Webb Home Tour

In the 1950's, a government-created flat top house was a hot commodity in Oak Ridge. Hugh Webb, a UT college student in 1952, bought one for a whopping $900 and had it moved to a plot of land in North East Knox County. Our home tour today offers a glimpse into the crafted home of two artists who have created a masterpiece of a home that started as a prefab box. Barbara and Hugh Webb have lived in their home for 60 years and they have redesigned, reconfigured, and revamped their home into a one of a kind oasis. With 10 acres, horses, and incredible vision, they have truly made a home for themselves.

   Early on they decided that, rather than moving around over the years, they would use their money to travel and work on the home they already had. They set a goal to take their children to every state in the US and to travel internationally as often as they were able. Whenever they got the itch to move, they would re-imagine their space and transform it to meet their needs. Barbara would draw up the plan, and Hugh would bring it to life.

   Barbara's mother was Finnish and her Scandinavian style carried over in a natural way. Barbara has always been drawn to clean lines and minimalist decor. With muted tones and lots of neutrals, Hugh claims that if he sat still long enough, Barbara might paint him to match the rest of the house. With a mix of family antiques and carefully curated decor, their home is like a gallery in and of itself. Barbara is one of the founding charter members of the Foot Hills Craft Guild and hasn't missed a show in 50 years! 

   When I asked Barbara what her secret to creating a home was, she said " We enjoy our home and we enjoy each other. That’s the main thing about everything—— enjoying each other." If you spend any time with Hugh and Barbara you quickly realize that they are an incredible team. They love to dream and create together and the results of their teamwork are visible all over their home and in their children and grandchildren who come by the house almost daily to feed the horses or stop in for a chat. Hugh and Barbara enjoy more than making art together, they go dancing every Monday night. She says, "I could Waltz across Texas with Hugh".

Enjoy these scenes from the Webb's home. 

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The front door of the Webb Home

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The bookcase is a family heirloom from Barbara's grandparents. The birds sitting on top were hand carved by Hugh.

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The Living room with a portrait of the Webb's daughters done by Barbara

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The tea party room.

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Kitchen details

Vintage breadbox

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Breakfast room and view onto the back porch where Hugh and Barbara take a break from creating every day at 3pm for cake and coffee.

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Barbara's studio

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Miniature paintings by Barbara Webb

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Barbara's studio

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Master bedroom

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guest bedroom details

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guest bedroom

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portrait of the Webb's daughters by Barbara

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Packing up the Memories

There often comes a time in all our lives or our loved one's lives when we have to say goodbye to the place we've called home.

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This is never an easy transition for multiple reasons. In this particular case, the homeowner needed assistance with everyday life and wasn't able to live on her own any longer. Not being able to take much with her, her daughter and son-in-law have been left with the task of clearing out the remaining items from her former home. However, they have busy lives of their own both working and raising two active school age children. After almost 6 months of the condo sitting untouched, waiting to be gone through, HYD got the call to help.

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This situation is all too familiar to so many folks. A parent's home filled with memories, trinkets, collections, photographs, furniture (both valuable and not), attics, that are so overwhelming to go through. In this case, we've been able to go through every cabinet, dresser drawer, bookshelf, box, closet, trunk, and room to categorize, label, box up, and create order so that when the daughter and son-in-law come, they can easily decide what to keep, what to sell, and what to donate. 

HYD feels honored to be trusted with such an important job which is why we take such care with each object we touch, paper we read, photo we categorize, and memory we help to preserve. It all stays confidential and our clients can feel safe knowing that we will find the right home(s) for any items they choose not to hold on to.

This particular homeowner is a very talented artist. We thought you'd enjoy just a few treasures we found as we organized her belongings. The first is her "Ideal Wardrobe" handmade book from the late 1940s. The latter photos are just a couple of the many wonderful sketches and prints we found. Enjoy...

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Thanks so much for coming along with HYD as we journey through our clients' stories and memories. It is a job we cherish and look forward to each day. If you have any questions or interest in learning how we might help you or a loved one with transitioning into a new home, please don't ever hesitate to call or email us at 865.245.9080 or info@helpyoudwell.com.

We've also updated our website in a few places to describe in more detail how and what HYD can assist with especially related to estate transitions and organized moving and unpacking.

And as always, feel free to drop by The Hive to visit us anytime we're in!

Doing Wonders with a Covered Wagon : Home Tour with Buddy & Kathie Odom

We had the privilege to sit down with Buddy and Kathie Odom last week to see their beautiful Fountain City home and to get a glimpse into their philosophy of life at home and creating in and around it.

We've always begun our home interviews with the question, "What does home mean to you?" We weren't expecting the answer that followed but if you've spent any time with the Odoms, you know that an unexpected answer is what to expect.

