Keith Headley is used to creating other people’s dream homes. As principal designer and CEO of Headley Menzies, a Memphis/New York firm he purchased in 1999 from Rogers Menzies, Headley and his team create customers’ design dreams, from country cottage to urban sleek. Realizing his own dream home was, however, a completely different challenge.

Even before Headley was CEO at Headley Menzies, he was working in design. A graduate of the Art Institute of Atlanta, Headley began his career in Memphis, working for the firm he would eventually come to own. In 1994, shortly before taking the helm at Headley Menzies, he and his partner bought their dream home.

The house in question, at just over 4,200 square feet, is luxuriously spacious. Designed by two well-known Memphis architects, J. Frasier Smith  and Herbert M. Burnham, the home was built in 1926 for a wealthy grocer, Joseph Fly, (who, incidentally, was bought out by Kroger in 1928).  The Italianate Revival has an exterior made entirely of cut limestone with a mix of carved stone details. Its fired clay tile roof, crafted cornice and copper accents show the particular attention to detail the home was paid by its builders.

Today, Headley’s residence lives up to his personal design aesthetic. As he explains, “I enjoy creating and living in classic rooms that are well designed, inviting, comfortable and appropriately appointed.” As he’s proved with his own home’s décor, Headley believes, “classic designs can have an edge to them so they are not boring.”

His secret to maintaining a balance between more modern and timeless designs? “These trendy elements are the ones that can be updated and changed without disturbing the design of the home in general,” he explains. These are words Headley truly lives by, with satisfying results. “Although we’ve been in the home for over 16 years,” he reminisces, “I feel the design is still just as relevant to the architectural style and just as livable as it was when we first executed the design. That is what I mean by classic.”

You can read the full article in the September issue of At Home Tennessee Magazine.