Kitchen Tours with Creatives goes behind the scenes to photograph some of the top creatives in their home kitchens, exploring their design philosophy and what they most love about their own spaces.
Interiors, styling, photography—Carley Summers surrounds herself with fine, beautiful things. The designer and photographer based in Greenville, North Carolina works with clients and brands to help them tell their stories. These days, aside from working on several design client projects, she’s focused almost daily on finishing her first interior design book, Sacred Spaces. She also spends part of each week working with her custom furniture line team to finalize new pieces for The Max Collection and plan branding and photo shoots. “Everything seems to be happening at the same time, and now having our first child in June, but I’m so excited for this new chapter,” she says. We recently met up with Carley to learn more about how she designs her own spaces—including the beautiful kitchen in her new home.
“When we purchased the house in 2020 the kitchen had yellow walls, subway tile backsplash, and chrome light fixtures. We swapped the black granite countertops with Calacatta Gold marble, the chrome cabinets pulls for brass, painted the walls alabaster white, installed a new custom hood, faucet, sink, and appliances,” she says. She did the design on her own. “The design for the kitchen came quickly to me, but the kitchen styling is ever changing.”
Carley loves how the neutral color and beautiful shape of the Lenox dishes complement her kitchen aesthetic. Photo by Holly Schumpert
“The faucet is handmade in Morocco. I love brass fixtures, so working with a Moroccan artisan on this piece was a no-brainer,” Carley says. “We also installed a vintage light fixture above the sink, made in Italy. That’s one of my favorite light fixtures in the entire house.” Photo by Holly Schumpert
The thing I like most about designing kitchens is… combining beautiful stone with a neutral pallet while using beautiful plates, glasses, and flowers to add pops of color and dimension.
I spend most of my time in the kitchen… arranging flowers.
The art in my kitchen is... vintage oil paintings.
My favorite thing about my kitchen is… the morning light.
My personal interior design style is… European eclectic.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Studio Sixtysix
Art Direction by Kristina Walton Zapata
Photos by Holly Schumpert
Edited by Laura Rote
