14 Sep Historic river retreat
If I’m really honest, this is the kind of house I want to live in, or at least work in, like Carol Reynolds can. This is her creative retreat, behind the main house. The tiny stone cottage with a big personality.
When you walk through that charming robin’s egg blue door, this is what’s on the other side. Hot pink and white, with lots of orange!
This is where Carol gets creative with whatever she’s working on. Right now, it’s stationary. The new company is about to launch and Carol’s samples throughout the cottage are beautiful.
But keep in mind, this isn’t her home. Just a work space in a tiny building that’s connected to what used to be the smoke house for the big house. Here’s the other charming outside view which you see from the back side of her home.
So now I need to show you the real house and it isn’t too shabby either. In fact, it’s on the Register of Historic Places.
Perhaps you’ve driven past the home in Franklin and wondered about it like I did. So here was my chance.
The house was built in 1805 by John Motheral who fought in the Revolutionary War. Because of that, he was given 500 acress along the Harpeth River in Williamson County. So much history and living between these walls and on this gorgeous ground.
Carol and Alan Reynolds have called it home since 1988. They consider it a privilege to care for the lovely home.
They added two wings to the house back in 1999. The family room, the screened in porch off of it, and an upstairs guest room, make up this wing.
The old wooden boat suspended from the porch ceiling belonged to Alan’s grandfather.
Carol and Alan love to hang out on the lovely screened in porch when the weather is nice and you can see why.
The cool old coffee table in the den was actually a kitchen table from Mexico. To make it work, they just shortened the legs. Carol thinks each room needs to be anchored by an old piece of furniture which works so well here.
The guest room above the family room used to be occupied most often by their three nieces so Carol calls it her girls’ dorm room.
Being the artist she is, Carol painted the floors. Another outstanding feature to me is the light fixture over the double bed, an old piece from an Italian hotel that she found in Destin.
Back to the original part of the house downstairs is a charming breakfast room complete with fireplace and built in bookshelves.
More of Carol’s creativity can be found as you enter the master suite which is part of the other wing of the house that the Reynolds added in 1999. She painted the lovely mural that covers the walls.
Like many of us, Carol is crazy about her dog, Brody, who followed us from room to room the day I visited.
Carol calls herself a rule breaker when it comes to decorating her home. But I know I’m not alone in saying she’s got a beautiful touch in her home, and wait til you see her stationary line.
This home is a real treasure, historically and creatively, for an artist and her family.
Looking forward to paddling past the home on the Harpeth River sometime this fall.
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