Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins Share a Tour of Their ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ Nashville Home

Thomas Rhett and wife Lauren Akins live in Nashville, Tennessee with their soon-to-be four daughters, and the couple just opened up their home to House Beautiful for a tour, which appears in the magazine’s latest issue. Rhett and Akins worked with their friend April Tomlin to design their space, and Akins shared that she wanted her house to “feel like our grandparents’ homes.”

She added, “Their homes — and the memories made in them — are what inspired us to build a home for our family and friends.” With their growing family and friends often visiting, Rhett and Akins needed a space large enough to host any number of people, and Tomlin focused on making such a big property feel cozy and welcoming. To do that, the designer chose low-wattage lighting, unpolished brass fixtures and rustic accents like an aged-brick backsplash in the kitchen. A muted color palette of taupes, grays and greens maintains a farmhouse aesthetic, while there are some whimsical touches like a mix of floral and plaids in a guest bedroom and an art installation of Rhett’s cowboy hats.

“We funked it up a bit,” Tomlin shared. A working pantry that holds the family’s heirloom china and collected antiques was inspired by old general stores, while the living room has a large stone fireplace and two seating areas. The dining area was created to give the family “that Southern meal, pray-before-you-eat feeling,” and there is an additional eating area in the basement and a farmhouse kitchen off the pool area.

“There’s not a lot of unused open space,” Tomlin said. “Every wall has a chair or a painting — we had to overdecorate the space to give it that intimacy.”

Rhett and Akins share three daughters, Willa Gray, 5, Ada James, 3, and Lennon Love, 1, all of whom have rooms of their own as well as a bunk room with pink beds that also serves as an overflow space for guests, as the family could be hosting upwards of 12 people at any given time. “We wanted to make it a fun, magical experience,” Tomlin shared.

With the family only getting bigger, Akins loves that her home is “perfectly imperfect.” “There are already stains on the carpets, markers on the walls, fingernail polish spilled on the wood floors, but it is a real and happy home,” she said. “I love how much love it holds.”