Sometimes, it’s the inside that counts. When it comes to building homes, restaurants, and offices in Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, the inside really does count. Tampa Bay’s architectural community is booming and needs a strong cadre of designers who can help refurbish and create usable spaces for families, restaurants, and offices. The interior design community of Tampa and St. Pete are creating new homes and spaces that match the aesthetics of 2017. Here are the Top 10 Interior Decorators working in Tampa right now.
Cuhaci & Peterson
1925 Prospect Avenue, Orlando, FL 32814
Cuhaci & Peterson, established in nearby Orlando, Florida, has done extensive work in the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area on interior design projects. They work to balance aesthetics, technology, accessibility, and environmental concerns for their clients and projects. A senior member of the C&P executive team, Principal Director Jed Down, AIA, is also on the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB), and recently joined a American Institute of Architects (AIA) committee for the 2017 National conference. Additionally, he is a newly appointed board member at the University of Florida City Lab program in Central Florida. Michael Lynch, another leading principal, is a member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Norberto Campos, AIA, is also also a principal director at C&P. He is member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), has a Master of Architecture from the National University in Argentina, and is a member of the Argentine Architects Association.
C&P provided the interior design for the 1,500-square-foot restaurant Swine & Sons at 595 W Fairbanks Avenue in Winter Park. The restaurant offers Southern-style platters, traditional sides, barbecue sandwiches, charcuterie, and home-style desserts. The oaky wood design inside reflects the products available, including their charcuterie program, offering a selection of cured, dry aged, and smoked meats for dine-in guests. The space evokes a classic smokehouse decor, while integrating modern flourishes and welcoming lighting. C&P also provided design development and interior design work for the thoughts.com office in Orlando, Florida. The 4,000-square-foot office space includes a new hardwood floor, unique porthole windows that allowed a view into the newly-designed meetings rooms, and modern suspended overhanging sculptures that match the lime green, bright yellow, and blue color motif that carries over to the walls and desks.
Crespo Design Group
3119 Bay to Bay Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33629
Enrique Crespo, interior designer, has more than 15 years of experience designing both residential and commercial spaces. Crespo is a graduate of the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design and has made his professional home in the Palma Ceia neighborhood, just southwest of downtown Tampa. Crespo Design Group firm has done work nationwide and across Florida, including homes in Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Naples, and Miami. Formerly of the Casa Nova Design Group, Crespo has worked on a variety of custom-designed and furnished turnkey new-construction projects, and he oversees all projects from conceptualization to placement. Crespo Design Group’s work has been featured on ABC News and HGTV, in Tampa Style Magazine and Tampa Bay Metro magazine, and CLTampa. The firm has also been honored with an Aurora Design Award for excellence in Interior Design.
After thoroughly gutting the 7,100-square-foot original, Crespo Design Group introduced Sacred Pepper, and food critic Jon Claridge said that “North Tampa can now celebrate a superb upscale restaurant in Carrollwood.” Located at 15405 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, Sacred Pepper is an extremely well-rated restaurant, offering traditional and new American cuisine. Inside the restaurant, Cypress trees hang horizontally on the walls, with their leaves replaced by bright hanging light bulbs. A floor-to-ceiling backlit mirror in the dining room is etched with a handwritten recipe of the restaurant chef’s personal but not-so-secret marinara sauce. It includes two custom-made chandeliers from Portugal and integrates “Old Florida” uses of cypress and terrazzo. It features artwork curated along with CASS Contemporary Gallery owners Jake and Cassie Greatens, and includes artwork by Ian Ross, Dana Oldfather, Mark Joseph Oliver, and Casey Johnson.
Design Styles Architecture
1708 E Columbus Drive, Tampa, Florida 33605
At home in the historic Ybor City, flanked by the landmark J.C. Newman Cigar Company (America’s oldest family-owned premium cigar maker), are the offices of Design Style Architecture. Founded in 1998, it is a full-service architecture and interior design firm specializing in residential, commercial, and educational projects. Design Style Architecture (or DSA) is lead by Andy Dohmen, AIA, NCARB. He is also currently affiliated with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC). Since 2011, DSA has also been shepherded by Chief Operating Officer and Lead Principal Jason Dickens, who was nominated for the CFO of the Year award by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. He is extremely committed to giving back to the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area, currently serving as the president of the Tampa County Place Homeowners Association. He is also on the board of the local history Ybor City Museum and sits on the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) Advisory Committee.
