Natalie Mayes Design · Nashville, Tennessee

Homes that only look effortless.

A monograph of rooms, and the drawings they came from.

Chapter one

Every element has to agree with every other one.

Trim, tile, electrical, plumbing, finishes. Most rooms are chosen one decision at a time and hope. Natalie came up through residential construction, next to the trades, which is why the design conversation starts at framing instead of after the drywall is up and the good options are gone.

Dining room under exposed walnut beams, with a brick chimney breast and a brass starburst chandelier. — **Beamed dining room** Mid century restoration Nashville

Chapter two

Six rooms. Six different answers.

Primary bathroom lined in green glazed tile, with twin oval mirrors and brass sconces above an oak vanity. — **Green tile bath** New construction

Kitchen under a vaulted white plank ceiling with stained timber beams and a long island. — **Vaulted kitchen** Mid century restoration

Living room with a full height brick fireplace, timber beams and a vaulted plank ceiling. — **Brick hearth** Mid century restoration

Open stair in blackened steel and timber treads set against an exposed brick wall. — **Steel and brick stair** Whole home

Bathroom in dark stacked tile with a floating oak vanity and a black framed window. — **Dark stack bath** New construction

Living room with a brick wall, black steel windows and mid century seating on a patterned rug. — **Brick and steel living** Mid century restoration

Chapter three

Closer than a room lets you stand.

Tile, stone, plaster, grain. The layer most people only see in a photograph of a finished room, and the layer every finished room is actually decided by.

Dark green glazed tile in a fine vertical stack, lit from one side. — **Glazed stack** Shower surround

Plaster alcove with a horizontal band of veined marble set into it. — **Marble band** Alcove

Cream scalloped tile wall behind a caned vanity and an arched mirror. — **Scallop** Powder room

Blue vertical stack tile behind a floating oak vanity with two vessel basins. — **Blue stack** Primary bath

Pewter stacked tile running behind a range, under a steel hood. — **Pewter stack** Range wall

Freestanding tub against a wall of pale stone tile, with unlacquered brass fittings. — **Stone and brass** Primary bath

Natalie's tile layout drawing: a checkerboard floor set on the diagonal, with a specification callout.

The same checkerboard floor installed, running under a wall of white built in lockers and a bench.

Milestone Marron12 × 12, checker set

Sable groutDiagonal, wall to wall

As installedMudroom, Nashville

The drawing

Chapter four

She draws it before anybody orders it.

A tile layout is not a mood board. It is a plan with a product name, a size and a grout colour on it, so the person setting the floor at seven in the morning is not guessing. This is the same floor twice: once on her drawing, once in the room that got built from it.

01The layout is drawn to the room, not to a sample board.

02Every material carries its real name, size and finish.

03The trades build from the drawing, so nothing gets picked twice.

Chapter five

A bathroom wall tiled floor to ceiling in speckled pink tile, with a brass scalloped shower rose. — **Pink speckled tile** Floor to ceiling

Every house gets one idea nobody else would have.

Pink tile, floor to ceiling, on every wall of a bath. A planter box built around a structural post that could not move. The one move that makes a house yours instead of the one down the street. That is the part you are actually hiring a designer for.

Chapter six

Natalie Mayes seated in front of a wall of deep teal built in bookshelves. — **Natalie Mayes** Founder

She has been redoing rooms since she was a kid.

Every few years growing up, she asked her mom if she could redo her bedroom. The answer was always yes. One year that meant a cloud mural on every wall and a comforter to match. The instinct never changed, only the tools did.

A few years ago she stepped into residential construction and learned how homes get built from the ground up, next to the subs and the mentors who build them. Nearly a hundred Nashville homes later, she is still the designer who is on site, and still most interested in mid century modern: the Frank Lloyd Wright and Palm Springs houses where the usual rules of new construction simply do not apply.

Named one of Nashville's Rising Stars. NashvilleVoyager, May 2026

Fewer projects, chosen with intention.

Natalie takes on a limited number of homes at a time. If you are building, restoring, or standing in a room that is not working yet, start a project.

Studio: Nashville, Tennessee
Email: hello@nataliemayesdesign.com
Instagram: @natalie_mayes_design

Practice: New construction design
Mid century restoration
Finish and material selection
Styling for photography

A low slung mid century house with a long band of windows, seen from the garden. — **Mid century restoration** In progress Nashville