by Kate Jonuska
homes inspired by the environment around them
SOME HOME DESIGNS resemble art galleries, and others stylish store-window displays, but Amber Lewis’s projects feel uniquely organic and alive. By drawing inspiration from nature and through brilliant choice of natural materials, each of the eight homes highlighted in Lewis’s new book, “Call It Home: The Details That Matter,” is so well suited to its setting that it could have grown from seed in place.
“Our surroundings should influence how we design our homes,” says Lewis, founder of Amber Interiors, who hopes all her clients “have a strong sense of the outside environment even when inside their home.”
To create that sense, she experiments heavily with wood in every form— reclaimed, distressed, painted, polished—as well as on every surface, including walls, ceilings and even sealed for bathroom floors. A North Carolina home tucked in the forest boasts a showstopping range hood of reclaimed wood meant to feel like it came from “a magical, dilapidated European barn.”
Lewis is unafraid to bring rougher, more exterior stones indoors, stacking them or pairing them with thick mortar for an ancient, earthen vibe. Veiny marble slabs, metal staircase railings wrapped in leather, unsealed brass elements meant to patina and add further depth. In each project, natural details layer to create a world related to and as compelling as the world outside.
Granted, the views of the outdoors from some of these well-designed homes are unmatched worldwide. For example, Lewis shares two homes she designed that sit on the famed Pebble Beach golf course. Drawing inspiration from the color and texture of sand for both, she kept the designs tonal and earthy, not to compete with the stunning outdoors. Rather than imitating the beach outside, both homes feel as much a part of the moody scene as polished driftwood shaped by the waves, creating a design that feels discovered rather than created.
With tons of inspirational photos and varied projects—including the author’s own California ranch—“Call It Home” shows how attention to detail can create spaces that are as elegant and timeless as Mother Nature herself.
