The cover of Brooke and Steve Giannetti’s first book, Patina Living, features a beautifully
decorated room adorned with a silk screen. That screen, depicting birds, flowers and leaves, is
partially embroidered and partially painted. It’s aged, muting the colors. And it is the perfect
example of the Gianetti’s design philosophy.
“We found the screen at a flea market, and we bought it for not a lot of money. It has come with
us to three houses, and currently sits above our mantle in our cabin,” Brooke said. “It has
always worked in all of our spaces, and to me defines what our design aesthetic is all about and
our connection to nature and all of that.”
The couple, who met in a chance encounter at a L.A. Cheesecake Factory about 40 years ago,
and married a year later, have created a design empire based on connecting with nature, history
and community.
Gianetti Home, the couple’s architecture, interior design and retail firm, grew out of a true
partnership. Brooke worked alongside Steve, a classical-trained architect, managing the
business side of his firm until one day he offered her, even though she had not trained in interior
design, the opportunity to help design a couple of rooms in a client’s home.
“She did the whole house,” Steve said. ”And the client loved it so much that the client bought
her a watch. And that’s how we got started.”
Since that collaboration, the couple has authored four books, continued to thrive in their
architecture and design firm, opened a Tennessee home, garden shop, and a farm.
“Patina is a kind of mellowing of natural materials as they age with use,” Brooke said. “We use a
lot of natural building materials, antiques made out of natural woods and materials as well.”
Having grown up in California, Brooke says the indoor-outdoor lifestyle comes naturally to her,
and that nature inspires the color palette she uses in her design aesthetic. And the connection
to nature led the couple to adopt a slower lifestyle. While living in Santa Monica, Brooke started
gardening more, utilizing raised planter beds–a process Steve says she did before it was a
thing-and keeping chickens. The couple took this lifestyle to their farm in Ojai, California, and on
to their new home in Tennessee in 2022.
The move to Tennessee followed the couple's falling in love with the natural beauty surrounding
Nashville. Steve first came to the area to design a home for a client who was retiring in Los
Angeles and returning home to Tennessee.
“He would send me pictures or videos of this magical place, and it was so beautiful and had
such natural beauty. It just looked like a lovely area,” Brooke said. “Growing up in Los Angeles,
the idea of having seasons was foreign to me, yet it was something that appealed to me.”
Looking for something different, along with their daughter expressing interest in farming, the
couple purchased a 100-acre farm in Leipers Fork, naming it Patina Meadow. Instead of
building a large house, they built and designed a series of smaller buildings that created a
deconstructed house.
“There was already a 1850s log house on the property, and we knew that that would be the
beginning of the inspiration for it all,” Steve said. “We wanted to complement the log house
rather than compete with or build something entirely different. So, the theory is you make
something that feels like an old 1850s homestead. All the fencing, garden stuff and sheds could
have all been built by guys with the pioneer spirit.”
Steve used his usual approach on the project, drawing inspiration from something old and
creating a backstory to establish a historical perspective. The inspiration for the Tennessee
property was an old tobacco barn, and the story took Steve back to a farmer in the 1850s.
“The story helps me make decisions. It provides a framework to make a billion decisions. It
gives an internal sense,” Steve said. “And that’s what the historical stuff has–all kinds of
guidelines and rules. If you don’t know this, one can end up doing a sort of modern house, and
nothing holds together, and you don’t know what it is.”
The rules extend to what Steve and Brooke call “the code” or nature’s ratio of beauty.
“A leaf, like everything in nature, has certain proportions. Steve mimics these proportions in his
houses,” Brooke said. “You may not realize as a human that you think something is beautiful
because of that, but that is why you think it is beautiful. It’s just what we are drawn to. It’s a God
thing.”
Besides the historic feel, the couple added a medley of animals, including chickens, goats,
donkeys, pigs, four Highland cows and four Anatolian shepherds. The chickens provide eggs
while the other animals provide fertilizer for the gardens.
“We do not use nitrogen fertilizer or any kind of pesticides. Our daughter, Leila, is passionate
about biodynamic practices and organic practices, so we really try to figure out how to make
healthy soil,” Brooke said. “Healthy soil means healthy plants.”
Leila’s role at Patina Meadow extends to teaching pottery classes at the property’s Potterie, a
ceramic studio rooted in the Gianetti’s love for creativity, craftsmanship, and connection. These
classes, open to six people per class, offer a thoughtfully designed curriculum for beginners and
those looking to enhance their skills in the art form.
For the Gianetti’s, the defining of patina did not occur overnight. Brooke started writing a
decorating blog in 2009, which quickly developed a following. The couple met with their book
agent, Jill Cohen, to discuss the lifestyle documented on the blog, and she suggested the two
write a book. In writing their first book, the two say that they knew what they liked, but did not
know why. So, the two took everything they liked from inside their home, placed it on the dining
room table, and took a close look at every object to figure out “the why” behind having it in their
home.
“Once we did this, we could then develop the idea of patina. I like rustic and industrial. Brooke
might like gilding, and that is how those things came together. There was something cool about
the mix of masculine and feminine and old leather and linen and velvet,” Steve said. “We saw a
path towards all of these things working together because it came from the gut. That is why I
never encouraged Brooke to go to design school. I was afraid she would learn strategies and
not be able to trust her gut on all of this stuff.”
The book, Patina Living, provides readers with a framework for everything–from thinking about
color to how to decorate shelves. The key, Steve says, is to start simple by knowing what one
likes, for example, on a bookshelf or in a bedroom. Then add an antique to see how it looks and
feels.
“So start with a little bit of something you own and add the antique. The book can help establish
a color palette or give suggestions on how to style,” Steve said. “Most of the time, people are
too cluttered. They have a collection, but spread it out all over the house, as opposed to taking
one shelf and putting all of the collection in one spot. We go through all of this in the book.”
Because Gianetti’s Patina Living focuses on history and the old, the two are well-versed in
antiques. Brooke prefers Swedish and Belgian antiques that tend to be more rustic, thus more
livable. Again, she says, choosing antiques goes back to the ratio of beauty, looking for those
pleasing dimensions.
“You will have an antique forever. It can be passed down to generations. You can purchase
something from IKEA, but if somebody knocks off a corner of it, it is not going to expose
beautiful wood,” Steve said. “We enjoy finding the coolest antiques we can find. And often,
because we sell many of the antiques we purchase to clients, they may be rotated around the
house. So it takes the pressure off of finding decor because we have already bought it, and we
really like it.”
Visitors can see for themselves how the Gianetti’s incorporate nature, history and community
into Patina Meadows. The farm is open to 10-12 people for a two-hour tour from spring to fall on
the last Saturday of the month.
“We opened up for tours because people wanted to see it,” Brooke said. “It is nice to share it
with others, and it is fun to do so.”
Patina, as a design philosophy, is not just about colors, history, and nature; it is about creating
an emotion, and visitors to Patina Meadow have the opportunity to see this element of the
aesthetic. Brooke planted white roses along the front of the fence so visitors would have a wow
moment upon arrival. Walking into the gate of the farm, one hears the crush of gravel and sees
the pale gray color of the gates–the design hits all one’s senses.
“It’s the sound of the fountain, it’s the crush under your feet of the gravel. It’s the scent of the
roses. It’s the feeling of the shade with the cool air underneath the trees. It’s when you walk
outside, and the donkeys see you, and they give a hee-haw. It’s all of that,” Brooke said. “So, it
is not just architecture. It’s not just picking a sofa. When you design a home, you are creating an
emotional experience.”