Upon entering this home designed by Thomas Hollis, it is evident that a log home and barn timbers from Ninety-Six, S.C., were incorporated into this home the owners call “casual elegance.” Across the center of the house Hollis stretched a spacious great room with a dramatic fireplace and French doors that open to a spacious terrace.

Natural light fills the house from every room, but with the use of the barn timbers and the log home incorporated into it, it remains very warm and inviting. Because of artistic talent in the immediate family there is a plethora of paintings throughout.

The family wanted a nice flow for entertaining, as they love to have parties and quiet dinners. With large or small parties, people can go from the great room, with its built-in wall for a bar and music center, through to the kitchen and keeping room and around to the dining room with a loft that houses their office, with great ease.

The kitchen, with its barn red walls, is laced with custom cabinets made from barn planks that give this area an inviting feeling. The keeping room also has the barn red walls, surrounding four Windsor chairs and an antique dining table that shares its space with several wing back chairs and a fireplace. Barn timbers, both as beams and mantle, warm the kitchen with surrounding windows and door to the terrace.

The house is so strong that the owner has kept the palette of color soothing and soft. The wood floors of random width heart pine dominate the main level of the home. Over scaled upholstered pieces fill the great room and Orientals and antique pieces, acquired from the owners’ many years in Saudi and the Middle East, are spread throughout the house and add to the decidedly European atmosphere. The elegance of the rooms is tempered by the rusticity of the beams. The dining rooms, with barn plank walls, are not about being fancy but elements of the owners’ antiques make it dressy.

The lower level is filled with treasures from their travels along with guest bedrooms and a family room designed around plush leather furniture. A French door leads to a pergola-covered terrace overlooking a pool designed by the owners. The landscaping was designed to create a number of gardens each with its own distinct personality.

The Tour of Homes, presented as a fundraiser by the Green Blades Garden Club, is a self-guided driving tour held on Saturday, April 30. Hours of the tour are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Tickets may be purchased at the Book Shelf, Vines & Stuff and Down to Earth Garden Center in Tryon, Accents on Main, PJ’s Fashions and Expressions Florist in Landrum and the Garden Patch and Flower Cottage in Columbus.

On the day of the tour, tickets will be sold at each of the homes as well as the Park on Trade. Parking will be available to all houses except The Woodlands, where a shuttle bus will be available at the Jackson Grove entrance.

In conjunction with the Green Blades Home Tour, The Tryon fine Arts Center, in cooperation with the Polk County Extension Center and the Town of Tryon, will sponsor the second annual Art and Garden Bazaar on April 30 on McCown Street in Tryon. The street will be closed and over 20 vendors will set up a variety of art, garden items and locally grown plants for sale. Hours will be 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and tickets for the home tour will also be on sale at the Bazaar.

Go to tryonarts.org to find information on the Bazaar and the Home Tour.

For more information call Helen Gilbert at 828-894-2491 or email hgilbert10@windstream.net.