This Fixer-Upper is Proof That You Can Bring Country Charm to the City

It was tough for widowed attorney Maureen to leave her newly purchased seven-acre property in rural Tennessee to be closer to her work in the city – but she kept the country with her with this rustic renovation.

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After only one month of living in their new country dream home, Maureen’s husband Josh unexpectedly died of an undiagnosed heart condition, leaving her to raise their one-year-old son Isaac.

Realizing that the expansive property was too much for her to maintain alone, she decided to move and create an urban retreat redesigned in a country aesthetic for her and her son.

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Elements from her old country house – such as this ornate vintage pie safe – were brought in and refinished to fit in with Maureen’s newly renovated close-to-town family home.

Having recently renovated her old kitchen to be just so, making sure this new kitchen also reflected Maureen’s wants and needs was a must.

With only a couple of upper display cabinets, most of the everyday kitchen storage space is below in the lowers – which suits Maureen’s smaller stature, making it accessible for her to reach everything on her own.

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A walk-in pantry was important for Maureen, so a separate cupboard in the far corner was installed, for all of those kids snacks and dog treats.

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An expansive cook’s kitchen is usually on everyone’s wish list, but Maureen was more concerned with ease of function and keeping the space a manageable size for a single parent.

The solid-wood dining room table holds a lot of personal meaning – Maureen bought it with her husband Josh right after they were married as a commitment to their family: “we were going to haul it everywhere!”

Maureen purchased her new Nashville fixer-upper for US $405,000, leaving $135K of her total $445K all-in budget for renovations – and funky touches such as this vintage utensil tin.

One of the reasons Maureen loved this particular L-shaped home was because of its bonus wing – which was later converted into the perfect separated suite for her visiting parents.

Cozy details welcome Maureen’s mom and dad, who have been commuting from Montana to Tennessee to help out when they can.

Thanks to Maureen and her son Isaac’s artistic endeavours, this space was able to feature painting playtime into one-of-a-kind pieces of personal wall art for the bonus wing.

The rustic wooden light fixture, which hangs above the eating nook, is a nod to that rural Tennessee lifestyle – but the filament lightbulb keeps the overall feel decidedly hip.

The robin’s-egg blue of the pie chest is mirrored in the reflective blue-glass backsplash, tying this now open-concept living space together with its cohesive colour palette.

Where once the main floor was a maze of sightline-obstructing walls, it’s now the open, airy living space Maureen wanted, so she could keep one eye on Isaac at all times.

Isaac wasn’t left out of the renovation equation either – the backyard play area was rebuilt so he could get his own new “home” to settle into as well.

Soft, easy-to-care-for furnishings were part of the plan to provide a comfortable, contemporary home perfectly suited to Maureen’s current life situation.

The focal point of the living room is the mantel made from reclaimed barn wood, which Maureen’s husband salvaged after church one day and put aside for a future project.

After an emotional move and extensive renovations, Maureen has landed: “it feels like home in a way that I didn’t think I was going to get again.”