"This isn't our home. We live in a covered wagon," says Buddy. What he means is; the house, the objects in it; they have meaning, they contain beauty, but that's not the make up of "home" to the Odoms. In a sense, the Odoms treat their house as a vessel, a place that fosters creativity, but they strongly believe that home truly is not made of material things. And Buddy says that Kathie "can do wonders with a covered wagon."

Kathie is an accomplished and well-known plein air artist but prior to diving into art as a career, she explained that in the past, her house had become a canvas because she wasn't yet practicing the art that she was created to do. "Plein air has given me the ability to create on canvas so it's lessened the intensity of the desire to rearrange and redecorate my home."

Kathie's Art Studio

Speaking of Kathie's art, one extension of their house is the studio out back that Buddy built for Kathie. The walls, lovingly and cleverly made of horizontal cedar boards, are covered with her creations. Once a piece is ready for the wall, the nail goes right in and up goes her next creation. Just walking in you are taken to all sorts places: Seaside, the Smoky Mountains, farmers' markets, old barns in New England, quiet streams, and so much more. It's so obvious her gift with the brush gives her such great pleasure.  She gets giddy explaining her painting experiences as passers-by ask her about her work, pray for her, or ask to buy the work right off the easel. Tucked away behind a shelf were her countless awards, but it's clear the experience itself is her greatest reward. There wasn't a corner of the studio that we didn't love. Each item has a purpose and a home.

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Back in the main house, Buddy and Kathie have a story for every item inside from countless pieces of furniture that belonged to various relatives, to a mason jar of dirt gathered from the garden of a previous home they lived in. Buddy and Kathie spent a good amount of time learning to dwell together in that garden in a season of life where they were empty nesters, a season where things in life were slowing down. Buddy added that each part of the garden reminded him to pray for a different person. They had weddings, rehearsal dinners, and birthday celebrations in the garden. The jar of dirt holds a lot of meaning, a lot of life. Buddy and Kathie have found in recent years that their current home has given them the opportunity to be creative together. They have learned to let themselves dream.

More than anything, the Odoms create a sense of comfort in their home. Kathie's desire is for her home to feel livable and not so perfect that you feel like you can't touch anything. Kathie talks about her relationship to their home and their belongings as "good ole friends", each item bringing back a flood of memories. They agree that it's best to only be 90% organized. Kathie recalled a time when she felt much more pressure to present her home in a certain way. She has found over time that she and her guests seem to enjoy her home more when it doesn't appear perfect.

As HYD spent time reflecting on this visit, we came away encouraged, educated, and grateful for our time spent on Gibbs Drive. The Odoms invite one in to a peaceful, ordered space that immediately takes the pressure off. It's obvious that homemaking is a team effort in their house and their gifts compliment one another beautifully. Buddy's attention to order and Kathie's love of color and texture allow for guests to make themselves at home no matter where their wagon lands.

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HYD is excited to announce that Kathie will be hosting her "Cabin Fever Oil Painting Workshop" at The Hive in February 2016. This would make a fabulous Christmas gift for the painter on your list. For more information, just click here.

Downtown Knoxville's "Elvis Artist" Dwelling : Home Tour with Mark Burns

If you have ever taken a walk down Gay Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, you have probably noticed the larger than life mural of Elvis. We had the opportunity to sit down with the artist, Mark Burns, and his wife Lorraine to talk with them about downtown dwelling and what home means to them.

Mark and Lorraine always told themselves that once the kids grew up and the dog moved along, they would make the move to downtown living. Three years ago they jumped on the opportunity and haven’t looked back. Lorraine says they have never regretted the move.
When we walked into the Burns home we immediately felt at ease. No doubt a combination of easy going personalities and a tasteful yet casual atmosphere create that feeling.

We began our conversation wondering what their decorating process looks like. We so appreciated Lorraine’s practicality when she started off talking about making wise purchases and not jumping on the trends. Lorraine describes their style as more traditional. With Mark’s art thrown into the mix, the space takes on a personality of it’s own. The Burns’ loft has tons of beautiful exposed brick with large windows giving them a great eastern view. Lorraine pointed out several pieces in their home that have been passed down from multiple generations of family. “Changing up your accessories and rearranging furniture makes it easier to feel like you have freshened up your space without going out and spending tons of money on new things.”

One of the things the Burns love most about downtown living is the community they have found. They love being able to walk out the door and run into friends. The Burns specifically love the diverse group of people that live in their building: The Phoenix. Mark and Lorraine spoke of spontaneous “porch parties” where residents congregate on the patio right outside the lobby on Gay Street. Mark describes downtown living as a different kind of social opportunity. “Lorraine and I will take a few drinks down to the patio and before you know it, 8 more people have joined us.”

