10 minute read
Amanda Lindroth Design
By Keesha Claudia Bethell Photographs courtesy of Amanda Lindroth Design, Tria Giovan and Kirk Robert
Amanda Lindroth’s Home Living Area
Picture it—a mother who happens to be an interior designer juggling more than 30 projects, managing 35 employees between The Bahamas; Palm Beach, Florida and Charleston, North Carolina, with her 2022 calendar filled. That’s one busy woman. In the middle of a never-ending schedule, she gives two hours of her undivided attention for the inflight magazine of her favourite airline. It sounds unlikely. But it really did happen. Interior Designer Amanda Lindroth paused her day to chat with Up and Away magazine. If you’ve ever met Amanda, you’d know that she always makes time for things near and dear to her heart. Thankfully, this magazine is one of those things. She invited us into her Hope Hill home in Lyford Cay, a gated community on the western tip on the nation’s capital—New Providence—and the experience was nothing short of amazing.
Dressed in a floral pink caftan dress, pink reading glasses nestled in her blonde hair coupled with her natural charm and sense of humour, laughter reigned supreme during our time with Amanda.
In between laughter, a scrumptious three-course lunch, and two pauses to acknowledge the harmonious sounds of DC3 cargo plane engines flying over her rooftop, we were grateful that she made space in her schedule to shoot the breeze with us. She was happy to unwind and make us feel comfortable and relaxed in her favourite place—at home on her porch.
“My company is obsessed with Bahamasair,” she said with a smile. “You don’t understand. We love Bahamasair. The beautiful stewardesses and the wonderful accent they have on the microphone - it’s the best thing. Oh, and the pilots who don’t fly you into thunderstorms.”
As the head of Lindroth Design, Amanda has gained a reputation for creating intimate, island-chic spaces. Her unique work has been featured in magazines such as Coastal Living, Condé Nast Traveler, Veranda and Real Living.
For the Palm Beach, Florida native, interior design is a far cry from her initial background which included public relations.
“I went to Wellesley College in Boston, which is a pretty snazzy school,” she explained. “In that era, interior design was not an option for me out of a fancy The Dunmore on Harbour Island
school like that. We were supposed to go to New York to go into banking or become lawyers. Advertising was an OK thing to do, or you’d go back, get a master’s degree and become something really smart.”
Amanda began her career in Paris, France working as an intern at a French bank, then onto Women’s Wear Daily and W Magazine in New York covering parties and society. From there, she filled the position of public relations director for Gucci in London during Tom Ford’s tenure.
Though she reached a level of success in her field, it wasn’t one that she loved because of the high demands and gruelling hours.
Her professional life made a shift when she moved to The Bahamas in her 30’s with her husband who was an entrepreneur. She designed her own homes and properties associated with her husband’s company. Eventually, friends requested her expertise to beautify their spaces.
“Then, I got an employee to help and an accountant and here we are with three locations and 35 employees,” she said as she laughed and repositioned her reading glasses, as she reflected on Lindroth Design, which she started back in 2010.
Water Martins Outdoor Shower Angler’s Cottage Kitchen
According to Amanda, her knack for design started when she was very young, thanks to her mother.
“If I look back on my childhood, I was decorating from when I was 10 years old, ‘’ she recalled. “My parents were building a house and, without knowing it, I did a mood board for my mom for my bedroom. I liked decorating and my mother was extremely stylish, and she had an incredibly good eye. I probably learned everything from her.”
Amanda’s estimate is that her eye for style has opened doors for her to head hundreds of design projects across the islands of The Bahamas. One of her favourite projects was 12 years ago and it became “a very important calling card” in her career—The Dunmore hotel. The boutique luxury hotel is in the “Nantucket of the Caribbean” - Harbour Island - off the tip of the island of Eleuthera. In part, thanks to Amanda, The Dunmore has attracted countless visitors to its breezy patios, vintage rattan, pink conch shells and 1960s resort glam.
That project was Amanda’s launch pad from designing home and office spaces to bigger projects.
“Our little company that was once really residential only is now beginning to do bigger hotels,” she said.
At the time of our interview with Amanda, her company was working on three hospitality projects between the US and the Caribbean, namely, South Carolina, the Florida Keys and St. Lucia.
As a designer, Amanda said her goal is to dazzle and create spaces that make her clients feel like someone has made an effort, that a space is loved and cared for.
“The DNA of my brand and what I do is design for people at leisure—that’s the key to this,” she explained. “Everything has to dazzle. That’s just what’s on our mind when we design spaces. They just have to dazzle. For bedrooms, they have to be crispy and romantic and something that you dream of. The beds have to be ironed and the windows have to be open, and there has to be fresh air and music. We want people to feel like someone cares [about the tiny details].”
Although she designs for a leisure market, she is quick to debunk the perception that leisure design must be costly. With that, she shares design secrets of how to live at leisure on a budget. For her, it boils down to creating the right atmosphere and experience.
