Bachelor Guest Cottage

Holly Thompson Design transformed a dilapidated Tennessee guest cottage, which had spent years as a rental, into a cheerful home for a retired gentleman.

The Details

The Story

When a family bought a large property outside Franklin, Tennessee, they ended up with a teardown guest cottage as well as the main house. The wife’s father was going to come live there, so they needed to renovate the worn-out and dilapidated structure, which had spent many years as a poorly-maintained rental home. Holly Thompson Design worked with the homeowner to fix structural and layout problems, including combining several of the smaller rooms into a large bedroom, doing a complete renovation on the kitchen and bathroom, and replacing flooring and lighting.

Guest Cottage Charm

For the design, Holly worked with the gentleman’s daughter to pick the finishes and aesthetic she thought her dad would like. The goal was to make the house both fun and livable, with elements that connected it to the surrounding countryside. Holly helped the homeowner achieve the perfect combination of masculine taste and connection to the land.

Holly chose a dark wood flooring, as well as a textured, natural finish on the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom. Gold and neutral accents provide a subtle base, which Holly infused with several different textures for added interest. Holly was also able to include some high-end finishes that give the guest cottage timeless style. “It has real materials,” she says. “Everything is authentic.”

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