Life story
Amber Clery has lovingly curated her characterful home to reflect an enduring passion for travel and thrifting, says Marie Kelly.
Amber Clery’s home maps her lifelong love of travel better than any journal or photo album could. Café Tortoni prints brought back from Buenos Aires call to mind a once-in-a-lifetime trip on which she and her husband got engaged 12 years ago. A turquoise shell bowl found at a market in Lake Garda is a reminder of a favourite family holiday. And an antique carved Indian panel unearthed at a salvage yard in Somerset holds the happiest memories of a trip there with her father.
“I’ve been obsessed with interiors since I was a child,” explains Amber. “Long before I had my own home or business, I was hunting and gathering.” The founder of online lifestyle emporium Amber + Willow once carried a hand woven wall hanging in her backpack around South America for three months. “I couldn’t leave it behind,” she admits. “The streets in Cuzco were lined with little shops heaving with piles of stunning handmade textiles and I watched first-hand how they were made.”
Despite Amber’s love of vintage and her passion for recycling old furniture, she and husband Michael always knew they wanted to build their own home rather than renovate a property. “Michael grew up in a 300-year-old house, so we were aware that, although very beautiful, period properties can have their downsides.” In 2009, on a plot surrounded by fields and farms just a short walk from Michael’s childhood home in the Co Carlow countryside, the couple built their forever home.
The build took two years, and with the exception of burst pipes during the Big Freeze of 2010, went relatively smoothly. “That was more than enough stress,” recalls Amber. “We arrived on-site one day to discover that every single pipe on the ground-floor had to be relaid.”
Building a new home allowed the couple to create the flexible ground-floor layout they craved. “We both prefer the cosiness of separate rooms to one big open-plan space, but we wanted our main living rooms to flow and feel connected too, so they were designed in one rectangular block that could be opened up or subdivided.” Glazing was used to delineate the spaces and provide views of the generous south-facing back garden from each room. “I love to look out at my cutting garden,” says Amber. “It’s very much a work-in-progress, but right now the peonies and wisteria are in bloom and it’s joyous.”
Having worked as an interior designer for more than 16 years, Amber has developed a style that is elegant but tactile and homely too. “It was important that the house felt comfortable and welcoming, somewhere visitors could put their feet up and not have to worry about being too precious,” she says. “I care about how an interior makes you feel and what it can tell you about someone.”
Amber’s home speaks of her love of travel and keen eye for thrifted items, but it also reveals her playful side. She had enormous fun creating a Narnia-inspired “magic wardrobe” for her two children upstairs on the landing outside their bedrooms. “I searched everywhere for an antique wardrobe that would fit the space,” she says. Amber took out the back panel and replaced it with leftover velvet fabric so Willow, nine, and Finn, six, could walk through it into a secret play area.
There are whimsical touches throughout the house: a carved wooden back scratcher from Thailand hangs in the guest bedroom, cute animal coat hangers add novelty to the boot room, a dishware wall display looks unexpected in an en-suite and Amber’s favourite colours of turquoise and dusty pink are used playfully and confidently on walls, furniture and textiles. These fun and eclectic elements sit easily alongside period pieces of furniture such as roll-top baths, cast-iron bed frames and antique chests thanks to Amber’s talent for mixing and matching.
The snug living room is Amber’s favourite room when the log burner is raging, but the kitchen is where the family spends most of its time together and the island is the piece of furniture she’s most proud of. “I designed it to resemble an antique apothecary unit and it was crafted by a local joiner from 300-year-old salvaged wood.”
Amber confesses she’s not sure her home will ever be ‘done’. It was eleven years before she finally decided on her kitchen island and she only recently replaced the Ikea lamp shades above it with vintage-inspired shades from Alice Palmer & Co. “I’m a big believer in taking time to choose pieces that you really love rather than rushing to have everything finished,” she explains. “I want everything here to have personality, soul and a story.”
This article was originally published in Country Homes & Interiors, July 2025