibe. Other amenities in the rental include ring lights for the perfect selfie, a brand-new beautiful white Gretsch acoustic guitar, a pink Polaroid camera for guests to take photos, and tons of vinyl records—all of which are pink. A gated courtyard is also accessible to renters, which includes a pizza oven, four outdoor recliners with a projector and pull-down screen for outdoor movie nights, and a fire pit to cozy up to on chilly nights.
The exterior of the Nashville Pinky is just as perfectly executed in pink as the interior, and on one side of the rental is a fun umbrella mural painted by Cathy Well Art. It’s a photo op spot where both guests and passersby can take Instagram-worthy pics and share their stay. Since Nashville has its fair share of murals, this addition to the Nashville Pinky ties in perfectly to East Nashville’s creative community.
“We just had the idea of innovative, imaginative fun. That’s the thing about a short-term rental,” says Evanson. “The things you might not have the guts to do to your own home, you can enjoy here for a night, a week, or a vacation. It’s got a real precious-meets-party vibe and is a space we throw 100 percent of our heart into. That’s where it will stay.”