Story By Angela Reeves | Photography By Alan Hudson
At the young age of 30, Brianna and Bradley Grider are career driven and busy, but love having their home as their haven to relax after a hard day. They couple have been married for four years and have lived in the home Brianna’s grandmother purchased for her and friends to rent during college. They officially purchased the home from her grandmother in 2017 and have since enjoyed remodeling and adding onto the home. The house is located on Nashville Road, in the heart of Bowling Green, surrounded by many beautiful traditional homes, which they love.
The craftsman style home was built in the late 1950s by the Carpenter family. With the help of Brianna’s brother, Barrett Hammer with Hammer Homes, the couple was able to turn their vision for the home into reality. “It was very special to get to work with my brother on this project,” said Brianna. “The process was super easy being able to work with him.” The renovations started in July of 2017 and lasted around seven months. During that time, the couple lived in their aunt’s basement, so they were very excited to complete the remodel and move back home together!
Brianna designed everything in the remodel from paint colors to flooring, and drapes to decorations, with incorporating Barrett’s thoughts on the most practical floor plan. The couple wanted to make sure to maintain the natural charm and character of the house, so they kept some neat original accents such as the built-in ironing board and the gray brick interior wall in the front room. Structurally, the existing house stayed the same, but a new addition was built onto the back of the house as well as an extension to the garage.
The existing house got cosmetic updates such as built-in bookshelves in the front room on either side of the fireplace and new paint and unique drapes throughout by Drapery Nation. “She has a very keen eye for design. We worked with her to select appropriate materials and details for her windows, and made her visions come to life. I love the eclectic mix of old and new in this home, which makes it feel current, but full of character!” said Lori Ann Jones from Drapery Nation.
In keeping with the character of the home, Barrett was able to find a crew to match up the original grey stone with veining work on the existing foundation, with the new added foundation, so it is true to the history of the house. “I did not want to make the house look like we just added a new house onto an old house, but instead wanted it to feel like this is how it has been all along,” said Brianna. They also chose to keep the original wood “lawyer’s paneling” in the front room and old hallway and shiplap walls in the master bath.
The hub of the Grider home is the living room, where they spend most of their time relaxing, watching TV, playing with their fur baby boy Bleau, and reading. The boys, however, love their UK themed “man cave” and Brianna loves the front room which showcases many of their antiques and family heirlooms, some “finds” from consignment and antique stores, and their wedding shadow boxes. Brianna always has her eyes peeled for unique pieces. Her favorite furniture piece is the one of a kind wardrobe used for storage in the dining room, from Steamboat Salvage. With the home having so many unique little quirks, it already had an old meets-new look without trying, and by decorating, they were able to elevate that. Throughout the house you can also find many unique family touches such as her grandmother’s pitchers, blankets, and mirrors, an office chest from a great grandparents, horse blankets and wagon seat from Bradley’s grandparents, her mother’s bedroom suit and grandfathers’ trunk, family copper pieces in the kitchen, Bradley’s mothers sewing table converted into a sink, and a cross stitched bed spread made by her mother.
“Bradley was pretty laid back about the remodeling process, so he let me design and plan everything as long as we stayed within our budget. I love design, decorating, and planning, so remodeling was right up my alley. I enjoyed every minute of picking things out for the house including the floors, cabinetry, paint, and tile,” said Brianna.
Her favorite part is that the home feels like them. “You can look at our home and say, ‘Yep, that’s something Brianna would do.’” Although an actual design style was never really planned, the outcome is what she describes as “classic boho farmhouse.”
Brianna says she is turning into the crazy plant lady, obsessing over anything green. “It makes the house feel lived in, organic, and adds a pop of color especially against our light-colored walls,” she says.