A HOME FOR “MY GIRL”

IN THEIR “NOTHING TO DO TOWN”

Country Music Superstar Dylan Scott and His Wife Blair Robinson Set Stage for a Family Retreat in the Piney Woods of Northeast Louisiana. Rafael Lara, One of Northeast Louisiana’s Most Sought-After Builders, Was Tasked With Constructing the Robinson’s Contemporary Home

article by MARÉ BRENNAN and photography by KELLY MOORE CLARK

WHEN COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER/ songwriter Dylan Scott and his high school sweetheart and wife, Blair Robinson, sought to get away from the Nashville grind, they would travel back to their Bastrop roots for time spent in the company of their families and surrounded by the inspiration that has propelled the young star to the top of the Country charts and garnered him a nomination by iHeartRadio as Best New Country Artist in 2019. The love of hunting and holiday traditions would find the couple often spending extended time from November through December in north Louisiana, but now with two young children in tow, the Morehouse Parish natives decided a place of their own in the secluded piney woods near Log Cabin was the harmonious note they needed.

“When we’d come home, we would split time between our parents’ homes,” says Blair, holding the couple’s one-year-old daughter, Finley, while their toddler, Beckett, rides his bike around the spacious living room. “But with two babies we realized we needed a space of our own.”

Dylan bought the forested property several years ago with the dream of adding a small, but efficient place to hang their hats when they visited Bastrop. The dream morphed into a roughly 3,000 square foot decidedly uptempo home that has become a place for both of their families to congregate and enjoy fellowship, especially during the holidays and the coronavirus pandemic. During the year it took to clear the land for the home, Blair and Dylan pulled together a home design mood board of ideas that appealed to them on Pinterest. Armed with those ideas, Dylan sat with notepad and pencil in hand to create the home’s layout. “I’d sketch and doodle,” Dylan smiles his 100 watt smile, “then I had a draftsman turn it into plans.”

Adds Blair, “Our home in Nashville helped us really learn more about us and what kind of style we wanted for our Bastrop home. Beckett has so much more room to run here compared to Nashville.” According to Blair, the couple’s Nashville home is more rustic, while she gravitates to more clean, crisp, open spaces that are still homey.

Rafael Lara, one of northeast Louisiana’s most sought-after builders, was tasked with constructing the Robinson’s contemporary home. The homeowners worked with the Lara Construction team’s designer, Erin Love, to pick out fixtures and decide on key finishes and details. A black and white canvas with warm, neutral accents creates a cohesive beat.

Says Rafael, “We kept a simpler approach with smooth wall textures, very simple baseboards, and no crown molding to keep the lines very clean. This is not your typical Acadian or farmhouse.” Just like Dylan’s fresh approach to his chosen genre of music, his family’s home in the woods takes well-calculated risks and finds an irresistible rhythm with the graphic lines of durable white metal siding and dark architectural metal roofing.

Not just a pretty face, this home is built with highly energy efficient and upgraded air conditioning units and filled with spray foam insulation. The height of summer heat is no match for the Lara construction. Adds Rafael, “I was just up in the attic at 3 p.m. and didn’t even break a sweat!”

Behind a gate secured by white columns, a pine and crepe myrtle-lined lyrical, curving allée opens to reveal a modern manicured meadow punctuated with a stunning contemporary home. Sleek lines with oversized windows and covered outdoor spaces that blur the lines between indoors and out set the tone. A pair of chic German shorthair pointers race to greet visitors and offer protection.

A trio of French doors open into a cathedral-like living space with a soaring, vaulted ceiling. Floor to ceiling commercial grade windows bathe the room in natural light by day and emit a luminescent glow from within when the sun goes down. Between the windows a stunning black stucco fireplace with a hand-hewn block of ash as a mantle creates a focal point in the living area that opens into the kitchen. Blair saw the fireballs on a blogpost and ordered them for the home as she knew they would be a conversation starter. Holton Flooring installed gorgeous wide-plank engineered hardwood flooring throughout the Great Room for a cohesive feeling underfoot.

Dylan points to a large taxidermied elk the couple sourced from Paul Michael. “I’m going this Saturday to hunt for this guy’s replacement,” laughs Dylan, eliciting a cheeky eye-roll from Blair. She adds, “I grew up with hunters, but we never had deer on the wall.”

“I think my favorite feature is the fireplace,” adds Blair. “And I love the kitchen, too.” What’s her family’s favorite meal? “Well, chicken tetrazzini is my go-to — and tacos.”

Dylan chimes in with a grin, “And we make a really good Johnny’s Pizza, too.”

