Designer Amanda Louise Campbell honors the sentimentality of one family’s dream home.
Laurie Koch grew up minutes from her grandparents’home in Greenville, South Carolina, where her motherwas raised. Many years later, the opportunity arose for Koch and her husband Shay to move into the home across the street. Without hesitation, they jumped at the chance. The couple enjoyed another decade of memories with Koch’s grandfather before he passed, and when deciding what to do with her grandparents’ house, Koch and her husband felt pulled to keep it in the family.
“We have so many beautiful memories there, and we adore the neighborhood. The property backs up to a sweet little children’s park, and we love our neighbors,” explains Koch. The couple decided to raze her grandparents’ home and build their forever home on the property to keep the memories alive. “It was surreal and wonderful to build our dream home in such a special place. We kept a huge, decades-old blueberry bush as well as garden beds and roses as nods to my grandparents.”
To guard the sentimentality as well as infuse their style into the home, the Kochs called on designer Amanda Louise Campbell of Amanda Louise Interiors to design it soup to nuts, and Trehel Tailored Homes, a division of Trehel Corporation, to raze it and create their new space on the property. Having worked with the Kochs on their previous home, Campbell was able to walk into the project with a good idea of what her clients wanted. “The surrounding neighborhood is filled with traditional and timeless homes, so it was important that the architecture and color schemes reflected the surrounding neighborhood,” says Campbell of the home design. “We hoped to bring the same charm and character to the interiors with extra doses of color, personality, and nostalgia.”
Before Trehel broke ground, Campbell’s team completed thorough design plans that not only included decisions regarding the build, but also fabrics, wallpapers, and tile. “We knew this would be the most fun—but also the most important—element of the entire home to our client, so everything was built off of those decisions,” Campbell says.
The shared vision included a bright and airy homethat was both happy and cozy. Given Koch’s “sunny disposition,” as Campbell describes, it was important that the home felt inviting. “We wanted a mix of bigger, more open entertaining spaces, but with cozy nooks that we could retreat to,” explains Koch. With the footprint in place, Campbell looked to color and pattern to infuse that same cozy feeling. “She’s a lover of color and was super open minded when it came to the design process,” says the designer.
Campbell layered traditional and nostalgic elements like vintage sconces in the stairwell, landing, and powder bath hallway; green-hued spindles on the railing; and a customized dog nook. She also added custom elements such as the benches flanking the fireplace, the mantle in the main living room, and, the Kochs’ favorite, the yellow vanity in the powder room. When asked about their favorite room, Campbell and Koch hesitate. The designer reluctantly declares the foyer the winner. “It’s so unlike any other entry we have designed, and it truly is the heart of this home,” says Campbell. Koch finds it difficult to answer, too, but remembers how her family found themselves spending most of the winter in the cozy front library full of bookcases with the fire on.
“We love that we were able to add knots to this family history through commissioned art, family photos, and, of course, Laurie, protecting the garden in the back,” says Campbell. “Honestly, this was one of our smoothest projects to date, a lot of which had to do with the Kochs’ positivity, and an exceptional build team headed up by Matt Ruth who was very collaborative and really made all of our dreams become reality!”
“The most rewarding part of this process for me was giving honor to a home that has been in my family for generations,” says Koch. “While the finished house is all our own, we thought of them every step of the way, and Amanda surprised me on reveal day with a piece of commissioned art of their original home by Kate Comen that hangs in the office. We see it and think about them every day.”
