A 1970 Nashville Home Becomes a Gallery for Vintage Design

A 2,000-year-old Roman stone sculpture stands in front of a rainbow-hued mosaic window inside a 1970 house on a four-acre hilltop outside Nashville. The owners are Doug and Carina Jenkins, founders of the antiques and vintage furniture store Eneby Home, and they treat the house less like a residence and more like a showroom — by design.

Doug describes the goal as building an "art gallery" for the couple's furniture. The 4,500-square-foot house sits above rolling valleys, surrounded by native honeysuckle and Tennessee Fieldstone. Doug has even timed the light: the sun sets on the front of the house at 6:37 p.m.

Who shaped the renovation?

Greg Dutton, founder of the Columbus, Ohio-based firm Dutton Studio, led the project. "There's not a lot of this type of house in Nashville," Dutton says. "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 siding, and an early-2000s kitchen included. What followed was a "bigger than expected" renovation, according to Doug — moving walls, updating floor plans, a new roof, new flooring, and full refurnishing.

How do white walls get warmth?

The answer, Dutton says, lies in imperfect materials. "When you build in materials that have inherent imperfection, that naturally bakes in a lot of warmth," he explains. The specifics:

• Locally sourced, character-grade white oak flooring throughout the house
• 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 pieces anchor the collection?

The house holds Serge Mouille sconces, a Louis Poulsen Artichoke pendant, and Børge Mogensen dining chairs — a midcentury roll call. Some pieces waited years for this home. The mosaic window, from the 1940s or '50s, was bought five years ago and stored in a crate until the Jenkinses asked Dutton to rework the wall layout around it.

In the kitchen, a stainless steel Vipp island the couple found in Denmark does double duty as sculpture and storage. "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 calls its approach the "European model" of compact living — compact being relative at 4,500 square feet.

The artwork rotates, too. Doug spends five minutes each night switching off ambient lighting — midcentury Biny sconces in the primary bedroom, an Orocolo lamp in the living room, a 1970s Marika Carniti Bollea Nautilus lamp in the kitchen — much of it trained on art that gets swapped out regularly. "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 is also built to last as a family place. "Our girls want to come here when we're old with their own kids," says Carina. "They love it so much."