listnorthcarolinabusinesses

The inside of Camille Redfern’s home looks frozen in 1987, the year it was built. Each room is filled with chunky furniture, geometric patterns, needlepoint artwork, and pastel knickknacks right out of The Golden Girls. That’s not because she’s neglected her house for 30 years. The home’s intentionally cluttered, kaleidoscopic, more-is-more appearance reflects the reemerging trend of “maximalism.”

Redfern isn’t an interior designer. The 31-year-old self-described “interiors enthusiast” works as an intellectual property paralegal for a nuclear operations company. Design is her hobby and an escape from a technical, demanding day job. “It’s totally right brain, left brain,” she says with a laugh.

Redfern, who likes to support local women-owned businesses whenever possible, commissioned Amber King Bounds of Little King Art to paint her dining room ceiling. Bounds also painted the Matisse-inspired black-and-white mural in the front hallway. The concrete planter (right) is by Shamila Varner of Queen City Crete.

She and her husband moved into the 2,000-square-foot home in the Raintree neighborhood in late 2020. Their street is dotted with contemporary houses marked by diagonal wood siding, stone facades, and skylights that were popular in the 1980s and early ’90s. Redfern, who decorated the interior of their previous home in Plaza Shamrock in the midcentury style, wanted to go full-on maximalist this time. “Some find it bold and off-putting,” she says, “but I love the colors and shapes and willingness to play with more free-form.”

Growing up in Columbia, South Carolina, Redfern spent many weekends at auctions and flea markets with her parents, who loved to hunt for unique pieces for their home. These days, she finds a lot of her vintage furniture, like the carved swan console table with a beveled glass top, on Facebook Marketplace. She takes frequent trips to collect them, usually in the furniture-rich Triad area. “The fun is in the hunt,” she says. “I like to buy things that are made by hand, not mass-produced.”

Above: Below: Vintage prints, plaques, and album covers hang above a console by Holly D’Amico of Re:New Home, which she painted with Farrow & Ball’s Sulking Room Pink. Below: Scalloped ceramic shell lamps top the Singer treadle sewing machine table, which was a gift from Redfern’s mother.

She’s always adding to the excess. Redfern found the Lucite chairs for her dining room table at Chairish and the kitchen light fixtures at Sleepy Poet. Along the hallway from the foyer to the kitchen, she had local artist Amber King paint a Matisse-inspired mural. It prompted Redfern to try her hand at a pastel mural with retro, geometric shapes on an adjacent wall that leads to the primary bedroom. “The space isn’t perfect,” she says. “It’s always in flux.”

By the end of 2021, Redfern felt like she’d achieved the look she was after. A gallery wall in the living room is cluttered with vintage prints, paintings, and framed record covers; ceramic pastel seashells adorn a tessellated pedestal; and a travertine mirror hangs at the base of the staircase. There’s always room for more, of course. But every piece has a story—and Redfern can tell you every one.

Above: Redfern’s favorite room in the home is outfitted in wallpaper she found on Etsy. The couch is from J.D. Salvager in Rural Hall, North Carolina, and she found the replica Eames-style lounge chair and ottoman on Facebook Marketplace. Below: Vasiliou stores his vinyl record collection in a midcentury modular wall unit from FOS Restoration Co. in Huntersville.

WHAT’S WHAT

LOCATION

The Raintree neighborhood in south Charlotte

APPROACH

Maximalist design with a variety of influences, from 1920s art deco to 1980s excess

INSPIRATION

Mary Gilliatt, Claire Bingham, Nonie Nieswand, and Memphis Milano

LOCAL SOURCES

Furnishings by Jensen
(by Nic and Gabe)
@furnishingsbyjensen

Re:New Home
(by Holly d’Amico)
@renewhomeclt

Little King Art
(by Amber King Bounds)
@littlekingart

FOS Restoration Co.
@fosrestorationco

Sleepy Poet Antique Mall
@sleepypoetstuff

Queen City Crete
(by Shamila Varner)
@queencitycrete

Revival Furniture Co.
(by Daniel Jordan)
@revivalfurnitureco

Plant Therapy CLT
(by Alicia Martin)
@planttherapyclt

Boukai Flowers
(by Kailyn Downen)
(@boukaiflowers)