So, I may be the only person who remembers this - quite possibly the only person who cares - but I found all sorts of information that was entirely too good to be true and I had to share with someone!
Reese Witherspoon (
one of my favorite people ever) grew up in Nashville, TN and most of her family still lives there. In 2014,
E! News dropped the story that Reese had purchased a fixer upper in the tony Oak Hill section of Nashville (photo above). The house was large, was far from the road, and had a large parcel of land. It was a wise choice for a celebrity, as there are in fact, several other celebrities with homes in the same neighborhood.
After she opened up her stores,
Draper James, in
Nashville and then in
Dallas - each being designed by
Mark D. Sikes, I think we all sorta knew that she'd lean on him for decor in the new house. But when install pictures recently surfaced of the house online, investigative decor bloggers began scratching their heads. And by the way,
it's me, I'm investigative decor bloggers.
It all started with Reese and pictures
she posted to Instagram this past Christmas.
Anyone with half a brain knew that there was no way it was the same house. It didn't mean that it was HER house, but it definitely wasn't the same house the E! (and about a zillion other places) dropped the pin on. For one thing, the staircase was on the opposite side of the foyer. So, it had investigative decor bloggers wondering - what happened to the fixer upper?
A little digging (
ok, A LOT of digging) revealed that Reese sold the fixer in June of this year, and it seems without making many improvements. A quiet, off-market deal between Reese and former pro-football player Jared Scot Allen. Since retiring from the game, Jared has been working really hard with the worthwhile
Homes for Wounded Warriors charity he created in 2009.
I'm not sure whether they intend on renovating the house as Reese did, or if they'll be using the property for something else. Either way - Reese parted ways, but where was this Christmas photoshoot house? AND was it decorated yet?
Well - what sort of investigative decor blogger would I be if I didn't have these answers for you? Not a very good one. So here we go with some progress pictures as I found them online. Obviously, I'm not the one who took these photos, so I'm just putting them out there as I found them - scattered across instagram and the web!
So here's a close up of Reese with her sweet French Bulldog with the Draper James blue and white check bags that are SO cute dotting the staircase.
And if you back out of that shot a bit, the full foyer. Eagle eye viewers obviously don't need ME to point any of this out, but you can see the glass door on the left of the staircase in Reese's photo, too.
And boop-edy-boop-boop-boop! Where the prior owner had a console table, there is now a high-arm serpentine back settee with yellow upholstery and navy blue legs on the patchwork rush rug that
Jeffrey Bilhuber made so popular. A screenshot from decorator
Mark D. Sikes' instagram, you can see the dining room and formal living room in this picture, too!
The formal living room before. Lots of great light, big windows, and fireplace. Small, but who needs a huge formal living room?
Even Mark liked the light! This is unfortunately the only photo of the room, but from the reflection in the mirror over the settee in the foyer, you can see that the room is painted a bright but not at all offensive sunshine yellow. The color reminds me a lot of this room he did for a
client in Birminham, Alabama not too long ago!
The sofa is one he's used before, too.
Remember that
beautiful house in Montecito he did for clothier Karen Kane? It's a good frame, I'd use it again, too!
Again, from the foyer we got to see into the dining room a bit.
Check out the detail on those curtains! Europleated with a tape detail at the top, the folds have tassel trim to the floor!
The house is really broken into a formal area, with a big open foyer and large winding staircase, and then into family space that's much less formal - more open concept, complete with a private family stair to the second floor. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that this is a sneak peek at this space:
Blue and white, of course! The rest of the house was kept a secret, I mean so much of it was! Even these little snips don't give you much.
The master bedroom. Note that window to the left of the bed. Got it?
You betcha behind, same window! Beautiful drapes and a very detailed paint treatment in this room around all of the existing moldings.
And the fireplace mantel. Which was switched out, because the old one:
Not nearly as pretty. I just have to take a minute here. Can you imagine having a bedroom THIS BIG!? I think this is larger than my apartment. And that trumeau mirror and sconces are very pretty. Somebody send those to
Joni Webb.
Just saying.
The entry hall in that massive bedroom suite. This arch was added. You can see the original entry was square from the reflection in that pretty mirror! Through that door at the end of the hall you get out into that beautiful stairwell with the formal staircase up front.
Yep! The entire foyer, first and second floor, covered in this beautiful paper by
Quadrille. There are a lot of pretty moments in the house, and I am very excited to see this beauty either in his new book, online portfolio, or a magazine. The moment I'm dying to see?
This is the kitchen BEFORE! I know, I know. I'm thinking it TOO! This doesn't feel like that house at all. Nor does it feel like sweet little ole' Reese-y-Peace-y. It sure as heck doesn't look like Mark. But to date, nada has been shared. Absolutely NADA!
I'll keep my eye on it for ya, 'cause good investigative decor bloggers do these things. Oh and we paint. YES! I know you're not here for my paintings. You're here for the free chips and salsa. BUT let me clue you in a little something-something cause I really like you, and so I do that sorta thing. I will have fewer paper pieces in 2020, and they'll be more expensive. So now is PRIME time to get yourself an original piece of my art for 2019 prices - and help me pay off my student loan debt. Anyone got a direct line to Fanny Mae? Have her buy a few!
Or catch me at the roadside stand
Just kidding, I'm not doing that, YET
Oh and one last thing! Bought this candle for FALL and I'm obsessed. I think you'll love it, too!
Fresh Persimmon. Haven't ever smelled fresh persimmon and have no clue what you'd be buying. Yeah, I hadn't either. I was like persimmon? Didn't he do exercise videos in the 90s?
Anyone?
Please someone laugh at that!
Richard SIMMONS
PER - SIMMON
Ok, now it's not funny.
You know when I'm not painting or doing my investigative decor blogging, I'm really good at describing all sorts of smells, good - bad - indifferent. But this one is good. DREAMY sorta good. It's citrus, but not like lemon citrus. More like a really ripe basket of citrus fruits. All the citrus fruits. Like a crisp fall day in Italy with a basket of fresh picked lemons and limes and persimmons. It's clean and sweet smelling, but not candy sweet or perfume sweet. Like love it all day long I want to buy a Bentley sweet.
Also, to buy a Bentley, I'd need to sell 7,143 paintings. Just saying!
