Nashville is saturated with music history, and it shows up in the most unexpected places. When our design-build team began work on a recently purchased 1938 stone cottage on the east side, we discovered that it had been the family home for country music legend Roy Acuff’s faithful bass player. Memorabillia from a rich career in the music business turned up in every nook and cranny.

But music history discoveries weren’t the only ones to be found. When we gutted the master bathroom, added onto the original structure sometime in sixties, we discovered that the original stone wall had simply been covered over with the new framing. The sone was too beautiful to cover up again, but it was interrupted in the middle by an opening for a window. Further, we were concerned that the stone wall might look like the exterior wall that it in fact was.

The solution that presented itself was to define strips of stone wall, floor to ceiling, and to center the sink under the window now covered by a drywall box containing the plumbing for a wall mounted vessel filler. Making the transition between the drywall and the rock proved to be a challenge. At first, we tried to cut the drywall to follow the contours of the rock, but the result was imprecise. Cutting a slot in the rock to receive the drywall produced a much cleaner result.

Once the stone strips were defined the rest of the design decisions fell into place. The play of textures between rough stone, smooth river rock and cool tile provided the visual interest for the space.

By embracing the peculiarities of the space, we were able to create a modern spa-like retreat that celebrated the past.