Designers Todd Nickey and Amy Kehoe Brighten Up a Chic Tennessee Country Estate

When a couple of Los Angeles–based equestrians began searching for a rural retreat outside California, Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, arose as a perfect fit. Remote enough to have plenty of acreage for the family’s aging horses to retire, but not so far removed that travel might become burdensome, the historic village just outside of Nashville immediately seemed familiar. Drawn to the rolling hills and lush pastures of Tennessee’s horse country, the pair ultimately purchased a twenty-eight-acre spread anchored by a 1990s farmhouse.

For the needed refresh, they turned to their longtime design partners, Todd Nickey and Amy Kehoe, owners of the renowned L.A. design firm and furnishings retailer Nickey Kehoe, whose soulfully layered style has earned them a host of A-list clients, including Kirsten Dunst and Sarah Paulson. “We’ve worked with the family since 2008,” says Nickey, who led the design team on the project. “But the fact that the property was two thousand miles away let us test our shorthand.”

Situated at the end of a tree-lined lane atop a hill overlooking the woods beyond, the picturesque, three-level farmhouse didn’t come with the patina of older homes in the area—properties such as Beechwood Hall, once the home of Hank Williams Sr. and the only other structure you can glimpse from the grounds—but it had plenty of potential. The previous owner had gutted but not refinished the house before selling, which left Nickey with a blank creative canvas. “We chose all the surfaces,” he says. “We redid floors, walls, all the tile work, fireplaces, and bathrooms, but structurally we didn’t change much.”

Nickey did reorient the kitchen, though, to capture the best light and accommodate the new stove’s towering hood, which is wrapped in glossy pink ceramic tile. It’s a contemporary counterpoint to the room’s hexagonal brick floors and large island topped with butcher block. That narrative of traditional design balanced by dynamic color continues throughout the house—in the living room’s gold-brick fireplace, for instance, and a guest room’s hot pink four-poster bed—with one notable exception. “The homeowners wanted their primary suite to be calm,” Nickey says. “It’s the only space that’s truly neutral. Everywhere else, they were very into it being colorful and bold, showing off their playful sensibilities.”

The formal dining room’s transformation into a bluesy, atmospheric billiard room was one of the only other design mandates from the homeowners, who afforded Nickey and his team a great deal of artistic license. Woodsy, dark green walls and sumptuous finishes lend the space an air of decadence; they even retrofitted an old butler’s pantry into a sophisticated mirrored bar.

The couple’s passion for the outdoors—afternoons here often include hiking, riding, swimming, or working in the barn—and lively sense of humor most informed the vibrant aesthetic. Natural textures and materials throughout allude to that combination, along with more overt references, such as the immersive pastoral wallpaper (Iksel’s Arcadia) that elevates the breakfast area. “From many places in the house, you’re looking out at the landscape, so the wallpaper felt a little tongue-in-cheek,” Nickey says. “There’s a landscape within a landscape.” Nickey Kehoe–designed spindle chairs upholstered in cherry-red Howe leather finish the casually elegant look.

Some of the designers’ boldest swings show up in often overlooked spaces. With hawks, horses, and bears, a fanciful, folk-art-style mural by the L.A. artist Brad Southwick meanders up the walls of the main stairwell. In a petite powder room, grass-green latticework layered over floral wallpaper evokes a Greenbrieresque garden shed. Then there are the actual oxygen-emitting plants that enliven nearly every room. “They are living, breathing pieces of art,” Nickey says.

Outside, the team partnered with a Nashville-based landscape design firm, Daigh Rick, to overhaul the grounds and the scenic pool deck, framing the latter with boxwoods and adding an adjacent cutting garden that bursts with herbs, peonies, dahlias, and salvias, depending on the season. The horses, of course, get a room of their own. Nickey and company stayed on theme for the property’s brand-new barn, coating it roof to foundation in Benjamin Moore’s bright Heritage Red, a hue the designer had kept pinned to his inspiration board for years, and positioning it with a view of the pasture beyond. It’s only fitting that the horses have the best seat in the house.