Radiant Terrell Hills Residence Reflects Homeowners Style
Author: John Bloodsworth
A stately traditional Terrell Hills home reflects the homeowner’s keen sense of contemporary style complemented by her husband’s discerning eye for antiques.
Tracy and Jack Williams moved into their home in 2007 after Tracy had first exclaimed, “This is not our house.” The freelance interior designer and contemporary artist with a passion for intensely hued environments was not inspired by interiors awash in layers of lavender. But realizing that the structure merited consideration for its high ceilings, good flow and a bank of east-facing windows that enveloped the living areas in luxuriant light, she set to work.
Not wanting to have a “grown-up” house too soon, she began creating rooms that are exuberant with splashes of color, texture and pure whimsy. Noted designer Thomas Hogan encouraged her to trust her own style sensibility and became Tracy’s greatest inspiration.
Photography by Kemp Davis
The home is filled with art objects and accessories of every description. A closet in the foyer is arranged with shells, Asian objects, candelabra, Lucite boxes and porcelain figurines that are rotated with prized possessions to keep the interplay of objects fresh and engaging. “I love the unexpected,” Tracy confides, “when someone walks into a room and says, ‘I would have never thought of that.'”
With a discerning eye, Tracy has mixed her mastery of modernism with a collection of high quality primitive furniture and objects that Jack began collecting while attending the University of Mississippi. His acumen for collecting was fueled by his talented mother, Janie Williams. An old farm table with a patina of waxed black paint that he found on a trip to Arkansas seats eight comfortably in the dining room’s Philippe Starck Ghost Chairs. A massive primitive wardrobe holds linens and dinnerware.
A handmade four-poster bed in the master bedroom is flanked by two primitive chests of drawers that double as nightstands. Jack befriended Ralph Williams, a remarkable furniture maker in Oxford, Miss., then in his 90s, who made the bed for the young college student.
With three active young daughters, the creative couple keep a child-friendly environment that is youthful and fun. Sitting rooms on the second floor evoke an exotic Asian influence with lacquered furniture, dark plum walls and chinoiserie interspersed with art supplies, stuffed animals and an assortment of “glam girl” necessities for dress up and play dates.
On the landing leading to the second floor, eight parallel rows of “floating” bleached oak planks create a contemporary composition holding a collection of antique and vintage iron children’s banks shaped like buildings and cosmopolitan objects of the 19th century. “I envision each room in my home as its own canvas,” Tracy says, “but they all work together as a collection.”
