Historic river retreat

23 Apr Historic river retreat

 

I have to admit I’m a little bit jealous of this adorable space where Carol Reynolds goes to work each day. This is her creative retreat, behind the main house.  The tiny stone cottage with a big personality.

When you walk through that charming pale green 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, usually with her puppy Brody by her side.

Carol designs stationary, wrapping paper, and notecards, along with doing some paintings.  Her company, Stone Cottage Paperie, launched earlier this year 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.

Off the foyer in the formal living room is a very unusual sofa from Paris that Carol first saw five years ago at the Antique and Garden Show in Nashville but it was already sold. She was sick about it. Then, as fate would have it, she saw one just like it (turned out it was a match to the other one previously sold by Garden Variety Design) on its  instagram page. She jumped on it, purchased it, and it now has a new home.  Isn’t that a great story???

Carol also took two small commodes that flank her fireplace and painted them a color to go with the sofa. Love them too.

The living room is part of the original house.

The photo above shows part of the addition to the house from twenty years ago. 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 shelves.

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.

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. She’s preparing for a pop up sale on Thursday and Friday of this week (April 25th and 26th) at her home in Nashville.  Here’s a sneak peek. (address below)

 

This cocktail card is called, Rose at the Ritz.

And how about this custom blue swan wrapping paper that can be monogrammed?!?

Carol and Brody will look forward to showing you her creations.  And you’ll also be lucky to get a glimpse of this historic home and maybe even her studio on the Harpeth River.

 

  If you’re interested in going to Carol’s “Spring Thing” at Stone Cottage Paperie, her address is 1111 Moran Road in Franklin. Hours are from 10-3 both days.  And if you’d like to see her website, go to www.stonecottagepaperie to see more of her work.  You won’t be disappointed.