The original Elvis Eyes

“My art has always been about “speaking community. There has always been debate about the purpose of art. Many people think art is about making a statement but to me, I just love hearing the conversation that art sparks. I don’t care about making a statement, I just paint what I like and watch how it impacts people differently.”

— Mark Burns

Mark uses the patio space as more than a social gathering spot, he frequently sets up shop to paint or sketch on the patio in the open air. In late high school, Mark was offered both a football and an art scholarship to the University of Tennessee. Mark accepted the football scholarship and majored in art. After an illustrating job in Atlanta and some freelance work, Mark found that he preferred the freedom of making art on his own time and picking his own subjects. He has made art for his own enjoyment rather than as his full time job for the past several years. Mark has gravitated towards pop art for as long as he can remember. He commented that he started out airbrushing t shirts the night before the Worlds Fair opened in Knoxville and over the next several weeks and months became quite accomplished. After putting art away for many years, he has, in more recent years been enjoying creating art for the public. “The Elvis mural really seemed to connect with people. I love seeing people stop to take pictures with the mural. Outside art is communal, it brings people together. My art has always been about “speaking community”. There has always been a debate about the purpose of art. Many people think art is about making a statement but to me, I just love hearing the conversation that art sparks. I don’t care about making a statement, I just paint what I like and watch how it impacts people differently.”

Mark painting out on the patio in front of the original Elvis mural

In the same way that Mark creates art, we love the idea of creating a home that you like,  and not being concerned with making some kind of statement. If you love the space you live in every day, you’ve created a home that is rightfully a work of art.

The Slow Life : Home Tour with Ashley Addair

Help You Dwell sat down with Ashley Addair this week to talk about simple living. Ashley is an established artist living in Knoxville with her husband, two children, the occasional dog, and sporadic out of town guests. To give you a bit of background, Ashley and family have spent the last year or so living a bit nomadic-ally while her husband gutted and rebuilt their home. (Which incidentally used to be a neighborhood grocery store) Their newly finished home is truly a work of art in itself. Ashley is a wonderful thinker and writer and one of her recent blog entries about her entry way inspired us to ask her about her approach to her home and lifestyle.

Tell me a little bit about what simple living means to you.

A: In this season I'm learning a lot about letting things be as they are. I'm trying to live out the tension of facilitating change and evolving but at the same time, accepting things as they are; not fighting the chaos of life. I'm trying to posture myself in a way that allows for finding beauty in that chaos and letting that be enough. 

That is such a refreshing answer. On a practical level, do you have any habits or routines that help you accomplish and maintain that simple posture?

A: I recently read a haiku that said "To make a home, start in one corner- Make that yours. Work outwards, slowly." I'm trying to take that and practice "looking smaller". I'm picking little things, small corners that I can work on and letting the rest go. I'm endeavoring to let things evolve without me and it's helping me notice natural rhythms and the beauty of observing from a distance. Basically, I'm working on becoming increasingly slow: on letting life wash over me and recognizing that slow is the gift of this season. I'm becoming more okay with embracing limitations. In a very literal sense, I've picked one corner of the yard and one corner of the kitchen to focus on and I'm venturing to let the rest go. 

One of the hardest parts of simplifying is letting go of all the "stuff". You seem to have a really healthy detachment to "things". Tell me about that.

A: I have moved around a lot over the course of my life. I've found that there is a gift in traveling light. Honestly, at this point having kids has forced me to recon with the fact that things will get messed up and broken. In general, I try to let things be meaningful without being attached to them.

You can meet Ashley and purchase her art at our pop up market on May 3rd from 11-6. We hope to see you there!

Caroline & Taryn

Meet Our Vendors Pt. 2

Ericka Ryba, Eric Savage, Blair Wright, and Laura Cottrell

We are less than 2 weeks away from our Holiday Market and we are blogging today to announce the rest of our vendors.

Meet Ericka! We share a booth with her at Nostalgia on McCalla and often have a really hard time not buying everything she puts in it. Ericka is one of those people who has the golden touch--we are convinced that she is good at everything. Ericka sells her handcrafted goods under the name of Providence Road. In Ericka's words about the name Providence Road, " It actually started on a real road that I lived on from ages 3 mos. to 8 years old. Almost fifteen years later, and not a very direct route, I landed in Providence, RI. I remained in Providence through my post college years, abandoned my carrer trajectory, and started working on an organic farm. Thinking this was my destiny, I moved back down South to start a farm. Well...ten years later I'm back in school studying art and letting creativity reign. I love where I've been and am excited about where I am going (wherever that may be). Providence Road to me is the culmination of everything I've learned so far about the world and about myself. "

We have had the pleasure of knowing  Eric for several years through church. Eric could do stand up or have his own sitcom if he wanted to but we are glad he hasn't left Knoxville for stardom. Eric learned carpentry from his dad and they began making furniture together a few years ago. We love the headboard he posted on instagram several months ago.

