Tennessee Fixer Upper – Southern Rustic Decorating Ideas

After getting the okay from his wife, Brook, Seth called on his brother, Chad, and his wife, Anna, to see if the couple had any interest in going Dutch on an old 1,500-square-foot 1930s weekend getaway on 200 acres. There was some initial trepidation—“It was an absolute wreck,” says Anna—but there was never any real doubt that the families would join forces.

While the roof, doors, and windows had to be replaced, the interior renovations were more about stripping away than adding, and the “make-under” proved quite fruitful. Behind that moldy old drywall: hand-hewn stone walls. Underneath the low-slung ceiling: rustic wood rafters. They also kept the tufts of old newspaper peeking between the slats of wood paneling.

Chad removed a rickety enclosed staircase and replaced it with a ladder-style one that complements the older original materials.

The master bedroom’s curtains hang from the ceiling to prevent disturbing the wood-slat walls.

In the bathroom, metal from an old on-site shed comprises the ceiling.

Even though the home’s embellishments and additions were fairly economical, the design didn’t spare creativity. Concerned that the upstairs loft was too drafty, Anna improvised “drywall” by stapling a swath of landscaping burlap over the ceiling insulation. (Seth had several rolls handy from prior work projects.)