Storytelling is central to how designer Amanda Louise Campbell creates for her clients, and she brought that same philosophy to redesigning her own home. “When I think of designing a room, I envision what life will be like in it,” she says. “I’ll see a kitchen with a bowl of oranges waiting to be squeezed into fresh juice, brunch laid out on the counter —I can see each detail, from the color of the bowl to the music in the room.”
For Amanda Louise, designing a space is telling the story you want to tell, creating a place of safety and calm. When she was just twelve years old, Campbell took out a classified ad in the Greenville News and sold her Barbie dolls so she could afford a blue-and-white toile bedspread from the Martha Stewart collection at K-Mart. She laughs thinking about it. “My entire room was like Traditional Grandmother. My mom even took me to antique stores in Asheville for me to find accessories. But it was a way for me to control something, to express myself.” It was also during the heyday of HGTV design shows, and many of the jingles Campbell still says ring in her ears. It’s no surprise her fifth-grade teacher gave her the award “future interior designer.”
That same self-expression continued in high school as she fell hard for textiles and clothes, pushing the boundaries of her strict school uniform into statements of pattern mixing and accessorizing. It was a place where she felt safe, known, and creative.
More than a decade later, it’s that same feeling that her many clients and fans clamor over. A home designed by Amanda Louise Interiors has the hallmarks of what the designer has always loved: color, personality, and that grace note of surprise. If her designs could have a twinkle in their eye, they would. This isn’t a kitschy trend: the designer’s rooms are balanced and collected, with an easy sense of artistry.
Storytelling
There’s never shying away from color or pattern play. A lot of this has to do with Amanda Louise’s penchant for using original art. “Every home needs original art,” she says with the same definitive tone she uses when talking about design. There’s no question here—she knows what works at a cellular level; it’s soul-deep and assured. This fearless confidence comes from the woman who painted her former kitchen cabinets canary yellow and it worked.
Listening to a client and figuring out what works for them is all in a day’s work for a designer, a kind of Venn diagram where professional expertise and a client’s preferences seek common ground. Ninety percent of any project is planning and checklists and site visits, all strategically and thoughtfully coordinated with her team. “But the real magic happens in that other uncontrollable ten percent,” Amanda admits, “when something doesn’t go according to plan and we have to improvise or problem solve. Often those become my favorite details on a project.”
But what about when a designer is curating their own home?
First, the couple gave themselves the gift of time. “I loved that the previous owner made very few changes to the house, like vaulting the ceilings in the living room and a cutout in the wall from the kitchen. All were tasteful and simple: a perfect starting place.”
There’s much to be charmed with: the exterior brick was salvaged from Furman University’s original dining hall, and the split-level floor plan creates an ideal studio space for Amanda Louise’s ever-burgeoning business downstairs while keeping her in close proximity to daughter Lu’s room just upstairs.
Clever changes are what liven the space and create fresh, welcoming rooms rich with personality and story. The kitchen and living area’s walls are white, allowing art and plants to contribute color. Butcher block countertops warm the sun-dappled kitchen, and a stainless prep table becomes bar-top seating in the pass-through. With an active toddler, for the time being, the best use for the dining area is a play area, stocked with vintage books and baskets hiding well-loved toys within easy reach. Rich pattern play and saturated color find a place in bathroom wallpaper and fixtures, while bedrooms and living areas are layered with a variety of textiles. It makes each space personal and lived-in, storied.
Another change the couple made is the garage space-turned-scullery and workroom. The couple built in a dedicated gym area for Kevin’s workout equipment, while the remaining L-shaped space includes a potting bench complete with a utility sink, work table, and floor-to-ceiling custom storage cabinets. The new side porch where the double garage doors once now hosted a sweet space for a relaxed gathering. The door painted in a juicy burst of Sherwin Williams Antiquity is like a fresh lime squeezed over a margarita.
Amanda Louise uses color as a form of self-expression
This same chartreuse color pop weaves its way into most of her rooms because “it’s a natural color, but so surprising. You see it all the time in nature, but still it catches you off guard. I love that so much; it brings life to a room.”
The wide backyard and lush walk-out patio off her studio both provide a similar jumping-off point for landscape design, something the couple looks forward to working on in the future. There are many plans and dreams rooting themselves in Amanda Louise’s imagination, the design wheels always turning. In the meantime, art finds a place even outdoors with a mural by artist Glory Day Loflin stretching across the Campbell’s porch wall.
The little girl who grew up decorating her bedroom and went on to challenge fashion rules in high school grew into an assured woman who still loves toeing that line between tradition and liberal excess. And what better way to fly that flag of freedom than home? “Home is a place where I can try things out and see if they work or not.” A place to grow and change and be free.
A dogwood tree arches over the doorway of the home, dotting the front stoop with white petals. It’s more than just a tree for Amanda Louise, though; it tells the story of a life unfolding behind the bright front door.
When they first saw the house, the dogwood over the front door was in full bloom— it felt a little like magic. A year later, they found out that their new baby would be a girl, and the dogwood’s blooms were just opening, inspiring the wallpaper choice in little Lu’s room.
And on the day of her dear grandfather’s funeral last year, Amanda Louise tucked a few branches into his casket spray; they’d opened just that morning. As a tribute, artist Jean Wilson Freeman painted dogwoods around the Campbell’s entry mirror, a reminder of both the joy and ache of time passing. A story unfolding, a life well lived; like a room poised and ready for new memories and life to fill it up. That same touch that Amanda Louise brings to each space she designs.
Photography by Emily Bolt Photography
