The surprisingly understated estate is a trove of warming neutrals and memorabilia that celebrates the singer’s success
Country music singer Dolly Parton is synonymous with glamor – exhibited through her elaborate outfits and instantly-associable feminine style. However, while Dolly is not afraid to experiment with abundant glitz on stage, her interior design decisions are notably more understated.
Dolly, best known for her songs Jolene, 9 to 5, and Islands in the Stream, lives on a sprawling estate in Brentwood with her husband, Carl Dean, and their French Bulldog named Billy The Kid. Brentwood, located in Williamson County, Tennessee, is a hive of country-music stars who reside in some of the world’s best homes just south of Nashville. Other residents include Taylor Swift, Sheryl Crow, and Keith Urban.
For much of her 50-year career, Dolly kept much of her personal life private. However, during the coronavirus pandemic, she began to share glimpses of her home via social media. To this day, she offers insights behind some of her rooms – including her traditional white kitchen and neutral-hued music room. Here, we tour her most notable spaces.
There is a lot of pressure on your entryway to make the first impression your home deserves – and so – you would be forgiven for using colors such as light yellow with caution. However, Dolly Parton’s entryway is an example of how a sunny hue such as this has the ability to brighten almost any space – and with the singer’s approval, we can’t imagine this tone will fall out of fashion anytime soon.
A retro wooden side dresser dressed with a clock and a vase of flowers complement the yellow walls that create a subtle contrast against the white doors and windows. In the footage, Dolly is shown at the bottom of a wooden staircase – next to a large candle lantern that likely makes a statement when the sun sets over Brentwood.
Though (it appears as though) this kitchen is a set (and likely separate from her home), it still showcases some Dolly-approved decorating quirks – complete with white cabinetry and marble countertops surrounded by contemporary subway tiles.
While much of Dolly’s kitchen ideas draw from one color scheme, the singer has introduced pockets of her personality with pink accessories. Stand-out pieces include her blushing breadbox, gingham towels, and flower arrangement that sits by the window.
Decorating with beige is one of the safest but most stylish ways to elevate any kind of space, and it would seem Dolly Parton agrees. One of her living spaces showcases a cocooning beige palette paired with gold accents accentuating her paint perfectly. Next to her gold lamp, Dolly has placed a glass candle and a gold butterfly – the latter standing as a nod to what is famously her favorite creature.
In her autobiography, Dolly shared that she has loved butterflies since she was a young child. ‘I used to get lost in the woods, chasing them. I was not afraid of them because they were so gentle,’ she says. ‘I knew they weren’t going to bite me or sting me. They were beautiful and colorful, and they were doing something, being productive and being harmless.’
This music room continues to uphold Dolly’s traditional decorating ideas – from its patterned carpet to the floral printed curtains that hang above the white blinds.
Sitting on the table next to her piano, Dolly has a collection of photo frames illuminated by a large lamp on the wooden table. Elsewhere in her home, the singer pays tribute to her career through an expansive photo that fills an entire wall (below). Underneath the statement frame, she has a collection of awards – resting on a white and beige bench.
In the wallpapered room, Dolly stands near a towering cactus that grows on the wooden wall beside her achievements.
The Patterned Reading Nook
Interrupting Dolly’s traditional, neutral scheme, this corner of her home breaks from the ordinary. Sitting in what is (likely) a reading nook in one of her living spaces, Dolly is pictured on a rattan chair underneath her window. She is surrounded by a lively wallpaper featuring palm motifs that complement the turquoise parrot cushion on the chair.
These unexpected wallpaper ideas contrast the rest of her home while exhibiting Dolly’s playful side that feeds into clothing, music, and, now, her interior design style.