Colleen Duffley’s Artful Pivot to Andiamo Lodge

Andiamo Lodge isn’t just a place to stay — it’s a sanctuary that defies categorization. The name, Italian for “Let’s go!” signals a call to action: let’s go rest, let’s go create, let’s go connect. Born from the boundless energy and vision of photographer, producer, and branding powerhouse Colleen Duffley and her husband Steve Carpenter, Andiamo is as personal as it is immersive.

Born in Pittsburgh to a British mother and a military father, Duffley’s path began behind the lens. “I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh 100 years ago and majored in photography and worked for a fashion photographer,” she recalls. By her early 20s, she was already deep in the commercial trenches of Miami’s advertising world, shooting resort, fashion, and travel campaigns. That versatility earned her a rare early appointment as a senior photographer at Southern Living magazine in the mid-1980s.

“I shot for all of Time Warner’s publications: Southern Living, Southern Accents, Cooking Light, etc.,” she says. “I was 23 and I traveled like 220 days a year.”

Later, Duffley made the move to Texas to shoot for high-end clients like Neiman Marcus, Crate & Barrel, and Pottery Barn, all while training competitively for the 1992 and 1996 Olympic cycling teams. Yes, you read that correctly. But despite reaching the finals in both Olympic Trials, Colleen’s work demands rerouted her path toward entrepreneurship and artistry. Her branding studio, Colleen Duffley Productions, would go on to earn national acclaim.

Duffley has received multiple national Addy Awards, recognition from Print Magazine, and was named one of the top 10 photographers in the country by PDN (Photo District News). Her culinary photography and food branding also led to recognition from the James Beard Foundation — underscoring her lifelong attention to detail and elevated aesthetics.

Her credits are illustrious, but she’s never been about the money. Throughout her life, creativity and a spirit of adventure have propelled her.

A Serendipitous Trip

In 2020, in the stillness of the pandemic, Duffley and her then-partner Steve — owner of the beloved Crabby Steve’s restaurant on 30A in Florida — took a detour through Mentone. Duffley had been familiar with the area through coworkers who had visited and through her bike rides from Birmingham. Steve and Colleen were initially headed to look at property in Chattanooga, but they fell in love with Mentone and ended up buying a house on Little River.

“I started posting pictures of our spot on Little River. Just on social media, as you do. And a lot of our friends were like, where are you? Where is this place? We want to come see you,” she says. The couple wondered where they would house these future visitors.

They often passed the then-closed and unfinished Shiloh Lodge on County Road 106. They noticed the “for sale” sign lying in the grass. Something clicked.

“We figured it was small enough that people would come because they still wanted to travel [during the pandemic], but not near crowds, so they felt safe,” Duffley explains.

In 2021, after thoughtful renovation, Andiamo Lodge opened its doors, not as a typical bed and breakfast, but as an intentional, curated experience designed to inspire guests creatively and personally.

A tour of the lodge website is in and of itself a vacation, as you imagine yourself unpacking in one of the lux rooms, sipping a “Welcome” cocktail at sunset, and taking a seat at the 12-
person dinner table to enjoy local and regional ingredients creatively transformed into something magical.

“We’re not a bed and breakfast, per se. We’re a lodge with experiences,” she says. “We’re known for our food, for the art, for everything that happens here.” The main lodge, with its gourmet kitchen, great room, and massive stone fireplace, immediately lets you know that you are there to be nurtured. The six rooms in the main lodge and three separate cottages are only the beginning. What truly defines Andiamo is what happens within and around them. Each visit offers guests the chance to participate in immersive, hands-on experiences, making it a magnet for creatives, food lovers, and lifelong learners.

“We have an Asian chef from L.A. coming who specializes in Wafu cooking. We’ve had a British master chef here three times. We have a French wine pairing dinner coming up. We have an editor of Better Homes and Gardens doing a Sunday supper,” Duffley says.

Guests can take art classes, attend cooking lessons, sign up for photography workshops, or simply enjoy interesting conversations with visiting entrepreneurs, winemakers, or musicians. There’s even a series called “Conversations at the Andiamo Table,” where guests share a meal with a guest artist, chef, or innovator and dive deep into their personal stories.

“We do as many private classes as we do dated ones,” she adds. “If someone says, ‘I’ve got a group, and we want to learn to make pasta,’ we make it happen.”

Colleen and Steve have integrated the lodge with its natural surroundings, arranging outdoor excursions from fly fishing to hang gliding to paddle boarding to horseback riding. Andiamo recently announced a women- and couples-focused clay shooting event, paired with gourmet cuisine and fine wine — a perfect example of how Duffley weaves together adventure, artistry, and culture. It’s easy to see why Garden & Gun magazine called Andiamo a summer camp for adults. In fact, some parents who are dropping off their kids at Mentone’s camps drive straight to Andiamo for a stay.

Making People Feel Special

Though Duffley never formally trained in hospitality or food, her time producing high-end commercial shoots for luxury resorts around the world prepared her for exactly this. She is also a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and serves on the Industry Advisory Board of the Horst Schulze School of Culinary and Hospitality Management at Auburn University. “To me, producing a photo shoot and hospitality are not a whole lot different,” she says. “It’s all about attention to detail and making people feel special.”

Guests regularly return not just for the location, but for the people they meet and their hosts at the lodge. “Our guests are interested and interesting,” she says. “They come back three, four, five times. They say, ‘If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t even come.’”

Even their dog Petey, a pit-pointer stray who appeared during renovations, has become the lodge’s beloved mascot and an adorable extension of the brand, appearing on t-shirts and recently gracing the cover of Edible Nashville, which featured Andiamo in its June 2025 issue.

While the days are long (“16 hours sometimes,” she notes), Duffley has no regrets. “I haven’t been anywhere 13 weeks in a row since I was 17 years old,” she says. “But I love it.” Steve and Colleen still make time for travel. They feel it’s important to get out and keep feeding their creative spirits, which in turn is reflected in all that happens at Andiamo.

The couple recently celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary, a side story typical of the magic that happens so often in Mentone. They wed on their rock on Little River, with Petey as Best Dog.

So what’s next for Duffley?

“I want to direct a movie one day,” she says. “Who knows, maybe it’ll be about a little town in Alabama where a couple opens a lodge.” If so, she won’t have to write much fiction. Andiamo is already the kind of story you can’t make up.

See our “Mountain Kitchen” page for recipes from the lodge, courtesy of Colleen Duffley.

Andiamo Lodge: 3450 County Road 106 • Mentone, AL 214-415-0476 • Andiamolodge.com

Visit The Gallery by Andiamo Lodge at Moon Lake Campus (call for appointment): shop the collection of curated décor. Check out the lodge’s Facebook page and Instagram for upcoming events.