If its old, wooden and architectural, Blair loves it.  He travels to the northeast for his real job but his passion is finding and repurposing architectural salvage and vintage furniture.   He brings things home you don't see often in East Tennessee.  He cleans them up and sometimes makes new things with them.  Corbels, balusters, newel posts and more are what you'll see from White Station Architectural Finds.

We met the lovely Laura Cottrell at church and have loved getting to know her over the past year. Laura is a mommy of two and somehow still manages to find time to create all kinds of art. We are particularly excited about her recipe paintings and her fall themed banners. I shamelessly bought about 10 of her handmade ornaments last Christmas...don't judge me.

ONE WEEK FROM THIS SATURDAY PEOPLE!! BRING EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

Meet Our Vendors

Ashley Addair

Mary Ann Watkins

Rob Laliberte

Jordan Wright

Daniel Aisenbry

KBrew Coffee Shop

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Let us introduce you to Ashley Addair and Mary Ann Watkins who are collaborating on a project of art and hand lettered words. Ashley and Mary Ann are both moms of two boys and have been part of our church community for several years. They are both extremely talented and we are loving their collaborations which celebrate some traditionally southern phrases and figures of speech. Here is a link to Ashley's blog entry including their artist statements and pictures of some of their work.

Next, we are proud to introduce a good friend of ours Rob Laliberte who owns WDWRK Co and  does beautiful woodwork in Knoxville, TN. We have collaborated with Rob in various ways and love his passion for community development and encouraging artists in our city. We share a booth at Nostalgia on McCalla with Rob and he also has a booth at the Market Square Farmers Market.

Jordan Wright has been blowing us away with his awesome new lighting business; Wright Mason Co. Currently his lights are for sale at Remedy Coffee shop and Blue Mason Coffee Shop in Knoxville TN. He uses vintage mason jars and repurposes them in one of the coolest ways we have seen yet. We are so jazzed that he will be selling his lights in our market.

We have known Daniel for several years through our church as well and have been drooling over his coffee tables ever since he started making them. Daniel owns and runs Knox Urban Homesteads and does everything from helping people start urban gardens to building chicken coops. Daniel does great work and we can't wait to share his furnishings with you all.

Finally, we are proud to announce that KBrew Coffee shop is sponsoring this event by providing coffee for all of you lucky patrons. They will also have tshirts and mugs for sale as well.

Next Thursdays blog will introduce our final four vendors.

We are only a few weeks away! Please share our flyer on your facebook page and invite your friends on November 8th.

HYD

"Organize your what?"

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"Twiggy" Artist unknown

Help You Dwell received a strange request a few weeks ago...

"Can you all do what you do in people's houses with my head?"

At the time it seemed a little bizarre but mostly intriguing. We began meeting with this lovely lady and started a journey that has been inspiring to say the least.

In the process, HYD realized that most everyone can benefit from some brain organization.

In America today, most of us are over-committed, drained, tired, and too busy to do things as well as we would like to.

One thing that we have found to be helpful in life organization / time management is to make a list of your commitments:  Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly. Do you feel over committed? What in your life is draining and what is life giving? Writing things down helps us compartmentalize and simplify.  However, list making is not for everyone.

Anna Rusakova

For HYD, the unique challenge of life organization and time management is that each person connects with different ways of thinking.  For some, a list makes everything clear and manageable but for others, like the client we spoke of earlier, a list is more overwhelming than helpful.  Learning how to help a creative, imaginative, passionate artist & photographer make a plan that she can tackle, one step at a time has been really fun. We are realizing that using visualization of the tasks, talking through the scenarios, making clear action plans are some of the key ingredients for getting the brain in order for our dear client. Sometimes it's just more fun to make a mood board or an art journal for your life than to write a list.

Through our research on this journey, we also came across a fantastic resource for artists who seek organization.

www.theorganizedartist.com

Zachary Smith

The brains behind "the organized artist";Ms. Bennett, gives simple, clear guidelines to help entrepreneurs, artists and the like get their projects on the road to fruition.  We learned so much from her experience with many creative folks over the years.  She also has a couple of great books available on her website HYD enjoyed reading through for more specific tools to success.

Once again HYD's cup runeth over as we walk this journey with our client.  Her passion for living life fully is contagious and her commitment to tell the stories of those she walks with will inspire anyone who gets to hear them.  We are learning everyday here at HYD and loving every minute.