August/September 2016   |   69  

Built in 2016, the Phillips’ vacation home may be brand 

new, but its shiny newness is hardly something they try to 
keep untouched. With its many rooms in the main house and 
a carriage house to the rear, the compound-sized property 
was intended to serve as a sanctuary space from their busy 
lives in Knoxville, Tennessee; an impressively appointed 
place to gather with family and friends and welcome them 
to lose themselves in luxury. Even unfilled, the home does 
not echo with emptiness. The cool grays and whites of its 
walls are the perfect shade to be soothing rather than stark, 
providing a canvas for the artistic touches that have truly 
turned the house into a home that reflects both the Phillips’ 
deep South ties as well as their appreciation for style. 

The kitchen is a vast space with state-of-the-art appliances 

set into sleek oak cabinetry inlaid with brass, is a continuation 
of Christy’s love of clean lines, an area that exudes class 
in the high sheen of its surfaces, from the white Neolith 
countertops that trace out its perimeter to silver surfaces of its 
imported sink. No exposed outlets impose their presence on 
the walls, set instead into the countertops, disrupting nothing 
as they hide from view. Suspended from a ceiling accented by 
exposed wood beams, copper pendant lights hover above the 
massive center island, proof that even task lighting doesn’t 
have to bow to convention.   

Understandably, the kitchen is one of Christy’s favorite 

rooms. But with so many other spaces to love all under one 
roof, it’s hardly any wonder that there are numerous features 
that claim a piece of her heart. In almost every room, massive 
windows flood the home in light, breaking down the barriers 
between inside and out. Reclaimed barn wood and butt-
end hart pine flooring runs throughout, adding texture and 
warmth to each space. The beautiful grains of each plank 
standing out in high relief against the pristine surfaces of the 
walls. Each room is a study of textures, a layering of elements 
that clearly displays Christy’s tactical approach to design; 
a sensory playground of soft and hard, rough and smooth. 
Even unpolished surfaces lack no luster, so eye-catching are 
they that they cannot go unnoticed. Shiplap walls, exposed 
bricks, antique raw woods, horns and stones all act as natural 
counterpoints to the high modernity of the home, creating a 
freshening effect that ground the spaces and somehow makes 
them seem cozy. 

Every one of the home’s ten bathrooms are unique, each 

show-stopping in their own way, with their custom tile 
work, stunning vanities, luxurious tubs and showers. One 
tub in particular is Christy’s favorite, not merely a place 
to soak away the stresses of the day, but a focal point with 
sentimental appeal as well. “The sunken tub in the master 
bath was chosen because it reminded me of so many great 
memories I have of spending weekends at my grandparents’ 
home in Chattanooga with my sister as a child,” she says. 

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