Designed for life
When Amanda Henningsen resolved to design her own new home in Athens, Georgia, she was inspired by time spent in Kent, England.
‘The first time I visited the UK I stayed with a family at their home in Tunbridge Wells and became the biggest Anglophile,’ she explains.
So how did this project come into being?
‘I’m not a formally trained designer, and this was my first time building a home, but I think that helped because I didn’t follow any rules or design trends.
‘I just thought about how my family would actually live in the house, more than how it would look.’
‘My design decisions were inspired by a lot of things, but especially the time I’ve spent in England. There’s just something about English homes; they have a quiet confidence.
‘They’re not afraid to use materials that age and understand that something can be beautiful and comfortable at the same time.’
Was the feeling that a space can become ‘more’ by having ‘less’ something that Amanda always felt?
‘Over time I became more disciplined,’ she admits. ‘I think that sometimes good design is about restraint. I started to pare things back and think more about materials and things that were going to age well and age naturally.
‘A well-designed home with good architectural elements, like the pieces from Corston, looks beautiful before anything else is added such as furniture or décor.
‘When I got to the house ahead of the movers on the day we moved in I almost didn’t want to put any furniture in here. I liked it empty, and I think the Corston pieces helped me appreciate the house before anything else was added.’
According to Amanda, our designs were always part of her plan.
‘I may have been one of the first US customers as I had been waiting not so patiently to be able to use the light switches, but still meet US code,’ she says, laughing.
‘I found very early on that Corston aligned with my design philosophy. Their pieces don’t scream at you, they’re just very well designed. They care about the materials they use, about making something that’s going to withstand time, and they have a weight to them that makes them seem more architectural than ornamental.
‘I chose the paintable switches because visual noise really bothers me and the paintable switches allowed for that architectural continuity throughout the house.
‘With design I don’t think it’s about what you notice all the time, sometimes it’s about what disappears, and that’s something I really liked about those switches.’
Published on 15th July 2026
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