A 1970 Nashville House Becomes an Art Gallery for Vintage Furniture

A mosaic window the couple bought five years ago sat in a crate until they asked architect Greg Dutton to move a wall for it. That window now anchors the Nashville home of Doug and Carina Jenkins, founders of antiques and vintage furniture store Eneby Home.

The house was built in 1970. It sits at the top of a hill on a four-acre property overlooking rolling valleys, surrounded by native honeysuckle bushes and Tennessee Fieldstone. Doug Jenkins, who dreamed of building what he describes as an "art gallery" for their furniture, notes the sun sets on the front of the home at 6:37 p.m.

"There's not a lot of this type of house in Nashville," says Greg Dutton, founder and architect behind Columbus, Ohio-based Dutton Studio, an AD PRO Directory design firm. "But we had to look past what was there—a mixed bag with a new era in each room—to create a backdrop for the work they do."

The couple bought the house as-is—black toilets, mustard-hued siding, and an early 2000s kitchen included. What followed was a "bigger than expected" renovation, says Doug: moving walls, updating floor plans, a new roof, new flooring, and complete refurnishing.

How do white walls get warmth?

The answer is imperfect materials. "When you build in materials that have inherent imperfection, that naturally bakes in a lot of warmth," says Dutton. The list includes:

• Locally sourced, character-grade white oak flooring throughout
• Imported reclaimed European bluestone, over 100 years old, in the primary bath
• An original copper fireplace in the living room

"Flaws make the house feel better, not worse," says Dutton. "But creating something that looks effortless actually takes a lot of coordination. We wanted it to feel like it had just happened that way, and installing materials that feel like they've been there forever automatically gives the house permanence and ensures it'll age gracefully over time."

What fills the gallery?

Plenty of pieces the couple had stored for years. "Some of this stuff we'd been saving in hopes we'd one day be able to use it for our own house," says Doug. The rainbow-hued mosaic window, from the 1940s or '50s, is one. In front of it stands a 2,000-year-old stone sculpture from Rome.

The kitchen holds a stainless steel Vipp island the couple found in Denmark. "It's the best thing in the house," says Carina. "We moved from a house with a big pantry, and it was a challenge to figure out where everything would go. This island holds a lot." Dutton designed the black cabinetry wall behind it as a backdrop for what he calls a "piece of jewelry." The family embraces what they term the "European model" of compact living—across 4,500 square feet.

The lighting roster reads like a dealer's inventory: Serge Mouille sconces, a Louis Poulsen artichoke pendant, Borge Mogensen dining chairs, midcentury Biny sconces in the primary bedroom, an Orocolo lamp in the living room, and a 1970s Marika Carniti Bollea Nautilus lamp in the kitchen. Doug spends five minutes each night switching off all of the ambient lighting by hand.

The artwork rotates. "We've already traded a few things," says Doug. "If we find something we love, we want to use it. It's what we do. It's a perk, for sure."

The house, Carina says, is meant to last generations: "Our girls want to come here when we're old with their own kids. They love it so much."