5 minute read
Special Elements
SPECIAL ELEMENTS
ART, DESIGN AND LIGHTING WORK HAND IN HAND FOR LOCAL ARTIST ED NASH
BY HOLLIE DEESE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY STUDIO BUELL
Designer Kendall Simmons had been a client of artist Ed Nash for more than 10 years, purchasing art and commissioning various pieces for different clients.
A few years ago, Nash and his wife, Nicky, hired Simmons to design their new-construction lake house. They turned to her again in 2022 when they were ready to leave Nolensville and move closer to town.
Nash and his wife found a home on the market in Oak Hill, a custom stunner designed by local architect Kevin Coffey and built by Seth Argo of Focus Builders. “I liked that we could walk the dogs right here,” Nash says. “It is a quiet street in a walkable neighborhood. There is a sense of community here. We are close to Green Hills and two minutes from the interstate. The location’s just brilliant.”
Nash grew up just north of London in a “Garden City neighborhood,” part of a 20th-century urban planning movement that contained proportionate areas of residences, industry and agriculture. He says the style of the home Coffey designed, with sloped roof and vertical windows, reminded him of the homes he grew up around.
But after a year of trying to handle the redesign by themselves, they turned to Simmons, who helped the couple with the entire main floor: breakfast room, kitchen, dining room, living room, primary bedroom. They also worked on a full wet bar and entertaining space in an upstairs bonus room.
“It is a beautiful home with amazing windows and natural light, but there weren’t a lot of extra features,” Simmons says. “So we really leaned heavily into adding special elements.”
One way they achieved that was to prioritize lighting, replacing almost every light fixture in each space they worked on with lighting that was properly scaled — or even overscaled for drama.
“We really tried to level up the lighting, which made a huge difference,” she says.
Simmons also encouraged the Nashes to go with some dramatic wallpaper in the breakfast room to have a space in the home that was a little bit moodier, as well as to paint the built-ins in the living room a deep blue-green, just to have some pops of color among the light.
“They didn’t want anything to feel dark,” Simmons says. “They liked light, bright, airy. So we cherry-picked a few different spaces to add some drama.”
Simmons added drapery panels throughout the main spaces to add layers of softness and warmth, but they chose neutral colors to maintain the bright and light feel they loved.
“As with any client, you have to home in on what they actually want,” Simmons says. “You have to find the right level of drama that the homeowners are really comfortable with. It’s their house, they live there — so what do they need to actually enjoy it?”
Nash’s favorite room is the entertaining space upstairs, with a stereo system and walnut-paneled speakers from the Franklinbased Emotiva Audio Corporation and Monogram appliances in the wet bar.
“It just has a cool vibe,” he says.
Showcasing the couple’s art collection — like the turned wooden bowls from Brad Sells — was important, including
Nash’s own artwork. Simmons used large-scale pieces of Nash’s in the dining room, living room and primary bedroom, custom done just for the space.
“I would tell him we need a piece that’s 6’ by 6’ in the color palette of the dining room, and he would all of a sudden show up with this stunning, perfect piece that absolutely finished out the dining room,” she says. “It brought in the color of the beautiful Visual Comfort lamps on the console and the colors of the chairs that were flanking the windows.”
Because Nash and Simmons had worked together on the lake house, their working relationship helped — not just with taste and style preferences, but also with communication. The two of them walked the Nashville Antiques and Garden Show in January 2024, choosing leather club chairs for the bar area upstairs, then shopping around town for pieces room by room until they found items that were just right.
“I’ve known Ed for a really long time. He’s a great guy and so much fun,” Simmons says. “And it’s nice when you’re a designer to work with a creative person, because they’re willing to look outside of the box a little bit more. They’re interested in color and texture and the way different elements work together.”
Because of that, Simmons was able to use bold fabric from the Nashville-based textile and design brand Electra Eggleston, a father-daughter duo, for pillows and a window nook bench.
“When I get brought onto a project and the house already exists and it’s already beautiful, I just try to enhance it and make it the best possible version of what’s already there,” Simmons says. “I hope every single time they come home they can breathe a sigh of relief and just be comfortable and happy in the space that they spend the most time in.” NI