In the expansive kitchen, light quartz backsplashes and countertops, fabricated by Twin City Granite, top rich, charcoal-hued Shaker-style cabinetry and an enormous, storage-centric island. Pendant task lighting above “looks like stars” to Blair, as she leans her petite frame against the island. “This is where we all gather. Dylan and I have lots of siblings on both sides of our families, and we all grew up together.”

Cabinetry throughout the home was custom-designed and built by Steve Sturdivant at West Ouachita Cabinets. Sturdivant incorporated vertical sliding drawers for spices and one for oven mitts and frequently used utensils, conveniently on either side of the range and yet another for dish towels beside the large, farmhouse sink. Emtek drawer pulls in matte gold add just the right amount of shimmer. A nearly indistinguishable dishwasher and icemaker are located near the sink. All appliances are from the GE Café series with stylish matte black doors and custom brushed bronze and copper pulls.

“We wanted this home to be open for entertaining our families,” says Dylan. “We like to grill a lot and the fire pit out front is going to get heavy rotation this fall.” With plenty of shade in the evening and a generous vaulted ceiling above, it’s no wonder that their families will capitalize on the harmony of the indoor/outdoor living spaces of the home.

Above the detached garage, Dylan has carved out studio space, where he and his bandmates and writing partners have been diligently working on new songs for an album scheduled to be released by the end of the year.
“His guitar is never far from him,” smiles Blair.

In the hallway adjacent to the kitchen, elongated brick pavers laid in a herringbone pattern add instant character to the space. The powder bath shimmers with a tactile black grasscloth wallcovering, which Blair sourced from Home Depot.

A cozy media room envelops the family in comfort with plush charcoal-hued carpeting under babies’ feet and a caramel leather sectional for lounging and watching Dylan’s latest videos on YouTube. The walls are grounded in the color of igneous rock with a slight green undertone. The ceiling is clad in wood for extra warmth.

A built-in nook for coats, backpacks and muddy shoes sits between the back door and the well-appointed laundry room. LED lights under stair treads illuminate nighttime trips downstairs with a soft glow. At the top of the stair landing, a rattan hanging swing with billowy cushions provides a fun reading (or napping) nook for the couple and their children. Custom windows crank out to open the upstairs up to cool fall breezes scented with pine.

The children’s room features four custom-designed bunk beds finished with whitewashed shiplap built by West Ouachita Cabinets. A handmade wrought iron ladder affixed to the wall allows for access to the tippy-top bunks. Mini wreaths of dried plant material hang above beds dressed in French cotton ticking and a plethora of tasseled pillows.

THE MASTER SUITE IS A STUDY IN CALMING NEUTRALS. The surface of the vaulted ceiling is covered in whitewashed shiplap. A contemporary ceiling fan reminiscent of the spokes of a windmill delivers rhythmic graphic element overhead. The couple’s iron canopy bed features a neutral upholstered headboard and is dressed with luxuriant down-filled linens and pillows with contrasting textural details. A photo of the glamorous couple from their wedding creates a focal point between two large picture windows accented with voluminous Pottery Barn drapery panels. Because the couple moved into the home at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown, Dylan was able to hang all the drapery and Roman shades throughout the home.

Oversized porcelain tile in a dark matte finish is laid on the diagonal in the master bathroom. A freestanding tub creates a dramatic focal point with a commanding chandelier overhead. The walk-in shower with glass door features a luxe rain showerhead. A white with grey veining accent tile in a herringbone pattern is used as a backsplash that runs all the way up the wall behind his and hers dual vanities and sinks. The bathroom’s water closet is wrapped in a graphic stylized face wallpaper with a white background.

As Blair and Dylan convey, since the touring business has been put on a bit of a hiatus during the quarantine break, the family has enjoyed their time in Morehouse Parish, at the end of a little gravel road, in the home that love built. In the words of a Dylan Scott song, “If home is where the heart is, Then, honey, I’m home.”

MORE DYLAN SCOTT NEWS
In response to the pandemic, Dylan Scott’s hometown concert event, BayouStock 2020, is set to take place on October 3, 2020 in a large outdoor field across from Sterlington High School. Socially-distanced but full of the best new Country music, BayouStock 2020 features an all-Louisiana lineup of Dylan Scott with Baskin-native Lainey Wilson, ULM graduate Stephen Paul, and Calhoun’s Ricky Rowton. Tickets are available online at www.bayoustock.com.

Dirt on the Rev at Monroe’s Revolution Park Raceway is just another way Dylan Scott has brought exciting outdoor entertainment to northeast Louisiana. After leasing the motor speedway and dumping over 1500 tons of dirt on the 3/8-mile asphalt track, Dirt on the Rev hosted Super Late Models, Factory Stocks, Crate Late Models, and Limited Modifieds on September 17-19, 2020, in Monroe for an amped up weekend of old-fashioned Southern dirt track racing.