With offices in Palm Beach, Florida, and Nassau, Bahamas, Amanda Lindroth is the go-to interior designer for airy, relaxed, indoor-outdoor living. From beach chic to high glam, her affinity for boldly coloured prints, rattan and cane, canopied beds and vibrantly layered fabrics make Amanda a master of island charm.

A favorite here at The Glam Pad, we were delighted to learn that Amanda is now sharing her step-by-step guide to creating informal but elegant interiors designed specifically for entertaining friends and family. Thanks to Create Academy, you learn directly from Amanda how to create comfortable spaces, from floor plans and furniture layouts to romantic bedrooms with styling touches that will make your guests feel right at home. In her first-ever online course, Amanda teaches how to conceptualise, scheme, source and install inviting interiors in any size home or style, and on any budget. Plus, you’ll visit one of her favourite interior projects, The Dunmore Hotel, as well as some of her go-to stores and suppliers to help bring a touch of breezy sophistication into your own home. Amanda Lindroth’s new online course “Design Ideas for Entertaining” is available now priced $150 from www.createacademy.com. Enter code GLAMPAD15 for a 15% discount!

As a little sneak peek of what her class has to offer, today Amanda is sharing her top 10 Design Secrets for Entertaining!  Welcome, Amanda!

1. Create A Welcome
Creating a warm welcome for your guests is so important for setting the tone of the whole evening. This starts from the very first minute that they enter the front door. Make sure to decorate your foyer with candlelight to set a warming, relaxed ambience and continue this candlelight through the interior route to your outdoor space. I will also always make sure to highlight a beautiful doorway view to the entertaining space outside that will encourage your guests to want to be outside in that space.

2. You can never have enough conversational seating…
I host all of my dinner parties outside on the veranda and so the main focus of this space is all around relaxed, informal seating that is grouped together around coffee and side tables to encourage conversation when guests arrive, and for after dinner cocktails. Easy-to-move modular seating with cushions and stools at the side will allow for more guest seating and encourage larger groups to converse.

3. Candlelight is key…
Make sure candles are a consistent experience of the night. No successful dinner party is going to be fabulous without it. Guests feel unbelievably beautiful and prettier when they’re in candlelight, they feel more relaxed and will become more involved in the evening as a result. On the dining table I will always have one central candle in a hurricane lantern surrounded by multiple, smaller votive candles. All of the reflections of the candlelight with the glassware really does make a difference.

4. Cohesive colour…
When I’m designing any outdoor space, there should always be a cohesive friendliness to the decor. By that I mean they should have the same colour scheme or the same material layered throughout that can flow from interior to exterior. One of my favourite materials to use for outdoor spaces is rattan which is a beautiful material that can be easily painted and updated. Most of the rattan pieces I used I have bought on eBay or found in junk shops for next to nothing, and then I gave them a cohesive coat of paint (a shade of Messel Green is my go-to colour) so that they all look like one family of furniture. This creates an outdoor room that feels curated and that guests will want to spend their time in.

 

5. Seating plan…
If you’re inviting a mix of friends who don’t all necessarily know each other I will always put name cards on the table to encourage interaction. Sometimes when guests are left to choose they will end up seated next to partners or friends that can cause conversations to become quite insular. Name cards and a seating plan will mean you can curate the conversationalists at key points around the table and hopefully conversation will be flowing all night!

6. Too many is never too many…
When you’re trying to create an atmosphere at a dinner party, my advice is to have as many people as you can possibly fit, squeezed around the table. You do not want extra room between your guests because, frankly, they’re going to have a better time if they’re bunched up tightly. So this makes setting the table a slightly different affair. My top tip is to use a 48” round dining table which will seat 8 people around it – you’re very much touching shoulder-to-shoulder and that gets people to gossip more and conversations flow much easier as this builds a camaraderie.

7. Formal or Informal…
I’ve always had a little bit of a prejudice against the notion of “fine dining” – it implies a seriousness to an event that immediately puts guests on edge, with a vast dining table and chairs that set people far apart from each other. There’s actually nothing worse than sitting at a table like that in a noisy room where you have to pick your chair up to actually talk to the person next to you. So I have always preferred a more relaxed, convivial dinner table. And to create that I don’t use stiff white napkins and tall wine glasses – instead I will introduce colours, textures and elements of fun and charm that become talking points for guests. For me, that’s using colourful batique print textiles – all different in pattern but all friends in terms of scale and colour and which can be layered together for different effects.

8. Tableware…
I tend to always use antique or second hand crockery for dinner parties. I love china and I always buy it in tag sales or eBay – the best deals are on those sites – and these don’t all necessarily have to match but can be unified by a colour that gives cohesion. I also don’t really believe in tall stemware for a dining table – I find it antiquated and fancy. I will always opt for short stem wine glasses or simple tumblers and will mix in a range of colours, styles and sometimes even plastic ones to bring an element of fun.

9. Rattan for texture…
Rattan is one of my favourite materials to use and forms a central part to my own collection at Amanda Lindroth. As a material it immediately shouts ‘tropical’ when you layer it into interiors and brings in that breezy holiday vibe that encourages relaxation. So when I’m entertaining outdoors I will always make this a central part of the table decor be that though glassware sleeves, lanterns or serving baskets. I’ll also opt for bamboo handle flatware too instead of traditional cutlery as again this gives a calming island vibe that will put guests in a more easy-going mood.

10. Low centerpieces…
Centerpieces can look stunning but can also be a hindrance to a table if they are too extravagant! Sometimes bunches of flowers and candelabras can actually block conversation across a table so I always keep the tablescape quite low so that you can always see above. Short stem wine glasses, low floral centerpieces, pillar candles with glass hurricane lanterns that allow you to see through easily – these won’t obstruct guests’ eyelines and allow for chatting across the table.

Amanda Lindroth’s new online course ‘Design Ideas for Entertaining’ is available now priced $150 from www.createacademy.com

To learn more about Amanda Lindroth, please visit amandalindroth.com and follow @lindrothdesign on Instagram for ongoing inspiration. We also highly recommend her book, Island Hopping (reviewed here), and you can read more via the following articles from The Glam Pad featuring Amanda’s work…

• ISLAND HOPPING: AMANDA LINDROTH DESIGN
• AMANDA LINDROTH’S PALM BEACH STYLE
• LYFORD CAY LIVING BY AMANDA LINDROTH

We also love shopping Amanda’s chic online boutique for affordable treasures for entertaining and household. Some of our favorites are below!