8 min readMost interior designers are dedicated to bringing their clients’ personalities to the forefront of their homes, which they typically learn about through interviews and maybe a home visit, but Alexis Banks Humiston took it to the next level when she took on this Nashville project. Rather than chatting with the family of four to get an idea of how they interacted with their previous (then-current) space, Humiston lived with them for two full days. Unconventional? Maybe. Dedicated? One-hundred-and-ten percent.
It helps, of course, that these clients are close friends, but Humiston wanted all of her bases covered. “I interviewed everyone in the home, including the kids (ages six and eight), to understand what gives energy and what takes energy daily and why,” the founder of ABH Interiors tells House Beautiful. “The six-year-old boy took this interview very seriously and insisted on answering his questions from his dad’s formal desk while his mom fed him pasta.”
Her clients lead a very creative and high-energy family of two children and three dogs, so their house needed to be a place where daily life, celebration, restoration, learning, and play all come together with ease. Because the mother of the home works in mental wellness, her vision was integral in shaping the home’s emotional core, as well as the materials. “The flow through the home was intentionally designed to support both gathering with family and friends, as well as quiet moments of pause, reflection, and restoration,” Humiston adds.
The furniture had to be comfortable and the arrangements livable to support the busy family, but the clients let Humiston’s imagination run wild when it came to each wall and ceiling. “There isn't a white wall in the entire home,” the designer explains. “Everything has movement and a story, from the wood to the custom murals to an unexpected paint color, like the lilac on the twenty-foot ceilings of the gathering room.”
Humiston splurged the most in these categories. The hand-painted metallic de Gournay wallpaper in the primary suite is romantic, providing a depth of color and dimension impossible to replicate with other coverings, but it was also a significant investment. The four hand-painted murals by Willem Racké and his team were no different. While completing the artworks that cocoon the library and crown the son’s bedroom, the San Francisco-based team lived in Nashville for two weeks, creating the murals based on what was around them with Humiston’s direction. Both of these aspects, however, were completely worth the cost to the designer: “What makes both easier to justify is that they're durable in a way people don't expect from something this special: they can be touched up, and they're far less vulnerable to daily wear than a rug or an upholstered piece that will eventually need replacing.”
Thoughtful design ruled this renovation, with every room having been designed around experiences rather than purely for aesthetics. “The house is full of personality, color, and moments of wonder, but the reason all of that works is that it invites you in instead of asking you to admire it,” Humiston explains. “That's the story I tell—it's one of the most personal homes I've done, because everyone in it feels thought about.”
FAST FACTS
Designer: Alexis Banks Humiston of ABH Interiors
Stylist: Amy Chin
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
The Space: A 9,200-square-foot home with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, and 4 half-baths.
GATHERING ROOM
A soft color palette of lilac and green makes nature the focus.
With 20-foot ceilings, this oversized gathering space is the heart of the home in more ways than one. The open floor plan connects this room, the gaming area, and the dining room together, with Bocci’s floating glass bubbles spanning all three areas.
Humiston knew a room of this size could easily get out of hand, so she balanced the space with light hues of lilac and green to bring the outside in and kept patterns to a minimum so as not to compete with the dramatic scenery through the double-height windows. Even when the room is full of life, the space stays calm.
The fireplace wall got a refresh too—originally clad in rounded river stone, Humiston chose a new smooth marble surround and a pale herringbone brick inside “so that the views would be the main focus of the room,” she adds. “We also created a built-in reading nook and firewood storage next to the fireplace, as another place for their daughter to read.”
KITCHEN
Existing wood paneling was the inspiration for the new palette.
From the start, Humiston and her clients loved the wood paneling that completely wrapped this kitchen. The designer went with caned counter stools at the dining island to tie in the natural warmth with the all-stone table and chose relaxed Roman shades at the windows so nothing would compete for attention with the panels. “The one break is a hint of color on the undersides of the new flush-mounts, which serve as a small preview of the rich color waiting in the nearby hidden butler's pantry,” Humiston explains.
BUTLER’S PANTRY
When the lights are on, this entire room glows.
Just because it’s a functional room doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful. “Tucked behind paneled doors off the kitchen, the butler's pantry is a bold surprise,” Humiston says. A high-gloss lacquer on the cabinets reflects the light from the sconces, making this entire space glow and transforming it from a working zone into a playful moment of pure fun.
The designer created depth in this small room by choosing a soft eggshell paint on the walls against the glossy cabinetry, resulting in the similar blues to be read in two different ways.
DINING ROOM
The playful chandelier can be seen from the driveway, hinting at the fun to come.
“The Bocci lighting continues here from the gathering room and game table area, arranged in a configuration unique to the table but clearly part of the same family,” Humiston says. The same lilac walls and greenery make this vast room feel warm and inviting, while leaving enough negative space for dinner guests to fill in over a shared meal. While the table was bought by the previous owners, the dining chairs are new, bringing in a subtle pattern and unique sculptural shape.
