After studying interior design and interior architecture at the University of Georgia, Birmingham native Rachel Halvorson furthered her education under the tutelage of local luminaries Bill Ingram and Mary Evelyn McKee before heading to Nashville in 2008. Hired that year to help build and decorate a farmhouse for a member of the country music duo Brooks & Dunn, her business blossomed. Halvorson’s timeless, refreshing approach takes projects “from the studs to the pillows” as she sources architectural salvage and one-of-a-kind objects to make each unique. “I believe in thoughtful spaces that feel sentimental and collected,” she says. “I like to adapt to my clients, to create a personalized reflection of how they want to live.” Her go-to sources often extend beyond Music City limits as she combs the surrounding region. Here, Halvorson shares them with Luxe.
PHOTO: ANDREA BEHRENDS
Neighborhood: Chattanooga
Why she loves it: “It’s in a stone fort from the Civil War and it has such a cool vibe–old and new. The owners are incredibly down-to-earth and they curate and style everything perfectly. I love how you can’t tell what’s old and what’s a reproduction. I could buy a whole corner of the store.”
Favorite finds: A wall-mounted rustic console with a blue stone top, an 18th-century “hat table” that has deep drawers and an antiqued painted finish, and 36-inch teak spheres which Halvorson employed as punctuation points around an Alys Beach pool.
Neighborhood: North Charleston
Why she loves it: “Since this company lets you customize, every piece feels unique. You can mix multiple metals and glasses together to get a one-of-a-kind fixture, which makes ordering from them as often as I do lots of fun.”
Favorite finds: A Gibson pendant in a vintage finish installed over the island of a Belle Meade new build; a Rex table lamp specified in antique brass (above) for a dimly lit gentleman’s bar; a pair of Tatiana pendants used to unify two curvaceous spaces in a Hollywood Regency residence; and a Raval wall mount over a dark painting in Oak Hill.
Neighborhood: Nashville & Memphis
Why she loves it: “It was years before Nashville had a contemporary resource like this. Amelia, the gallery director, is always so helpful. She will bring pieces to job sites so that we can see how they’ll look in the space, and the clients almost always fall in love.”
Favorite finds: Gouache-and-thread collages of landscapes by Memphis artist Maysey Craddock; stirring rural images taken on the back roads of Williamson County by Nashville photographer Jack Spencer; an oversize Kit Reuther abstract (above) used to anchor a living room in Belle Meade; encaustics of clouds by Catherine Erb that make a peaceful statement in a nursery.
