Oh, What Fun!

Designer Amanda Louise Campbell trims her South Carolina house with vintage finds and handmade ornaments

- BY BETSY WATSON

DESIGNER Amanda Louise Campbell and her husband, Kevin, fell hard and fast for their 1967 brick rambler in Greenville, South Carolina.

"It was the first house we saw," recalls Campbell, who loved its easygoing layout and that the then owner had art everywhere—an atmosphere she knew she'd recreate with her own collection. "You could tell that lives had been lived here."

In the seven years since purchasing the place, the couple has slowly, steadily made it their own, adapting its 2,400 square feet to better accommodate their growing family, which now includes two young daughters, Lula and Perry.

"I try to stress to clients that it's a luxury to live in a house and think through how it really works for you before just coming in with all your big ideas," explains the designer. "The ways we thought we were going to use the space when we first moved in were completely different."

For starters, they left the kitchen footprint largely untouched, despite early reservations that it wasn’t big enough. “Previously, it had a peninsula and some awkward angles, so we cleaned it up, moved some appliances around, and tried to make the most of the square footage,” notes Campbell, who opted for a 24-inch range from Bertazzoni (“I'm never responsible for the Thanksgiving turkey,” she says with a laugh) and brought in a console table to serve as a flexible island. “We've been really happy with how it’s worked for us.”

In other cases, it meant rethinking underutilized spots, like converting the screened porch into a cheery sunroom (painted Sherwin-Williams’ Convivial Yellow, SW 6393). “We didn't use it like we thought we would,” says Campbell. Now that space, with its shimmering disco ball that's there year-round and durable striped Coley Home sofa, is “just where we live,” she says.