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Hannah Crowell, founder of Crowell & Co. Interiors, loves a good ranch-style home—especially one built in the ’50s or ’60s.
While the current trend has some owners ripping them down to replace them with oversized new builds, Crowell considers complete demolition an absolute last resort.
“I feel it’s environmentally irresponsible to waste all those resources when a lot of it can be salvaged,” she says. “I’m all for tearing out the drywall and reframing what you need to—flooring, bathrooms, kitchens—rip it all out, and make it a new old house.”
For her clients Pat and Judy Raines, who were ready to downsize from their 3,900-square-foot Green Hills Tudor into something that felt more reflective of their personalities and lifestyle, but still allowed them to entertain in style, a compact ranch in the heart of West Meade answered the call.
The couple hired architect Michael Goorevich to manipulate the existing footprint into their vision of a modern, open, Mid-Century-inspired home.
Goorevich explains that the home had handsome lines and sat well on the site, but it had one real deficiency: the garage.
“It was a rather grim-looking space with an old model train loft built into the roof structure,” he says. “It looked like something out of a scary movie.”
After converting the garage into a living room, he added a carport, lined with rich slats of Douglas fir, creating an almost compound-like sense of privacy that does double-duty as a striking backdrop for the pool terrace in the expansive backyard.
On the opposite end of the house, a small addition was made to the bedroom wing. Then, walls came down, and a stretch of glass was added along the back of the house, which flooded the space with natural light, creating a perfect canvas for the interior renovations to begin.
Crowell, who hails from a celebrated line of Nashville music royalty (her grandfather is Johnny Cash, mom is Rosanne Cash, and dad is songwriter Rodney Crowell), may have channeled her artistic energies in a different direction, but anyone who meets her in person or sees one of her spaces can immediately attest that creativity courses through her veins.
Like all of her spaces, this home gracefully exudes a certain bohemian calm, one that marries her Southern roots with inspiration from her many years in California. Rich textures, bright pops of pattern and color, and eclectic collections of art all come together to feel settled, and never staged.
Crowell attributes much of this home’s “feel” to Judy.
“She knew way more about what she wanted than a lot of clients do,” she says. “Every project is different, but this one was definitely more collaborative than most.”
The previously paneled kitchen was replaced with one that’s perfectly crisp and white. Nearby, a rustic dining table, designed by Good Wood Nashville, adds a warm touch. Made from four substantial reclaimed wooden beams mounted on thick concrete legs, the table is there to stay.
“It took six men to get that thing in here,” Crowell adds.
For Judy, downsizing meant thinking long and hard about what to keep and what to let go.
“Everything in here tells a story,” she says. “I like that the things I’m surrounded by have meaning. In a space like this, you can’t have a lot of extra stuff just floating around.”
That once-spooky garage is now a space where the couple hangs their art collection—some old, some new, some picked up from their travels around the world, and some from local galleries. Much like the collection of artwork, the furniture in the main living room and throughout the home is a mix of vintage and new, making it feel as if the couple has been living there for years. Interior and exterior are also a study in balanced contrast; the exterior is a deep, dark gray with warm wood accents, while white walls dominate inside.
“I love the process of looking at it like a puzzle piece to create something totally new and fresh, while trying to save as much of the existing structure as possible,” Crowell adds. “There is something so beautiful in the blending of the decades when renovating and honoring the home’s history.”