Tour a Downtown Nashville Home That Perfects Indoor-Outdoor Living

Nashville-based interior designer Lauren Elder built her own downtown dream home from scratch, and it's all about merging the indoors with the outdoors with a mix of zen vibes and dramatic colors.

August 02, 2021

By: Brian Patrick Flynn

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Photo By: Robert Peterson, Flynnside Out

Interior Designer Lauren Ashley Elder's Nashville Dream Home

Nashville-based interior designer Lauren Elder created her own dream home just minutes from downtown Nashville in the hip neighborhood of 12 South. When the project was finished, not only did she end up with her own custom-built home, she also married its general contractor.

A Nashville Home With a Black Façade Has Modern Curb Appeal

Known for taking risks with huge visual rewards, interior designer Lauren Elder decided to cover the entire exterior of her Nashville, Tennessee home in black. The dark tone helps create a crisp silhouette for the house while also highlighting the different textures of the mixed materials: brick, cement siding, natural wood planks and exterior concrete panels. To break up all of the black, she opted for a naturally stained solid wood front door.

A Black and White Living Room Is Classic and Timeless

Lauren is masterful with classically neutral and dark and dramatic color palettes. Her spacious, light-soaked living room showcases her prowess for using a timeless black and white color scheme in a fresh, transitional way that puts her interior architecture expertise on full display.

Industrial Wood Is Used to Create a Striking Industrial-Chic Staircase

When Lauren and her husband Nick were building the house, they loved the idea of using simple building materials in unique ways, not just for looks, but also for extra sturdiness. The three-level stairwell is made of laminated strand lumber, also referred to as LSL, often used for creating structural beams. The resulting look is industrial modern with tons of rich texture.

Black Accents Give This Home Design Continuity

A touch of black makes its way into almost every space in Lauren's house. The black finish of the railing coordinates with a black floating frame around the skull pop art on the top floor landing.

Industrial Rebar Is Used for a Staircase Railing in This Chic Home

For a chic take on industrial style, Lauren paired the LSL staircase with a railing made from ... wait for it ... rebar! Used for structural support when pouring concrete and/or foundations, the designer gave the basic material a fresh spin by pairing it with powder coated tubular steel.

A Window Seat For Dogs Gives Them a Front Row Seat

Lauren and her husband Nick, a builder and general contractor, are both very involved with the design of houses on a daily basis. To ensure their French bulldogs were part of their own home's design, they created a window seat with dog bed cushions on top instead of pillows. This allows their dogs, Milkshake and Cooper, to stare out the windows and keep watch on the house.

A Large Window Keeps This Home Office Painted Black From Feeling Claustrophobic

Black interiors are something Lauren excels at, and they're not all that simple to pull off. When using black as the primary color in a space, it's important to consider the light source. If there's plenty of light coming in from a window, the black paint can result in a moody vibe, but not necessarily make it feel small and cavernous. Lauren's office has a large window in the corner, and while it feels moody, it still gets plenty of light.

Industrial and Farmhouse Style Collide in This Chic Living Room

Although much of Lauren's design work is characterized by classic design styles, touches of farmhouse and organic textures, she also loves all things industrial and urban. To ensure her own home fit in with the downtown areas surrounding it, she and Nick designed their indoor-outdoor living room with a glass front garage door painted a bold shade of red. Although glass front garage doors are an investment, they're a great solution for being able to allow light to flow into a space when closed, and also create a seamless indoor-outdoor vibe when open.

Outdoor Entertaining Is Made Easy on This Rooftop Deck

With a view towards the Nashville skyline, Lauren designed her rooftop deck to be an indoor-outdoor urban oasis with plenty of space to sprawl out and enjoy cocktails with family and friends. When she heads up to the top, she can also relax solo with a book in the hanging lounge chair or invite friends over to watch TV outside.

Boho Touches Make This Rooftop a Cozy Place to Hang Out

Lauren's indoor-outdoor top floor is made up of different zones. For long conversations, a corner of the outdoor space is outfitted with a sectional sofa and boho style throws. Bistro lights add warmth overhead once the sun goes down.

Merlot Tones on a Statement Bedroom Wall Are Balanced by a Neutral Color Palette

Not one to shy away from using complex colors, Lauren experimented with merlot in one of her two guest bedrooms. The walls are so strong that she decided to keep the rest of the room light and neutral to strike the perfect balance.

A Blend of Rectangular and Curvy Shapes Gives This Bedroom a Unique Look

When curating a room, Lauren considers different shapes and what values they add to the overall space. A clover-shaped mirror helps break up the otherwise sharp edges seen throughout this merlot-toned guest bedroom.

A Matte Black Waterfall Kitchen Island Lends Edginess

For contrast against her mostly white great room, Lauren designed a hardworking kitchen island all about different black elements. The cabinets are a streamlined flat-front Scandinavian style with a matte black finish while the waterfall countertop is made from leathered limestone in different shades of gray, charcoal and black.