Design Style Architecture recently did interior design work on an apartment located an island inlet of St. Petersburg, Florida, with remarkable views of the Atlantic Ocean. Major components like the kitchen, bathrooms, and master bedroom were remodeled by firm for both function and aesthetics. New tray ceilings, also known an inverted or recessed ceilings, were designed and created for both the kitchen and living areas. Cove lighting was created for both recessed ceiling spaces, which allowed Design Style Architecture to integrate a completely customizable lighting setup. The kitchen was expanded to include a new peninsula with room for bar seating, cooled wine storage, and hanging pendant lighting. A new seating area was installed under the kitchen window to better offer views of the gulf. The oversized guest bathroom received a furniture-style vanity, utilizing a color palette meant to evoke the soft beach hues nearby. The master bedroom used lap siding (meant to evoke wood) as the defining design element, and was painted an azure blue, to channel the blues of the ocean and the sky.
Terri White Design
4504 W Spruce Street, # 545, Tampa, FL 33607
Located in North Hyde Park are the offices of Terri White Design. Terri White, ASID, has worked in the area as an interior decorator for over 25 years. She’s been named by Houzz as one of the best local interior decorators in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Her work has been featured in Tampa Bay Magazine “House Trends” in November 2005 and in March 2006. She was also named a member of Biltmore’s “Who’s Who” in 2012. Terri White Design offers a wide variety of design options, including casual, formal, traditional, and contemporary. The firm offers a wide variety of services including — but not limited to — custom furniture, bedding, and window treatment featuring woven shades with motorized privacy treatment. She’s worked across the state, including at a variety of high-end neighborhoods and locations, including at The Grandview Condos at 371 Channelside Walk Way, the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club, the Westshore Grand on 4860 W Kennedy Boulevard, and on the beautiful Apollo Beach in Hillsborough County.
Titled the “Renovation on Bayshore,” Terri White Design transformed the outdated, baroque apartment out of the 1980s and into the modern age. Terri White Design refurbished the apartment on Bayshore Boulevard in East Tampa to better integrate the beautiful home’s view of Hillsborough Bay. TWD did work within the living room, the kitchen, master bathroom, master bedroom, and two other bathrooms. The living room, which was once overly darkened by old overhanging lights and heavily-stained wood, is now beautifully simplified with clean white walls and large glass windows that welcome in the Florida sunshine and Bayshore ocean views. They also introduced a new glass shower and large bath, with new wood flooring that continues throughout the entire apartment. What was once a gothic red bathroom is now finished with a clean, white style and large windows that make the room feel bigger, not smaller.
Nicholas Carl Design
St. Petersburg, FL 33706
Nicholas Konzal started as an interior designer working out Milwaukee, but he’s come very far since then. Over the last decade, Mr. Konzal’s career has expanded nationwide, including doing design work in Chicago and now, St. Petersburg. He started his career by modernizing out-of-date Lake House and Oceanfront decor, before officially starting his design firm in 2008. He still is sits as a member of The Board of Design Review for the Breast Cancer Show House. Konzal has experience working in interior design, home staging, space planning, residential design, floor plans, and kitchen and bath design. In 2014, Nicholas Carl Design expanded and started working in St. Petersburg, focusing on historic renovation across Florida’s west coast. He’s been named one of Milwaukee’s Best Interior Designers, and many of his firm’s design projects have been featured in M Magazine.
A St. Petersburg beach was originally built by Henry Dupont on the intracoastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, just outside Tampa Bay in 1926. A Spanish-architecture inspired home, Nicholas Carl Design was invited to remodel the building to preserve its historical architecture, while revitalizing it back with a unique style. Konzal’s firm worked to add 600 square feet of additional living space to the building and a 1,000-square-foot outdoor area to include a pool, a deck, and an outside kitchen. They added Chihuly prints bought from the Chihuly collection in St. Petersburg. The interior design included installing a dark wooden bed frame, as well as Pop Art that contrasted with a dark green and silver walls. In the 200-square-foot master bathroom, Nicholas Carl Design added an air jet bathtub, a walk-in rain shower, and a Spanish, custom-made vanity.
