Tour an Eclectic Nashville Home Designed by Jessica Davis of JL Design

Personal Art and Bold Color Make This Nashville Home Fun and Charming

It's safe to say that Jessica Davis, the principal designer behind Nashville-based design firm JL Design, is a fan of colorful interiors. While she prefaces that she'll never let her personal style dictate her client's living space, she says, "If I feel like a client can handle a lot of color, I'll throw a lot at them. If I feel like a client can handle a little color, then I throw a bit more than a little at them." Her recent client in Nashville allowed her opportunities to incorporate art and color in ways that many of today's designers shy away from, resulting in a creative interior that pushes the boundaries of modern interior design.

Designer Says Color Is a Must In Neutral Spaces

In a design world that's full of neutral vignettes, bright reds and yellows rarely find their place in a home, but Jessica was determined to make bold, vibrant art pieces work. This piece, sourced from a local estate sale, found its home against a neutral wall, maximizing its beauty and impact on the space. While she appreciates both neutral and colorful spaces, she makes it clear that neutral spaces must have some elements of color saying, "Spaces with neutral, monochromatic, warm tones lacking color are not my vibe at all."

Existing Furnishings and Heirlooms Find Their Way Into Home's Design

"I aim to incorporate existing pieces from all of my clients. I encourage family heirlooms and pieces that they have an emotional attachment to," notes Jessica. It seems she and her client were a match made in heaven, as many of their heirlooms and existing pieces meshed perfectly with her colorful design inspiration for the home. In the kitchen is a unique table with an even more unique origin. "This was a solid farmhouse table that the client's children first drew on 'against the rules' many years prior. My client decided that rather than fight the kids, they would actually be allowed and encouraged to use the table as a backdrop for their art," she explains.

Breakfast Nook's Design Encourages Children's Creativity

The design of the breakfast nook surrounding the art table had to live up to the table itself, and Jessica and her client had the perfect vision for the space. Lining the walls is more of the children's artwork, a design choice that she and her client are jointly passionate about. "I often encourage people to use their children’s art as a great way to not only add unique original art with meaning but to help your children feel confident and encouraged in their creativity," she says. To further encourage the children, she incorporated storage into the custom-built bench and filled it with art supplies.

Informal and Formal Elements Combine to Make a Balanced Interior

Jessica's incorporation of the children's artwork continues into the formal living room, a space that embodies her theory that neutral walls must be paired with some jolts of color. The framed children's artwork flanking the stately marble fireplace creates quite the juxtaposition, but this is something she was very intentional about. "I love the informal and personal art placed in a somewhat formal setting," she says.

Large Existing Furniture Pieces Fit Perfectly in Formal Living Room

Positioned near the back of the room is the client's grand piano, which Jessica was able to stylishly work into the room's overall design, though not without difficulties. Challenges like this are something homeowners are very familiar with, as creating a space with an intentional design while utilizing existing pieces isn't always an easy feat. "When you're contending with a piece as large as a piano, you must allow it to dictate the placement of the other furniture to ensure it doesn't feel forced or like an afterthought," she advises.

Color and Texture Add Visual Interest to This Formal Living Room

Just as Jessica is intentional in placing color throughout her design, she uses texture in a similar way. In the corner of the living room is a unique wooden armchair that looks as if it's being overtaken by pink fur, a stark contrast to the formal furniture that fills the space.

Pink Lambswool Chair Calls Out Color From Marble Fireplace Surround

The chair, by Old Hickory Tannery, is made from lambswool and sourced from Manoirs Nashville. Its unique pink coloring ties into the marble fireplace surround across the room and is further enhanced by a fun throw pillow featuring a red skull.

Bright Green Paint Lends a Fresh Feel to This Home Office

The Nashville home's vibrant color story continues into the office where bright green stretches from the floor to the ceiling. Rather than break up the space and paint the built-ins white, which would give the room a more traditional feel, Jessica chose to coat every surface with Envy by Sherwin Williams, lending the space a more on-trend aesthetic. Her advice for those on the fence about bright color is to "Just do it! At the end of the day, it's paint and can easily be changed. Not to mention, with all of the great visualizer tools out there today, you can almost see the room in color before you commit. All in all, if you are even considering color, you probably won't be satisfied until you go for it!"

A Designers Tips for Successfully Styling Built-Ins

To achieve a curated look in your built-ins, Jessica first recommends balancing the types of objects rather than going all-in on pairing similar objects together. Secondly, pairing old and new pieces together creates depth, something she says "is needed for a finished and intentional look." Lastly, to create continuity, she suggests introducing monochromatic, predictable pieces that anchor everything and allow the eyes to rest. She did this by spreading bright white vases throughout the shelves in the office.

