From the pages of House Beautiful to a Belle Meade home tour
Whole Home Concept House opens for tours next week
- The 6,000-square-foot home, located in Nashville in suburban Belle Meade at 725 Westview Ave., will be open for tours Oct. 18-Nov. 3.
- It was built by Castle Homes with an interior created by 14 designers from across the country, including Nashville's Modern Remains.
- Tickets are $20 at EventBrite. Proceeds benefit the Nashville Symphony.
A home should be beautiful, but it can be much more than that. It can help us lead healthier, happier and smarter lives.
That’s the inspiration for the House Beautiful Whole Home Concept House, built in Nashville by Castle Homes with an interior created by 14 designers from across the country. The home will open for public tours in tandem with the brand’s November 2019 issue, which hits newsstands Oct. 17. It will also be featured online.
The 6,000-square-foot home, located in Nashville in suburban Belle Meade at 725 Westview Ave., will be open for tours Oct. 18-Nov. 3.
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Home promotes wellness
"Home is the place that should be your refuge. Your house should be beautiful, but your home should work harder for you,” said Carisha Swanson, House Beautiful’s market director.
The house showcases that concept through its layout, the products that went into it and its inspiration. Visitors can take ideas home for their own projects that promote wellness, peace of mind and sense of place.
“We wanted to embody the idea of living your best life in your home,” said Joanna Saltz, House Beautiful editorial director. “Suddenly a room is more than just a beautiful space.”
The house was designed in collaboration with Wellness Within Your Walls, an Atlanta firm that promotes affordable, healthier interior environments.
Castle Homes selected products that promote health and sustainability, including:
- Benjamin Moore low VOC paints and caulking.
- The cedar shake roof is a renewable, natural product.
- The heating and cooling system conserves energy.
- LG PuriCare 360 air filtration units are located on each floor.
- Pex piping uses no solder and has fewer joints, minimizing potential leaks.
- Active radon venting to reduce potential radon gas build up.
- Whole house water filtration system.
- The driveway is made with permeable pavers to reduce runoff.
Flexible design
Many of the rooms can serve more than one purpose. The table in the dining room, for example, can be split into two coffee tables for casual dining or converted into a ping pong table for family fun. The upstairs office can be converted into a bedroom with a full bath.
The home also includes a workout room with a Peloton bike and a weight and yoga area.
Modern Remains, located in the Nations, is the only design team from Nashville participating in the home. Designers Evan Millard, Lauren Moore and Betsy Trabue collaborated on the breakfast room, media room and upstairs landing. They are graduates of O’More College of Design, now a part of Belmont University.
"Throughout our designs, guests will see an elegant juxtaposition of seeming opposites. The fusion and blending of multiple elements — primitive and elegant, simple and detailed, modern and timeless, open and mysterious,” said Millard, Modern Remains’ principal designer.
Home 'lives very well'
Healthy design can also be comfortable and beautiful.
“We made sure the home lives very well," said Alan Looney, president of Castle Homes.
Just beyond the semi-circular glass and steel front entry, the stairwell makes a complete 360-degree turn as it rises to the second floor. The back wall of the great room is also floor-to ceiling glass.
“There’s a lot of glass, a lot of natural light,” said Looney. “Every room has views outside, and when you walk in a room you don’t have to turn on a light.”
Eleven-foot-high ceilings and 9-foot doorways give the first floor an open feel while exposed fir beams in the great room add warmth. The fireplace is charcoal gray limestone. Flooring is engineered wide-plank European oak.
Surprises include the dog bed tucked under the kitchen island and a cordless phone charger built into the countertop. The house has smart home technology that can be remotely controlled when the owner is not home.
Porch roofs, gutters, downspouts, roof valleys and standpipes are copper, which will take on a patina over time. The front features an elegant rain chain in place of a downspout.Castle preserved mature oak trees during construction and planted more than 60 trees on the property.
Kevin Coffey is the architect. Gavin Duke, landscape architect with Page | Duke, designed the lawn.
The exterior is handmade brick with warm earth tones. The architecture is a traditional English arts and crafts design “that really fits the fabric of the neighborhood,” said Looney.
If you go
What: House Beautiful Whole Home Concept House
When: Oct. 18-Nov. 3; public tours are noon-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday
Where: 725 Westview Ave., Nashville. Parking is available at Immanuel Baptist Church, 222 Belle Meade Blvd., with a free shuttle to house.
Admission: $20 at EventBrite.com. Proceeds benefit Nashville Symphony. Realtors presenting a business card tour free on Tuesdays.
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