The Collected Nest

13 Mar The Collected Nest

When I walked into the front door of this home in the gated development known as Sugartree, I knew it was gonna be a good one.  The wallpaper had me at hello. And the homeowner’s stories!!!

There isn’t one surface that hasn’t been touched since Amy and her husband moved in last fall.

Decorator Amy Montgomery literally has a story for almost everything in her well collected nest.  I’ll get to more of that after I show you her beautifully curated home that she’s put her stamp on in every way since purchasing it with her husband almost one year ago.  The wallpaper is York by Joanna Gaines, but it’s been discontinued! No!!!

Here’s the funny thing. Amy and her husband John loved the Oak Hill house they were living in, but she happened to stumble upon this 1982 traditional, French inspired house when reading NFocus.  The wheels started spinning in her creative mind and she was able to convince her husband that this could be the one for them.  It is bigger than their previous home with three floors of rambling space but doesn’t have the lawn maintenance their previous home had with two acres to keep up.

This house was perfectly arranged for their lifestyle. Larger, but laid out just right. But it needed updating with a few walls moved, etc.

They used white select oak for their floors from Jeffco Flooring.  They were handfinished by Sergio at Verchota.

You can see that Amy loves blue and white with a neutral background.  Believe it or not, the walls in the living room are a very pale pink.  This shade is Farrow & Ball’s Pink Ground.  She cut the formula in half for the living room walls. It’s very subtle.

The home is quite open in this part of the first floor, with the library, kitchen and dining room all in view from this angle.

What was an enclosed porch is now her library with a large farm table she found when the old Davis Kidd bookstore went out of business. And what about those handsome large wooden light fixtures she found at Southeastern Salvage??? She knows how to shop. The ceiling is painted naval blue. Amy says she always cuts her paint formulas to get the right depth of color.

She’s still filling the shelves with more books but I had to show you this closer look at the table and cool chairs which leads to one of her stories of how she started her business, The Collected Nest.  It started back in 2015 when Amy started acquiring truck loads of vintage and what she describes as just old furniture.  She opened a space in the Gas Lamp Too antique mall that year. Each piece of furniture was repaired by her husband and she hand painted each one. (Chairs above are not ones she painted. They came from J.J. Ashley’s in Franklin.)   Besides affordable furniture, estate-sale find lamps, mirrors and art, she decided to start selling beautiful hand sewn pillows that are affordable. That led to her pillow marketplace next to her other furniture space at Gas Lamp.  You can see Amy’s pillows throughout her gorgeous home.

The wooden wall here in the keeping room adds texture, and the kitchen looks more like a cozy room than a working kitchen!  Of course they completely redid this space.  The couple enjoys their coffee here in the morning and drinks in the evening with the comfortable seating.

Isn’t this fantastic?!? From the farm sink to the open shelves to the dark painted base cabinets and that hood over the range!  Now there’s a story too.

Amy actually spotted this hood while driving by a property where someone was throwing it away.  She offered the owner money, he took it, and she painted it.  Quite a deal and the motor on it worked so why not?

Amy’s cabinet maker also rebuilt every closet in the house, added the library shelves and did other trim work. He’s a keeper. The tongue and groove ceiling and walls in the kitchen work so well too. And you have to love the art. Then there’s the laundry room/office. Even it is pretty with a floral papered ceiling and blue painted walls with well organized shelves.  She’s still papering the ceiling which is why I’m just giving you a peek!

Amy is also a collector.  It’s obvious what she loves in her dining room. Those pretty brown transferware plates fill the shelves and make a beautiful backdrop to the rest of the room’s simplicity.  Her table and chairs come from Restoration Hardware.  The chandeleir was in a former client’s home and she bought it for a song when those homeowners moved.

Did I mention she loves doorknobs? Even they look special when placed in a glass bowl and surrounded by other pretty things!  Her home truly is a collected nest.

The master bedroom is a calm retreat with the soothing shades of blue and cream.  She is planning to paint her dark wood side table closest to the master bath.  Of course you’ll notice lots of pillows.  Wonder where she got them?!? And I love the way she’s done her gallery wall behind the bed.  All the pieces work so well together.  And that’s also the case in her hallway.

I really need to mention that what sealed the deal to buy this home for Amy’s husband was, drumroll please…..the garage. I can’t show you, but let me tell you that it’s two stories high and quite spacious.

The renovations included the repainting of the exterior and total removal of very old and overgrown landscaping that they replaced with the help of a landscape architect originally from France.

They are anxiously awaiting spring to see the first season’s blooming and growth of all the young plants.  So even though they weren’t looking for a new home, Amy says you never know what you might find that you didn’t know you were looking for!!!

   Thanks so much to Amy Montgomery for opening her nest to Stylish Retreats. And remember, she sells her beautiful pillows at The Collected Nest at Gas Lamp Antiques & Gas Lamp Too on Powell Ave. in Nashville and also at Two for Home on Davidson Drive. And check out her website, http://www.thecollectednest.com  and you can reach Amy@thecollectednest.com.