Haven Hill Bedroom
“Leisure is not an overly expensive thing to do,” she said. “It’s about opening the windows and cutting leaves from your own garden and putting them in a glass cylinder - this is all free.”
“PIER 1 was my favourite shop in the world. Shop on Chairish - that’s the best website in the world right now for used, cheap things - we’re obsessed with it. I personally believe that decorating on a budget is easier now than it’s ever been because of these websites.”
On the island of New Providence, Amanda loves to shop at Another Man’s Treasure. The store is located on the western side of the island and prides itself on having “great looks” at “great prices”.
“I would encourage anyone who is interested in design to go to those stores because great things turn up in them.”
One of her favourite go-to pieces is the Agen Chair from IKEA, made from bamboo and rattan. The chair is currently priced on the website at $69. Amanda describes it as “the chicest chair in the world”.
Amanda’s personal style is on full display at her Hope Hill home, which she describes as a “thrift shop mecca that’s painted green”.
We’ll admit that Amanda’s home is unique. It has countless guest bedrooms and is without rooms that people would normally consider important like a dining room, office and TV room. For Amanda, the importance of a home is its functionality to accommodate one’s lifestyle and personality because that’s the only way for it to feel like home.
“With purpose and intent, we designed this house that’s not a beach house,” she explained. “This isn’t a house that you come to for a holiday, this is the house we live in. It has antiques. It has a collection of Bahamian paintings and things collected at auction houses and dealers over the years. Most paintings are from 1890 and 1970. Otherwise, it’s a house of comfort.
“I love big, upholstered sofas and big armchairs. We added wooden floors and trims, as well as veranda shutters.
“For my living room, I intentionally wanted it to look like it was 100 years old. We had the boards and ceiling done to purposely look old. I really wanted the house to look like an old house out of the 18th century with the shutters. I wanted the house to have an essence of age - like the house was here forever.”
Amanda accomplished her goal.
Walking into her home, we felt like we were on an island surrounded by history and island-chic elegance. Her windows and doors open to the porch, which welcomes you to a wooden table decorated with table linen from the Amanda Salt Box Bathroom
Windwhistle Living Room
Lindroth Home Collection. The table is surrounded by 16 rattan chairs waiting to seat guests at any given time. Above the table is a fluffy chandelier covered in greens and bougainvillea. Standing at the balcony, you can inhale the fresh lawn of the Lyford Cay Golf Course while admiring the beautiful ocean view over yonder.
Being in that environment, coupled with Amanda’s warm hospitality, we really felt at home and found it difficult to leave, especially after enjoying a scrumptious three-course lunch.
But we knew Amanda would have to eventually get back to her busy schedule. So, we asked our last few questions.
We couldn’t let her go without finding out what she would need if she were stranded on a deserted island.
“A duvet, air conditioning and probably internet,” she joked.
Then, we asked her to tell us a secret about her that no one knows. What she said blew our minds, especially considering how much she has to travel.
“I’m afraid of flying,” she blurted out before erupting in laughter. “That’s why I know a lot about planes. I have to pray over them. I have to imagine all of the passengers getting off and getting in their cars at the destination. There’s a whole routine.”
As for what she does in her spare time, although she doesn’t have much of it, she enjoys watching marathons on Bravo. But she recently enjoyed binge-watching “Anatomy of a Scandal” on Netflix.
“I had to give a live Instagram interview at three o’clock that day and I could barely get through the interview because I was so eager to get back to the show,” she admitted. “It’s good, good. I was so sad when it was over.”
At the age of 59, Amanda said she “loves getting old”. Her new focus is growing a new arm of her brand - The Amanda Lindroth Home Collection. It consists of all the accessories you would need for guests to feel at home whether at an intimate outdoor dinner or for an extended stay as a house guest. Her collection has everything from tableware and lanterns to furniture, pillows and cushions.
As our time wound down, Amanda shared advice for those interested in entering interior design.
“Study, study, study and be passionate about it,” she stressed.
As the mother of 16-year-old Eliza, she can’t help giving advice to young people.
“It’s not that hard to do things the correct way,” she said in a motherly tone. “Reputation is important. Admit mistakes immediately. Everyone is afraid of admitting a mistake. But that’s what life is. It’s a series of problems that have to be handled.”
Our last question to Amanda was what she wants her legacy to be.
“I want people to think about the idea of really living well and what does that mean,” she said exhaling and looking over at her private ocean view.
“It doesn’t mean being posh. It just means being meaningful in the moment and living well and enjoying your house to the best of its ability to make sure that you are creating a surrounding that has comfort and feels like it is loved.”
With that, we ended our interview. Amanda walked us outside, we hugged, and she thanked us for coming by. But we didn’t say farewell to Amanda because she made us feel like family. We simply said thank you for the Amanda Lindroth experience. UA
