Highs & Lows of the
2023 Southern Living Idea House
Located approximately 45 minutes southwest of Nashville, the 5600 square foot 2023 Southern Living Idea House is a sight to behold. No detail is left undone, including the decorating for the holiday season.
If you are looking to build or renovate your home or just need some inspiration for decorating, it is a must see.
But like every home, even one that has never been lived in, there were both highs and lows.
The Highs
Open Floor Plan that brings the Outdoors In
When you walk into the home from the front porch, the living space is open from back to front. A large foyer opens directly into the den and dining room space which features vaulted ceilings. This space opens straight into a large outdoor porch with a view and the kitchen to the right. The best part of the openness comes in the sliding wall to wall windows to the back porch. You can see straight from the front door out through the back porch which brings in lots of light and views.
Above the main sink in the kitchen, large windows open onto the outdoor dining porch. Which is flanked by an outdoor kitchen.
Kitchen
Outdoor Dining Porch
Outdoor kitchen
But the best part of all is the fact that all the porch space out back can be enclosed with Phantom Screens in both clear plastic (to keep the heat in) and screen materials (to keep the bugs out) with the click of a button. This doubles the living and entertaining space of the kitchen in an instant and makes it livable and open year round.
The Party Barn
The outdoor feature called “the party barn” is by far Drew’s favorite part of the home. Right off the beautiful pool, the “party barn” features Clopay Avante garage doors on either side which really help to bring the outside in more than windows or standard doors could accomplish. This area is staged like an extra living and entertaining area, but we could see it being well suited as a guest house given just how many living and entertaining spaces there already is throughout the home. It features a wet bar area complete with Monogram appliances including a Hearth Oven, Nugget Ice Maker (Paige would be THRILLED to have this!), and Beverage Center making it suitable for guests staying to have most of what they need right there without having to go to the main house.
Outside by the pool, but still connected to the main house, is an open air shower and adjacent powder room.
When considering what you want in your home, making the flow of the home should be important as well as how that flow brings the outside in.
The Master Suite Layout
A study/office buffers the master suite on the main level from the open concept living area. This is a nice feature because it provides a space for sound to be buffered from one area to the other. It also has a pleasing design appeal from the outside with floor to ceiling windows connecting the two spaces.
Beautiful pocket doors separate the study from the master. The bedroomm features a stunning vaulted ceiling that mirrors the living room/dining room ceiling.
When you step inside the bedroom space, it isn’t overwhelmingly big. There is no space for dressers or more than a chair for furniture, but it opens onto a sitting porch overlooking the pool which adds seating space and further reiterates a strong connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. The closet space is nestled all along the back wall behind the bed and has ample drawer, cubby, and hanging space for clothing in addition to the coffee bar (see below) and washer dryer combo (see below).
The bedroom space is open to the bathroom space, but can be closed off by a large sliding pocket door. The shower isn’t quite as big as you would expect in such a large home, but it is nicely done with Tribeca Grey Whisper Porcelain Wall Tile and Arctic White Honed Marble Skirting Wall Tile from The Tile Shop. A beautiful Kohler soaking tub anchors the bathroom and sits in front of a picture window where the view inside is shielded by shutters.
When designing a home, this master suite emphasizes how you can “hide” space that stores things you need close by and flows well with the overall design.
Other Noteworthy Items
- Summer Classics Outdoor furniture. We have Summer Classics furniture on our porches and it is great. It stands up to weather and is beautiful. The high quality demands a premium price, but you can save big at their warehouse sales that typically take place during holiday weekends like President’s Day.
- Beautiful Hardware Floors throughout most of the home.
- Regina Andrew Lighting throughout the home.
The Lows
Location
The home is located in Thompson Station, TN and is marketed as a ”Tennessee Country Home”. In the country it is. It sits within a rocks throw of several rundown mobile homes and we saw no signs on the drive in that there were any comparable homes within the area. Being in the country is one thing, where the space is open and you aren’t on top of your neighbors, but this really gives you more of a “Deliverance” feel than a country feel as you approach the home. We aren’t sure how well this will bode for property value, although we overheard one person saying the house has already sold for $6.3 million.
When you are considering building a home, location should be primary given your needs and your investment, and we think this house may have missed the mark in where it is parked. It is extremely out of place compared to its surroundings.
You can have Too Much of a Good Thing
Everything in the house seemed to come in multiples. It seemed as if one of something just wouldn’t do it. There were two full size freezers/fridges in the kitchen (actually one full sized fridge and one full sized freezer flank each other), multiple smaller fridge/freezer/wine cooler/ice maker units, two washer and dryer combos (the master suite boasts the first washer dryer in one in the United States apparently), at least four dishwashers, at least four Christmas trees, too many sinks and bars/coffee stations to count, with one being in the master closet!
With a house that is at most four bedrooms (one of four was staged as a workout studio, leaving it staged as only three bedrooms), you’d be hard pressed to have more than a family of 5-6 people living there. It seems unnecessary to have all of these things repeated in multiple living areas. You can couch the need for all those appliances up to entertaining, but I’m not sure how many people will make the drive out to this place to be entertained. After some time, it would be easy to see where you’d have an appliance not working or on the blink at all times and standing unused consistently.
When considering what you need for a home, it’s important to think about wear and tear and upkeep as well as need. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and it can be costly in upkeep and wasteful.
The home is open for visitors through December 17, 2023. You can purchase tickets for $25 each 
