FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS, DEBBY GOMULKA HAS BEEN TRANSFORMING Charleston’s historic homes and modern residences through her firm, Provenance Lee Interiors. Her work spans from the Holy City’s downtown districts to Kiawah Island, Mount Pleasant and beyond to Savannah and the North Carolina mountains, where she applies a thoughtful approach that combines historic preservation with personal storytelling.
Gomulka’s background provides the foundation for her distinctive design philosophy. With a degree in interior design and a minor in art history, she specifically chose her educational path to support her interest in historic preservation. “Having studied art history extensively in college and beyond provides the essence of my designs and a focal point of my work, whether it’s incorporating fine art or artisanal techniques,” she says. Her early exposure to the fashion industry adds another layer to her design sensibility.
Gomulka’s process begins with understanding her clients’ personal histories and interests. “For example, if a client has traveled to Italy and has a love of the Renaissance, I’ll discover that in the interview process,” she says. “As we’re walking through their house, and I’m learning about it, I’ll look at their artifacts, accessories and objects and get curious. That’s when the stories come out.”
Charleston’s rich architectural heritage has provided plenty of opportunities for preservation projects. One notable example involved a building connected to St. Johannes Lutheran Church on Hasell Street, which is now used as a wedding venue. The adjacent structure had suffered severe neglect, with cracked plaster walls that reminded the designer of a haunted house.
“A lot of people would be daunted by the complexity of the project,” Gomulka says. “But I’m a preservationist. I could see how it was constructed and the intended design layout.” Working with local artisans she’d cultivated relationships with over the years, the building came back to life. “My favorite part of a project is when the artisans can show off their craft.”
Another challenging restoration project led Gomulka to design her own textiles. “I was working on a project in a historic town. When the railroad moved out, the wealth left. All the original merchants had gone, and nobody could afford a 10,000-square-foot Italianate mansion anymore. But the clients saw the house from the street and fell in love,” she says. “When we landed on the job, it was in such disrepair. The structure was literally falling into the cistern.”
After addressing the structural and architectural restoration, Gomulka worked with the client on furnishings. “She’d traveled all over the world and had a house full of antiques. She brought a little book titled Marrakesh to a meeting, and that’s what she wanted some of the rooms to feel like,” Gomulka recalls. The designer contacted one of her national sources in Boston, who specializes in plaster and marble walls and was able to connect Gomulka with an artist in Manhattan who uses an ancient European technique that brought Gomulka’s vision to life—an exquisite Moroccan canvas of ancient walls that have been there for centuries.
The home’s Marrakesh-inspired design became the catalyst for Gomulka’s partnership with the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University to create her inaugural textile collection, Marrakesh. “Provenance means the beginning of something, so that textile came from my own design,” she says.
This year, Gomulka is relaunching the collection from a new showroom in Atlanta’s Westside Market. “Fifteen years ago, I was looking for a mill that would mass-produce my designs,” she says. “I wanted to create it on my own, rather than licensing a big manufacturer, like others do. My father said, ‘There are so many old, abandoned textile mills in the Carolinas. I bet you could find one,’ and I finally found one in South Carolina.”
While historic preservation remains her specialty, Gomulka regularly works on contemporary projects. Her background in preservation informs her approach to new construction, particularly in coastal areas where the architectural context is crucial.
“With a historic preservation background, people wonder how I do beach houses, but if you go to the Hamptons, Palm Beach, Cape Cod or Newport, there’s a lot of historic architecture,” she says. Her approach emphasizes texture and materials that create visual depth, rather than the stark minimalism often associated with beach house design.
This approach shaped the direction of a recent project: a new, contemporary coastal home. The house began as a clean, all-white space, but the client’s passions for music and sport fishing inspired a more personalized design. In the music room, Gomulka created a display featuring archival photographs of the Rolling Stones, sourced from London vendors, alongside images of the client’s 13 favorite artists, each custom-framed in different styles. A copper sailfish sculpture, created by a commissioned artist, reflects the client’s fishing interests while serving as a focal point.
Rather than following predictable coastal themes, Gomulka focuses on materials and textures that convey a sense of permanence. “We don’t do nautical themes; it’s more about using materials that look like the architecture has been there for a long time, honoring its native geographical culture, landscape style and place,” she explains.
Gomulka’s understanding of luxury diverges from conventional definitions that focus on expense or status. “The definition of luxury is overused,” she observes. “The true definition is having an intimate experience with quality and time.”
Her clients typically include busy professionals and active philanthropists who lack time to develop their living spaces personally. “They hire me to create this experience for their home or homes,” she explains. “I interview them to find out what describes their journey, and I peel it away one layer at a time. I use art, furnishings, architecture, paint color, window treatments and table settings to create the Provenance experience and interior spaces that recall their history and what they love.”
This process-oriented approach ensures that each project reflects the specific interests and experiences of the people who will inhabit the space, rather than adhering to generic luxury formulas.
Throughout her career, Gomulka has maintained active involvement in organizations that align with her professional interests. Her reputation in historic preservation has led to invitations for leadership roles on boards and committees related to the arts. Philanthropy has remained a consistent interest throughout her life, and many of her clients share similar values. Currently, she’s working to establish her own nonprofit organization in honor of her parents and their legacy, combining her professional expertise with her personal values.
While Charleston remains her home base, Gomulka has completed several recent projects in Atlanta, Highlands and Cashiers, North Carolina. “When I was growing up, we had a family house in the North Carolina mountains,” she recalls. “I love designing for those areas. The mountains and coastal areas connected to historic districts are in my DNA. My history is related back to architecture, landscape and the history of a place.”
This geographic expansion reflects both client demand and her personal connection to these regions, where historic architecture and natural landscapes create similar design opportunities to those found in Charleston.
After 25 years in business, Gomulka has developed a practice that strikes a balance between respecting architectural heritage and meeting contemporary living requirements. Her work demonstrates that historic preservation and modern comfort can coexist successfully, creating spaces that honor the past while serving present-day needs. Whether working on an 1860s mansion or a new beach house, her approach remains consistent: understand the context, listen to the client’s story and create spaces that reflect both architectural integrity and personal meaning. *
Robin Howard is a freelance writer in Charleston. See more of her work at robinhowardwrites.com.
