Tour Top Designer Amber Lewis’s Megawatt “Kardashian Country” Digs

Interior designer Amber Lewis and her husband, Mike, bought this 1,500-square-foot, 1950s property in 2016, after falling in love with the abundance of mature oak and orange trees in the front yard. The pair then lived in the house for two years with their daughter, Gwyneth, before starting a massive gut renovation in 2018 that ultimately resulted in a 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath final product. “We finished in March,” says Lewis, “right in time for my life to blow up.” She’s referring, of course, to the global pandemic and the resulting lockdown and attendant economic crisis, but also to a devastating and unexpected diagnosis of multiple sclerosis Lewis received this spring, which she shared with her one million+ followers on Instagram.

But despite the ongoing challenges of 2020, Lewis has somehow managed to have a prolific year: She revealed a home collection with Anthropologie this fall; opened a new brick-and-mortar outpost of her Shoppe Amber Interiors retail store in Newport Beach this summer to complement locations in the Pacific Palisades and Calabasas; and will release her first-ever design book Made for Living on October 27.

Amber Lewis, pictured here, mirrored the home’s entrance on the backyard patio with the same stone siding, light fixtures, and Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black paint color. Off the kitchen and living room, the vintage table and Shoppe Amber Interiors dining chairs call for a sun-kissed morning coffee.

While Lewis is grateful to have completed the remodel just in time to shelter in place with the rest of the country, she says it should have been finished sooner. “My dad is a contractor and builder, and he built the house for us,” explains Lewis, who grew up in Malibu. “When the destructive Woolsey wildfire hit in November 2018, he had to stay up in his canyon for two months. It derailed everything. The hardest part was renting for two years. For me, my environment is everything, and it was a bummer not to be home.”

The environments Lewis typically designs—for both her clients and herself—reflect a signature West Coast aesthetic she describes as “laid back” and “understated cool.” That often translates to vintage elements, layered textiles, and nature-inspired hues, all of which age well and are, as her forthcoming tome suggests, made for everyday living.

Here, hindered by a budget less than that of her usual clients—but buoyed by a lack of hourly billing constraints—Lewis cut corners by eliminating trim around the interior doors and windows, which also kept the look clean, and by using the same materials throughout.

The main bathroom is the sole spot in the home where Lewis switched up the wall paint color, opting for Portola Paints ’ Table Linen to eliminate any green undertones that could “look funky” on the skin. A Pinterest photo inspired the vanities with an apron front and Calacatta Super Oro Gold Vein marble on the countertops. Gold Waterworks fixtures, Lee Valley brass hardware, and custom oak cabinetry make the freestanding Waterworks Empire bathtub look especially inviting.

Think European oak flooring by Duchateau in various plank widths, WindsorONE tongue-and-groove on the ceilings and baseboards, and Portola Paints ’ Table Linen on the ceilings in an eggshell finish, Figueroa in eggshell on the trim and in roman clay on the walls, and Piano Room in eggshell on the Marvin windows and doors—to reflect and filter an abundance of natural light.

“I have a skewed version of what I like versus what I can afford,” says Lewis. “My taste is expensive, but I had to be on a realistic budget and knew I could do a lot with less if I honed in on materials selection, textures, and colors. I showed off the best I could given the dollars I have.”

She splurged on Waterworks plumbing fixtures, a U.K.-imported custom living island by Matthew Cox , a Lacanche range (“I didn’t worry so much about other appliances, like the dishwasher, because it’d be paneled”), Ross Alan reclaimed white oak lumber beams, and also designed made-to-order Shoppe Amber Interiors furniture pieces that are now available for purchase.

“I never like spaces for more than five minutes and get sick of seeing my own work,” says Lewis. “I haven’t felt that way in my own house yet, although I don’t think it’s our forever home. My husband wants to be buried in the backyard, but I get the itch. Luckily, we just bought a 1930s cottage in Lake Arrowhead that’ll satisfy the urge for a bit.”