Macon Magazine

82 maconmagazine.com | October/November 2026 "A house built in 1858 both gives and takes; its longevity requires attention from many hands and inevitably serves more than one person." ABOVE The preserved sailfish has become a prized possession. LEFT Many pieces of decor and furniture indicate a sense of continuity between generations of family. gorgeous property next door. It was owned by fellow designer and preservation advocate C. Terry Holland. After several years carefully considering their growing family while reassuring Terry that they would tend to the house with as much love as he had, the Garlingtons acquired the home in 2017. Fast forward almost a decade: Michelle walks her two children to school each day, recently hosted 478 Creatives for their second Insider's Studio (alongside Emily Hopkins, the successor to Ethiel's role at HMF), and has built a team for her Macon- based interior design studio, Camp Interiors. Before Camp had a dedicated office, the Garlington home served as a makeshift warehouse. "Cardboard corridors" of inventory lined the central hall and rooms, unintentionally offering the kids a source of adventure, creativity, and play. The Garlingtons' lives seem full of these themes – creativity is woven into their DNA. There is no simpler expression of that pure imagination than in their youngest's bedroom, where a mini trampoline, art supplies, works-in-progress, and a white board advertising refreshments for sale stake their claim. Glow in the dark stars aren't exactly the quintessential symbol of historic preservation, but they nonetheless provide a comforting sense of nostalgia, preserving the whimsy of childhood. An emerging young creative in her element, Michelle's daughter wanted her stars on the ceiling. With the 12-foot-6-inch ceilings slightly out of reach… decorating her bed's headcloth was the compromise. Amid the creative whirlwind, the bed feels stable, permanent, and well-crafted. The canopy bed was handmade by Michelle's great-grandfather, for her grandmother. Just outside in the hall hangs a portrait of the girl that once slept in the same bed. It was painted by the subject's own mother, Michelle's great-grandmother. On the opposite wall, a preserved sailfish caught by her grandmother in the '80s dominates the wall, and in some inexplicable way feels perfectly at home. "It freaked me out so much as a kid that my grandfather would take it off the wall and store it, which I really think is funny," Michelle told me. The adventure continues across the hall in their son's room. Like his sister's space, his room reflects his personality and interests. But instead of creative chaos, order reigns supreme. Sports trophies are organized in a case found at the Historic Macon Flea Market (see page 32). Homework is neatly aligned on a flea market-purchased desk for Insider's Studio guests because, as he told Michelle, "it adds character." The Garlington children seem to live richly within their home, given the space to explore and create with an architecturally stunning backdrop that Michelle and Ethiel have taught them to appreciate

• Cover