At Home with Jonathan Savage

The interior design wunderkind embraces luxury in his third home.

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There comes a time in every stylish man’s life when he must slip, guiltless, into utter luxury, succumbing to it wholly.  

It is precisely that time for Nashville interior designer Jonathan Savage, whose current home—his third—represents a natty mélange of modern lines and Old-World luxury. 

This luxury is not born simply of raw materials, but of story—of wallpaper Savage modernized from Dorothy Draper’s 1940s designs, of objets d’art found during travels, of a cherished art collection.

The home reflects Savage’s appreciation of the intrinsic worth of exceptional pieces (such as chairs from the Van Cleef & Arpels salon) that are imbued with the magical juju of history and aesthetics. But this juju doesn’t evoke the sounds of drums from a faraway tribe; it fills one’s ears with the clinking of cocktail glasses at a Palm Springs party photographed by Slim Aarons.

“I wanted the home to feel luxurious and sumptuous and about easy living, and I wanted it to have a bit of an edge,” Savage says. “I just did not want another cold, modern home. I wanted a warm, inviting space.”

Savage, founder of the eponymous firm SAVAGE Interior Design, purchased the home in 2014 with his partner, health care executive Brad Wensel. They worked on renovations while living there with their beloved Lagotto Romagnolo, Artie, completing the project in 2018.

The 3,500-square-foot home, finished in pale gray stucco, faces the tennis courts at Sugartree, Nashville’s original gated community that spans Green Hills and Belle Meade. A pair of aluminum front doors adorn its façade, their stamped circle pattern a repeating motif throughout the home. There are three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and an extensive back patio. Stately marble flooring graces the first level; hardwood floors are throughout the second level.

In 1978, interior designer Richard Himmel designed the home in a modern architectural style for a Nashville client. Chicago-based Himmel, who died in 2000, was the go-to designer for midcentury jetsetters, creating structures for such names as Muhammad Ali and Hugh Hefner.

Inside the home, Savage had almost every room painted in Benjamin Moore Cloud White to showcase a cherished art collection. In each room, Savage employed a color palette of black, white, and one other color. In the living room, with its 20-foot-high ceilings, the third color is blue.

“I wanted to accentuate the sky outside, pulling the outdoors in and making it feel a part of the space,” Savage says.

The living room’s focal point is a grouping of clock-like wooden gears that were originally décor at the Swan Ball, now painted the same Benjamin Moore Cloud White as the room and hanging on a wall. The room entices guests to lounge on its L-shaped sofa from Hugues Chevalier in Paris or on an ottoman and graceful barrel chairs by Mattaliano upholstered in Carleton V’s blue cotton velvet. A baby grand piano occupies one corner of the room; it was a gift from Savage to Wensel, a classically trained pianist.

Inspired by the furniture designs of the late French architect Jean-Charles Moreux, Savage designed a square table for the dining room, collaborating with the artisans at Keith Fritz Fine Furniture. Made from bleached bird’s eye maple with ebonized walnut details and circle-shaped supports (a nod to the home’s iconic front doors), the table has been added to the Keith Fritz Fine Furniture collection as a model called Savage.

The Topanga chandelier by Jamie Drake for Boyd Lighting illuminates the dining room’s color palette of black, taupe, and white, which seamlessly transitions into the glamorous kitchen.

“It’s a cook’s kitchen,” Savage says. “Everything is close at hand while being beautiful.”

The Mouser Cabinetry cabinets feature leather-wrapped handles and hand-painted lacquer accents that match the kitchen’s black granite countertops. The wallpaper is Shatter from the Dorothy Draper line that Savage recreated as a modernized Carlton V collection. The kitchen window, topped by a Roman shade in a Schumacher waxed linen, peers onto a walking path.

“It’s common to see me in there cooking in the evenings,” Savage says, noting that he often prepares Ina Garten’s lemon-and-garlic roast chicken for guests. 

The master bedroom is Savage’s favorite space. For its sitting area, Savage found graphic black-and-white lamps at an antique shop, then had lampshades made by Blanche Field. A photo of a feather, shot by friend and artist Joseph Guay, hangs over the sofa. The drapery pattern is Hoboken by Larsen.

The wall behind the luxurious leather bed (topped by Frette linens, naturally) is finished in black Venetian plaster. Two items of décor hail from the 1970s: an Italian triangular mirror and stacked ceramic Pierre Cardin lamps. Flanking the bed are coveted examples of Palladian beauty, Fornasetti trompe l’oeil chests.

The mirrored walls of the master bathroom create depth with a dash of glam. Savage updated the space by placing a Greek striped marble slab from Phoenix Marble and Granite under a Victoria + Albert freestanding tub.

Savage’s office, an ode to luxury and modernity, is swathed in Hermès wallpaper and filled with pivotal pieces.

The desk is a copy of a 1960s Italian design by French furniture designer André Arbus, the cabinet is from Christian Liaigre and the chairs originally sat in the private salon at Van Cleef & Arpels in New York City. A colorful, graphic painting, an unsigned auction find, hangs over Savage’s desk.

Entertaining often takes place on the 65-foot-long outdoor patio, where the couple has hosted everything from a 16-guest birthday party to a 200-guest cocktail hour.

“We entertain everyone from our closest friends to clients to neighbors here,” Savage says.

The outdoor space features furniture from the Azimuth Collection at Janus et Cie upholstered in black Sunbrella with white welting and a resin face-shaped table from Vondom.

“I’ve sunk my heart and soul into this house,” Savage says. “My goal as a designer is to personalize spaces that reflect who lives within them, and I think we did that well in our home. I think people feel transformed when they come here. It’s not a typical 37205 residence."