Wannemacher Jensen Architects
180 Mirror Lake Drive N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Founded over 20 years ago, Wannemacher Jensen Architects is a booming architecture firm in the downtown neighborhood of St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm worked on hundreds of projects throughout Florida, including over 250 projects in St. Petersburg. The firm has won the H. Dean Rowe, FAIA Award for Design Excellence by Tampa Bay’s chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and their work on the Largo Community Center was deemed LEED Platinum (the highest LEED rating). Wannemacher Jensen Architects, the winner of the 2010 AIA Tampa Bay Firm of the Year, is lead by a number of principal architects, including Founder Lisa Wannemacher, AIA, Everald Colas, AIA, Harold Somarriba, Erin McGonegle, and Jason Jensen, AIA, LEED AP. Jensen has been named one of the Florida Business Observers’ “40 Under 40” luminaries and Tampa Bay Illustrated’s “20 Under 40” in the area.
At 100 Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, nearby the Florida Holocaust Museum and The Dali Museum, Wannemacher Jensen Architects is working on the interior design for the newest museum in St. Petersburg area, which will be known as the The James Museum. The museum will be the permanent home of artwork from Tom and Mary James. The museum will feature different works from a library of 3,000 pieces from the James’s personal collection, which has been accumulated over their 50 years of patronage in the arts community. The 80k-square-foot museum will feature over 30,000 square feet of gallery space. It will also include a 2,500-square-foot indoor sculpture court area, featuring a two-story stone ‘arroyo,’ whose backdrop is an indoor waterfall. Other areas that WJA is helping to design are a permanent exhibit of a Native American jewelry collection, a 120-seat multimedia theatre, and a 6,000-square-foot museum event space. They’re also designing a large catering kitchen, museum store, and café. This project is being completed by the St. Pete Design group, a joint venture between Wannemacher Jensen Architects, Harvard Jolly Architecture, and Yann Weymouth.
Jerel McCants Architecture
1501 East 9th Avenue, Suite A, Tampa, FL 33605
Jerel McCants, AIA, LEED, established Jerel McCants Architecture in 2009 and is currently the principal in charge. His offices are centered in the historical neighborhood of Ybor City in Tampa at 1501 East 9th Avenue. McCants has years of experience in the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area, having worked on different types of projects, including municipal, educational, high-rise condominiums, cultural, and residential and interior decorating. Before starting his own firm, he worked at a number of high-profile architecture groups in the area, including Wannemacher Jansen and Smith Santiesteban Allen Architects. Some of Jerel McCants Architecture’s interior design work includes Fire Station 8 in St. Pete, Spin Gym in downtown Tampa, the Taps Bar and Lounge in Ft. Lauderdale, and pro-bono work for the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope, a nonprofit organization started by former Kansas City Chief and Tampa Bay Buccaneer player James Evans. In 2014, Jerel McCants Architecture was awarded the title of Business of the Year from the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce, which is decided by “S.C.O.R.E.”, or the Service Corps of Retired Executive, and has been featured by 83degrees media in their 2010 issue of “Next American City”
The 81Bay Brewing Company was started by three native Floridians with the dream of crafting an environment to celebrate beer, relaxation, and recreation, and brewing local beer. They even brewed the “LIGHTNING LAGER,” a beer named in honor of the local National Hockey League team Tampa Bay Lightning. In 2016, when they grew big enough to need their own industrial-sized brewing area, they worked with Jerel McCants Architecture to help bring it to life. JMA would help furnish the 77,714-square-foot space, over a five-and-half acre lot, and help fill in a lot of unique amenities for a brewing company in the Bayside West neighborhood. Converting an existing office complex, JMA helped design and remodel the inside to accommodate the necessary brewing and distillery equipment to produce their unique blend of beers. They also worked with 81Bay to create a public area for patrons, which included a band stage, communal tables for seating to house large events, and a bar area, where patrons could play table tennis, corn hole, darts, card games, and board games.
Solstice Planning and Architecture
P.O. Box 25333, Sarasota, FL 34277
Solstice Planning and Architecture was founded by Jonathan Parks in the Sarasota area, just outside of Tampa. Parks has served as principal at the firm since 2015, and he specializes in historic preservation and interior design. He is joined by Selma Wilson, who started her work with Solstice in 2012, after beginning her career in the United Kingdom and Turkey. Over the last two decades, Wilson has worked on theatre, cinema, and opera projects across the world, including Tokyo, London, and Ankara. They’ve worked on interior design projects across Florida, including in Siesta Key, Boca Grande, Venice, and Cherokee Park. The firm has won a incredibly long list of awards for their interior design work. Just in the last year, Solstice has received the Platinum Award for Best Overall Home, the Platinum Award for Best Kitchen, the SRQ Home of the Year, the Platinum Award from Best Bathroom, the Platinum Award for Best Sustainable / Green Project, and the Silver Award for Best Landscape Design / Pool / Outdoors, all from CompassHauss.