A Kitchen Wet Bar Keeps Cocktail Supplies Close

At the top of the stairs as you make your way into the indoor-outdoor living room, you're greeted by a moody wet bar. Instead of wall sconces, Lauren added four of the same tarnished brass sconces above to keep the space lit. Open shelving offers plenty of space to store her cocktail supplies.

Keep Key Kitchen Features Classic + White for Versatility

With kitchens being the biggest investments in houses, Lauren kept the design of hers super versatile. The white cabinets extend all the way up to the ceiling and the handmade white ceramic tiles cover the entire stove wall. To tie the black-toned island in with the rest of the kitchen, she opted for a modern square metal vent hood in a matte shade of black.

Light Soaked Breakfast Nook

Just steps from the base of her industrial-chic staircase, Lauren designed her breakfast nook to soak in the morning light. A walnut toned Scandinavian dining table is paired with ebonized chairs which add sculptural lines. The indirect light is so perfectly balanced that Lauren's fiddle leaf fig tree is rapidly growing, almost standing at eight feet tall.

Wallpaper on the Ceiling Is a Great Look in a Bedroom, But Often Adds Costs

For a touch of the unexpected, Lauren kept the walls of her secondary guest bedroom white, then introduced a patterned wallpaper on the ceiling. Anytime you're hiring someone to hang wallpaper, know that oftentimes they will charge nearly double to install the paper on the ceiling due to complexity, skill and the physical labor involved.

An Elegant White Bedroom Lets in the Light

Nick had one request for Lauren when she put the initial design plans for the house together: include a white-on-white primary bedroom that's soaked with light and feels open and airy. To do this, she layered several different shades of warm white with paint, upholstery, bedding, rugs and window treatments.

Birch Planks and Pine Beams in This Ceiling Add Warmth to Interior Architecture

Interior architecture plays a large role in Lauren's design aesthetic. When she and Nick designed the all white primary bedroom, they added warmth to the ceiling with birch plywood planks and pine 2x4s installed as beams.

Organic Materials and Natural Textures Make This Bedroom a Soothing Oasis

The bedroom is layered with a plethora of organic and natural elements and textures. Woven seagrass shades add privacy while linen drapery panels soften the hard edges of the windows. Weathered wood adds rusticity and visual tension against more refined elements like the ceramic lamp and the Belgian linen headboard.

A Hand-Blown Glass Chandelier Gives This Bedroom Earthy Chic

Texture is a major design element in Lauren's primary bedroom. As a juxtaposition to the rough surfaces of the birch and pine on the ceiling, she added a statement chandelier made of hand-blown glass. This mashup of smooth and shiny with raw and earthy creates a very well-curated look.

Tonal Layering of Creams, Whites and Nudes Brings Casual Calm to Bed Linens

Lauren is an expert with tonal layering, as the bedding ensemble of her primary bedroom demonstrates. Different shades of white, nudes and off white are combined to create something cozy and casual. This combination also works well with virtually any accent color.

Farmhouse Furniture Blends With Many Design Styles

Below the flat panel TV in the primary bedroom, Lauren keeps clothes stored neatly in a farmhouse-industrial style dresser made from distressed wood with half moon iron drawer pulls. Anytime you're looking to mix in some rustic texture, reclaimed farmhouses pieces mix well with almost any style of interior decor.

Wall-to-Wall Glass Mirrors and Plain Walnut Cabinets Give This Bath Resale Appeal

When designing the en suite bath of the primary bedroom suite, Lauren kept things simple in the vanity area. Walnut flat front cabinet doors paired with a wall to wall glass mirror is timeless, versatile and has mass appeal. This is a great direction to go for homeowners concerned about resale.

A Rich Oxidized Metallic Shower Tiles Adds Depth in a White Bathroom

To create a nice contrast between the light-toned vanity area of the primary bathroom and its spacious shower, Lauren opted for a large format wall tile inside the shower with an oxidized metallic texture. This adds visual tension between the sleek, bright surfaces surrounding the areas outside of the shower.

A Small Laundry Room Makes a Big Statement With Graphic Wallpaper

Just steps from the industrial-modern staircase is Lauren's quaint laundry room. Situated along the front of the house, she gave it a ton of personality with banana leaf wallpaper and abstract art.

Shower Partition Lets Light Into This Primary Bathroom

In her spacious primary bathroom, Lauren broke it up into different zones. To separate the vanity area from the shower and bathing space, she added a gridded shower partition which allows light to flood in through the shower and into the adjacent vanity.

A Room Divider Helps Define Space in This Bathroom

A bathroom design trend to look out for is the use of steel factory windows as shower partitions. Since this can get very pricy, a lot of manufacturers are starting to make much more affordable options fabricated from less expensive metals as well as acrylics and plastics.

Simplicity Rules in this Clean Black and White Bath

With strong design features used throughout the primary bathroom, Lauren decided to go with a simple, streamlined soaker tub in a glossy white finish. Adding a touch of simplicity amidst a space with unique features helps strike a perfect balance.