After the combines harvested the corn, a modern three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath brick home arose from the harvest. "When we bought this place, it had an old house, a barn and buildings," recalled Kim Galloway. They leveled the buildings and planted crops as Gary Sanderson built their house.
Bob farms tobacco and row crops in Graves County, and Kim works as a sales representative for Rudolph Tire in Murray. "We built this house to live here forever," Kim said.
Both of their families live nearby, and they grew up attending school together. Although they were friends in high school, they didn’t start dating until years later.
The open layout allows for the ease of entertaining family and friends. The living room, painted in a shade of warm beige known as oyster shell, opens into the kitchen. "I like the openness," she said.
"When I’m in the kitchen, I can see everyone, and it helps with entertaining."
The Galloways poured over house plan magazines and chose elements from several hours to put into their house such as the arched doorways throughout and the almost floor-length windows throughout that let ample available light stream through and add to the open feeling.
She chose warm colors in earthy tones of beige, brown and green, with a few surprise colors scattered throughout such as the light blue in the master bathroom that complements the brown master bedroom.
"I wanted everything to flow and not to have everything as neutral."
However, she chose a brilliant red for the dining room off to the side of the kitchen. The red contrasts with the light green from the kitchen, but the two rooms flow together nicely. She displayed her grandmother’s china in a cabinet in the dining room.
"I was the only girl grandchild," she said. "It was boxed up for 14 years, and that’s why I didn’t register for china when we got married five years ago."
Galloway’s unique decorating style extends from the floors to the ceilings of the home. She chose hickory for the hardwood floors, creating a lighter floor, and a custom trim in a hue of honey.
Although she loves the classic and clean look of white, Galloway chose to brighten the trim and interior doors by painting them with a primer and a stain and then wiping the excess away. The result is a distressed, but warm, shade of honeyed beige which gives each room a comfortable feeling. Galloway chose to carry the warmth of the trim throughout the home, except for the trim in stepdaughter McKenna’s room and a bonus room over the garage. The honey hue also appears on the custom kitchen cabinets.
"It took a lot of work," Galloway said of the extra effort of staining.
Kim chose to have the ceilings painted in either a lighter or contrasting shade than the walls in each room to continue to convey the warm feeling.
Although many of the furnishings are new, Galloway cherishes the pieces that were passed down in her family. The furniture in the guest room came from
Kim’s grandparents’ home, and a small antique table came with the property.
"This table was in a building, and a neighbor went into the building to look around. It was in five different pieces, and Bob told him that he could have it," Kim recalled. "He shows up later at our house with this little table. It goes perfect in here."
Seven-year-old McKenna knew that she wanted a pink room, a bright pink room. Kim chose to have the ceiling painted a lighter shade of pink as a contrast for the hot pink. Debbie McBee of Hendersonville, Tenn., painted a series of polka dots on the walls to match the bedding from Pottery Barn.
"Originally, she was going to do black and white," Galloway said, pointing to a black dot swirled with lime green. The black and colored dots travel in patterns around the room.
Galloway chose to accent the room with black trim to match the modern black furniture. "This is furniture that she can take with her," she said. "I thought the white was more girly, and the black goes with the pink."
And as with any house, the work never stops. The Galloways hope to turn their attention to their back yard and patio for another entertaining space.