Situated on a quarter acre lot in St. Petersburg, Solstice worked to design the interior of a 3,700-square-foot island residence on the Lido Shores. The home was to be an enclave of modern design situated between the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay. Solstice worked with the architect to design the floor plan outside to include a stepping-stones bridge over a reflecting pond. The firm designed the interior so that all the main public and private spaces surround the pool area, including the living room, kitchen, outdoor area, library, and master bedroom. Upstair rooms were designed to take advantage of clear nightlines to ocean views. Solstice had to use elements of design to mitigate the oddly shaped, trapezoidal lot the home was being built on. The design firm worked with the architecture to utilize unique angels in the interior designs so that the office, laundry room, library, and upstairs terrace “absorb” the angle. The firm also worked to design the unencumbered doorways, multiple vistas, and transom windows that grant natural light into the home.
BDG Architects
100 Ashley Drive S #100, Tampa, FL 33602
Tampa is a unique city, and any architecture firm working in the area has to understand and reflect its residents. Nobody understands that better than BDG Architects. BDG implores a set of “Core Values,” to provide a better built environment, strive for creative and technical excellence; provide responsive, quality service and individual commitment for mutual success; facilitate continuous personal development; and support professional and community involvement. They’ve worked on a long list of interior design projects in the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area, including Davidoff of Geneva, Citrus, Kres Chophouse, Beef’s Express, Mellow Mushroom, PDQ, SORA, Malio’s Prime Steakhouse, Mia’s, and Rococo Steakhouse. Their lead principal is Chris Kirschner (AIA, NCARB, LEED AP). Reflecting the goals of BDG, Kirschner is personally invested in being truly connected to the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area. He is also on the board of the Tampa YMCA and NAIOP and is an active member of the USGBC, AIA, ICSC, and NFPA.
BDG has also worked with myMatrixx, an insurance agency at 3111 W. Doctor M.L.K. Jr Blvd in Tampa, to create a unique but classy corporate design for the firm. The open office format motivates and encourages collaborative space throughout for its employees. An energetic design aesthetic welcomes an environment for interactive collaborative spaces. The open office work space with private break-out meeting areas, an extensive café, and an employee food service area works to stimulate creative ideas for the myMatrixx employees. For the 4,039-square-foot space at the base of 55 West Sales Center, BDG helped redesign and reinvigorate the interior of the luxury apartment building’s display area. The space for their client, Euro-American Advisors, includes two fully furnished two-bedroom units, to show potential buyers what their new home could look like. BDG integrated clean design lines throughout the millwork, utilizing unique design finishes using wenge wood and white Thassos marble. The kitchen area includes stainless steel appliances, undermount sink, granite countertops, and European hardware.
HOK
201 North Franklin Street, Suite 1800, Tampa, FL 33602
HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, is a giant of the commercial architecture world. It is currently the largest American architecture-engineering firm and one of the largest interior design firms. However, besides their massive scale, they’ve focused intently on the Tampa Bay area, and have truly left their mark. The Tampa office has been part of HOK’s network since 1984. Since then, it’s been feted as Firm of the Year by the IIDA’s South Florida Chapter and named as “Best Large Company to Work for in Florida” by Florida Trend Magazine. The firm, lead by Principal Architects Roger Soto and Thomas Beyer, has been a part of creating many of the landmarks in Tampa. These have included leading the massive renovation and expansion of the main passenger terminal at Tampa International Airport; Raymond James Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays.
HOK’s Tampa office provided architectural and interior design to renovate multipurpose spaces in the Ronald McDonald East House at 35 Columbia Drive, on Davis Island in St. Petersburg. The Ronald McDonald East House holds 34 bedrooms to offer to family members of the pediatric inpatients at the adjacent All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine, so they aren’t forced to sleep in the waiting room. HOK’s interior design team led renovations of the house’s 6,830-square-foot first floor. The first floor was refurbished to better offer a healing environment while visitors used the community kitchen, dining area, administrative offices, reception, lounge, play spaces and family intake areas. HOK worked closely with the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) to design an interior finish palette and to select furniture that would help create a comforting, healing environment. The renovation included converting existing light fixtures to efficient LED lighting. All finishes and furnishings used were donated by local manufacturers for the project.
