A World Away in the Mountains

Step into reader Rachel Kaiser's Nashville retreat, where the tunes of Music City fade behind the melody of songbirds and the breeze blowing through the trees.

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Photo courtesy of Rachel Kaiser

Compiled by Katherine Owen

Rachel: My husband, Brad, and I love to hike in the mountains, either in the Great Smoky Mountains or the Rockies, and we always try to stay in a cozy log cabin when we travel to these places. So, when five acres of land on a hilltop became available near Nashville, we decided that’s where we wanted to build our own rustic dream house.

We have a spectacular view of downtown Nashville from the hilltop. But we’re in a very tranquil wooded area, so it feels like you’re a world away. We have lots of wildlife around, including bobcats, coyotes and deer — even rattlesnakes.

I knew from the beginning I wanted either a log or a timber frame home. Ultimately, we decided on a hybrid house. I wanted it to be rustic and cozy, and we wanted to use natural materials. The outside of the house is red cedar and limestone. Inside, all the floors are red oak, and the walls are yellow pine. We simply stained all the wood. We didn’t paint it at all because we wanted the natural colors to come through. In the morning, when the sun comes up and shines through the living room window, it dances on the pine and makes you feel like you’re actually in a living forest at sunrise.

We built a stone fireplace that rises to the ceiling of the vaulted living area, and the large mantel above the fireplace is made from a hickory tree we had to remove when building the house. That’s probably my favorite space. It’s so cozy, and it really is the center of the house. We try to have a fire in the fireplace every night during the winter.

The main room also features a loft with a library and a spiral staircase that goes up to the observation tower. From the tower, we can see boats going up and down the nearby Cumberland River, and we can see planes taking off from the Nashville airport, even though it’s 20 miles away. So, I think we have successfully reached our goal of having a home that is modern but also rustic and cozy, and in a very peaceful environment at that.

It’s something that we had to work toward for a long time, but now that we’re here, I wake up every morning thankful that I can live here. It feels like we’re on vacation, and yet we live here year-round. And that’s really special.