Homes & Interiors
By Erin Edwards
Photos by Eric England
Having spent a lot of time with physical therapists while nursing this or that injury, I’m always impressed by their ability to motivate stubborn joints into moving again. It takes patience by the bucketful and a masterful command of human anatomy.
Having been a physical therapist in her former life, Jenkins Hardin knows something about anatomy. But now, instead of talking about torn anterior cruciate ligaments or hip replacements, she converses fluidly about the anatomy of houses and spends much of her time rehabbing old homes in the Belmont-Hillsboro and Waverly-Belmont neighborhoods. Hardin, who hails from Columbia, Tenn., but has called Nashville home for 10 years, agrees it was a major career change. But one thing remains the same: she still takes things worn tired by use and manipulates them into improved forms of their former selves.
Hardin’s latest patient is a 1930s Craftsman bungalow at 2107 Ninth Ave. S. in the Waverly-Belmont neighborhood. She purchased it four months ago, and has since rehabbed it inside and out to put back on the market. Located in a diverse neighborhood, between Hillsboro Village, the interstate and the 12 South neighborhood, the bungalow combines past and present in a fusion that Hardin describes as “eclectic with a tendency toward traditional,” and which her family calls “traditional with a touch of groovy.”
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While Hardin says four months is a bit long for such a renovation, it seems efficient to me, given that she also has a full-time job as a real estate agent. “I love being my own boss,“ she says, “but I was dead wrong in thinking that quitting my job to work in real estate and renovate old homes would give me a lot more flexibility. I work a lot more now than I ever used to…. Twelve-hour days are not unusual.” The Ninth Avenue house is a family project: Hardin oversees the job, while her mother (an interior designer), her stepfather (a woodworker) and her husband (“a wonderful lifter of heavy things”) all collaborate on the renovation.
The three-bedroom/two-bathroom house was well cared for by its former resident. Pointing at the oak floors, Jenkins says, “They were covered by carpet for 40 years. I was very lucky…. This house is exactly what you look for when looking to do a renovation—one with good plaster walls and great wood floors. I look for a home that has good bones, a house that’s been well preserved and not stripped of its character. I look for things like the original molding and original hardware on the doors.”
For the most part, this project was a matter of adding interesting architectural accents and a few modern elements that fit the historic character of the house. She also made several aesthetic adjustments to the interior and exterior, including removing wall-to-wall wood paneling and purging the Pepto-Bismol pink that covered everything from the kitchen to the master bedroom walls.
Four areas demanded particular creativity and compromise: the downstairs bathroom, the kitchen, the upstairs master bedroom and the back patio. “To actually do a true historical renovation is not usually economically or logistically feasible, especially when it comes to interiors,” Hardin says. “So, I think it’s OK to mix contemporary style and materials with traditional, as long as it goes with the flow of the house.”
The downstairs bathroom, with three shades of yellow ceramic tile and brass light fixtures, needed an update. While keeping the funky light fixtures and adding a faux finish to them, Hardin exchanged wall tiles for pale linen wainscoting and gave the ceiling a coco hue. Polished marble replaced ceramic tile on the floor, and the awkward shower gave way to a claw-foot tub salvaged from a house in Waverly-Belmont and refinished with chrome. While a new claw-foot tub would have cost as much as $3,000, Hardin solved the problem for about $500.
In what has become the signature of Hardin’s rehab work, she replaced the sink with one she built from an antique mahogany dresser found in Columbia, Tenn. “My general rule of thumb is this: if a piece costs less than $500, you can put a hole in it,” she says with a grin.
To redo the kitchen, Hardin started from scratch, cutting out vinyl flooring to reach wood floors underneath. A cabinetmaker constructed Arts and Crafts-style cabinets, which were painted sage green, and red laminate countertops were updated with granite.
As in most old houses, storage space was scarce, so Hardin framed two unused attic spaces into ample closets. She also added a back dormer for a roomy, modern master bath. She solved the problem of layers upon layers of wallpaper with a faux-finishing technique, using a brown glaze over a gray-blue paint. And now-fashionable heart pine flooring, traditionally a less desirable surface, was still in good shape in the attic, giving the renovated space a finished look.
Between the kitchen and the patio, the original mudroom remains a quirky blue, a color originally intended to keep bugs away, Jenkins explains. The patio—formerly a concrete slab with wrought iron columns, has been transformed into what Hardin calls “an outdoor room.” With accents like a salvaged window pane, an old column from a Belmont-Hillsboro house, an Amish metal star, a turkey-crate-turned-coffee-table, an English chimney cap used as a planter and comfy chairs, the outdoor sanctuary invites coffee and a newspaper on a quiet Sunday morning or after-dinner drinks with friends. The once-gray slab has now been hand-painted with concrete stain by local artist Vita Cicollelo.
Finally, Hardin takes me into “the music room.” While this space called for very little work—just some paint and new curtains—Hardin’s design choices shine here. The only item that stayed with the house from the previous owner—a mint mid-century Morse Stereophonic Hi-Fidelity turntable—sits in perfect keeping with the retro-chic style of the room. Near the turntable stands a unique coffee table, inspired by the shape of a string instrument and handcrafted from an oak door by Hardin’s stepfather. A red psychiatrist’s couch finishes off the room—a creative gesture befitting a house that blends beauty and craftsmanship with a sense of humor.
Tips
If you want to take on your own renovation, take these suggestions from Jenkins Hardin.
• Keep on hand a copy of A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester.
• Organize binders with magazine clippings and photographs of interiors and exteriors you like, color samples to play with and other ideas.
• Make frequent trips to salvage stores and markets such as Preservation Station, Hailey’s Salvage, the Habitat Home Store and the Nashville Flea Market at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. There are good antique and junk stores in Lebanon, Watertown and Bell Buckle, Tenn. If you’re up for a road trip, don’t miss Southern Architectural Accents in Cullman, Ala., a treasure trove of old columns, hardware, sinks, doors, wrought iron and light fixtures.