LIBRARY
A hand-painted mural creates a bucolic setting.
Open up a pair of understated pocket doors and inside is this bucolic library, tucked away like a secret. Humiston brought on artist Willem Racké and his team to paint the soft landscape mural that wraps the entire room, making it feel like reading in a meadow.
“At the center sits the client's treasured antique table, a place for her favorite books and meaningful objects,” she says. “The room works for reading alone or with family, depending on where you settle.” An organic pendant light emits a soft glow and blends into the wood paneled ceiling, mimicking natural sunlight.
PRIMARY SUITE
From the colors to the wallcoverings, nature-inspired elements rule.
Dubbed the Morning Room, Humiston explains that this part of the primary suite was “designed for the clients to start the day slowly with coffee, reading, and meditation.” A metallic de Gournay wallcovering depicts a whimsical scene of flowers climbing and scattering across the wall while the emerald wool-sateen curtains “draw the green of the outdoors inside while keeping the room soft and enclosed.”
The quartzite stone countertop and white trim are repeated in the primary bathroom, letting the entire suite read as one experience rather than separate rooms.
After passing through the Morning Room, the bedroom feels like a peaceful clearing in the forest, Humiston says. “The warm wood paneling and oversized window walls do so much on their own that I wanted everything else to stay simple and airy,” she explains. Comfortable, low furniture provides an easy place of respite, while a soft color palette of hazy blue-greens, rich neutrals, and a subtle lilac allows room to breathe and accentuates the forest view.
DAUGHTER’S ROOM
A trundle bed is the perfect solution for sleepovers.
The daughter loves to read while cocooned in enclosed spaces, so the darling canopy matching her Roman shade was a no-brainer. While the walls were already a delicate shade of pink, the designer lightened them up and painted the ceiling in an even lighter tone, creating a soft, feminine glow throughout the room.
DAUGHTER’S BATHROOM
The mirror reflects the stone mosaic tile lining the shower.
The romantic touches flow from the daughter’s bedroom to her bathroom, where Humiston opted for pink accents and playful silhouettes and patterns. They repainted the walls and vanity in here and replaced the shower curtain and window treatments with a matching fabric.
SON’S BEDROOM
Hidden among the stars is the boy’s star sign, Leo.
The clients’ son loves space, so Humiston had Racké hand-paint a night sky mural on his ceiling for him to drift to sleep under. “Painting the ceiling adds wonder to a child's bedroom, while keeping the art safely out of reach of messy hands and flying toys,” the designer says.
PRIMARY BATHROOM
Original pebbled floors capture the vibe of bathing outside.
Designed to feel open and sunlit, Humiston built this space around her clients’ specific routines. New custom cabinetry and a his-and-hers vanity make getting ready for the day easier, while the sun-drenched bathtub is incredibly enticing, inviting the couple to come and stay a while.
HALLWAY
Whimsical wallpaper leads to the children’s quarters.
This joyous hallway leads from the staircase to the kids’ quarters, including their playroom and bedrooms. “Throughout the home, we used hallways as intentional transitions, resetting the mood before entering a new area of the house,” Humiston says. “This wallpaper’s woodland scene reminds adults and kids that there is some fun and whimsy waiting on the other side for them.”
HIS OFFICE
A last-minute request turned this into a social gathering spot.
“Two weeks before move-in, the husband realized he does his best thinking in social, in-the-mix settings, not just at a desk,” the designer explains. “So, a little nervously given how close we were to the finish line, he asked if we could build him a bar.”
Even with the tight timeline, this was a welcome challenge. Humiston and her team built a combination desk-bar around the measurements of her client’s laptop, keeping in mind how he actually likes to work.
“It became a curved, bullnose marble counter made from remnants of the fireplace renovation, ready for him on move-in day, with one last-minute request: reinforce it for dancing, so his workspace could turn into a playful gathering spot when his family and friends want it to,” she adds.
MUDROOM
White oak drawer pulls tie in the natural influences.
This calming mudroom was built for everyday life. Functionality reigns, with Humiston noting that every family member gets their own locker, overhead storage, and ventilated drawer for shoes—even the dogs have dedicated drawers. “There's a built-in hamper for the laundry too dirty to track through the house, and a bench by the door for handling shoes right at the entry.”
However, the beautiful choices pull their weight too, from the serene blue paint that drenches the space to the white oak cabinet pulls bringing in the warmth. “Everything has a place, so the busiest part of coming home stays here and never reaches the kitchen.”
About the Designer
After six years working in finance, Alexis Banks Humiston decided to put her creativity, project management skills, and knowledge of art history and craftsmanship to use and became an interior designer. She learned the craft as a student at New York’s Parsons School of Design and as a designer at Victoria Hagan Interiors in New York City. Since opening her own firm, ABH Interiors, in 2015, Humiston has designed beautiful homes catered precisely to her clients’ needs and wants, all while showcasing their personalities as beautifully as possible.