Mounting Paintings Directly to Shelves Creates a Visual Break

Another clever way Jessica recommends breaking up the line of sight when styling built-ins is by mounting paintings directly to the shelves as she did here with the dog painting, then using the void behind as a spot to store unsightly items. This is a trick she also endorses for mounting TVs.

Rust-Colored Velvet Chair Is Right at Home in Green Office

Against the vibrant green wall is another one-of-a-kind chair that was sourced from Manoirs Nashville. Its unique asymmetrical shape and swooping design give it an artistic quality, while its rust-colored velvet fabric is the perfect complement to the room's green walls. Jessica adds, "This chair is a combination of new and old elements in itself and exudes the overall style of the space in a perfect way."

Designer's Clever Use of Color Draws Attention to Ornate Ceiling Details

Jessica's no-holds-barred use of color continues into the formal dining room, where Raisin by Sherwin Williams gives the room a moody surround. Unlike in the office, she did choose a traditional white for the millwork, most notably the white chair rail breaking up the dark wall. "I really wanted the eye to travel to the ceiling and speak to the detail there, so tying the white in on the chair rail and baseboard was important," she notes. Once the eyes reach the ceiling, gorgeous millwork is seen around the dualing chandeliers, fixtures she intentionally chose for their simplicity to allow the ceiling detail to take center stage.

Leaned Artwork Offers a Laid-Back Aesthetic to Formal Dining Room

Similar to other spaces in the home, Jessica says the dining room "has some formal and informal qualities." This is why she opted against hanging the artwork on the wall. "I wanted the relaxed feel of the lean for this piece in this particular space," she says. Positioned in front of the leaned piece is a candelabra filled with candles at various stages of melting, visually bridging the gap between the formal and informal elements of the space.

White Flower Centerpiece Wows Without Stealing the Spotlight

Centered on the table between the two chandeliers is a vase filled with flower-coated branches. The grand display centers the room without stealing the show, as the white flowers seamlessly blend into the surroundings and allow the more colorful elements, such as the varying assortment of dining chairs, to shine.

Designer Offers DIY Trick for Recreating Look of Vintage Door

Opposite the windows in the dining room is a unique set of doors with an interesting circle detail. While the doors are original to the house, Jessica thinks this look could easily be recreated as a DIY project. She suggests buying a slab door, cutting 1/2-inch circles in three sizes, then gluing and nailing them to the door. Once attached, simply fill the nail holes and paint them all in the same color.

Bright White Bedroom Features Bold Colors

Jessica opted for a bright white paint on the walls of the main bedroom and softly frames it with a warmer shade on the trim. Consistent with her style, splashes of color are found in the furniture, rugs and artwork, maintaining the fun, laid-back look she's achieved throughout the home.

Rugs and Statement Lights Distiguish Areas in Large Bedroom

To designate and distinguish the different areas of the large bedroom, Jessica uses a couple of different visual tricks. First, individual rugs anchor the spot beneath the bed as well as the seating area at the foot of the bed, providing a noticeable backdrop for each area. Secondly, she installed statement lighting to draw the eye to each side of the room. "I tried to create 'moments’ throughout that would offer different lighting options for either the mood or function of the area," she explains. Her best tip for making multiple varying hanging lights work within one space is to vary the heights.

Modern Elements Meet Antique Pieces to Create Unique Visual Juxtaposition

Jessica loves a good visual juxtaposition. "We really wanted a classic balloon chair in the space, especially considering the age of the home and some of the ornate detailing. Combining this with the vibrant rug and modern coffee table created an unexpected and vibrant area for the space," she says. She furthers the visual juxtaposition with a quirky throw pillow, a go-to for her. "Pillows are like tiny textile art in my opinion, the more unique the better!" Her favorite spots to source throw pillows are Anthropologie and Jonathan Adler.

Vintage Mirrors Reflect Ornate Original Details of the Home

Ornate, vintage mirrors hang in the bedroom, calling out similar details in the home's design and revealing some of those details across the room. Below, an Oly Studio console masks function with beauty. Behind the clean, contemporary look of the doors are hidden drawers that allow the beautiful console to function as a typical dresser, making it the ideal piece for the vintage-inspired bedroom.

Colorful Children's Artwork Gives This Nashville Home Major Charm

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