Interior designer in Okeechobee, Florida

The city sits just north of the lake, with Taylor Creek running through its east side and the unincorporated Taylor Creek community stretching along the north shore. In Glades County, near the Kissimmee River, most lots in Buckhead Ridge have direct canal access to the lake. The Herbert Hoover Dike, built by the Army Corps of Engineers after the 1928 hurricane breached the old dike, encloses the lake, and the Corps finished an 18-year rehabilitation of it in January 2023.

Homes near the water live hard. We plan them for wet gear, muddy boots and humid summers: tile or other water-tolerant floors, washable performance fabrics, a drop zone at the door that faces the canal, ventilated storage for rods and tackle, and screened porches furnished as real rooms.

Cattle still define the county around the city. In the USDA's January 2022 count, Okeechobee County had more cattle and calves, and more beef cows, than any other county in Florida, and the county's economic development corporation calls agriculture the backbone of the regional economy, citing generations of cattle, dairy and crop production. North along U.S. 441 toward Fort Drum, settlers in the 1870s saw the land as cattle country.

Ranch interiors have to work before they impress. We design kitchens sized for family meals and early starts, laundry and mudrooms that take the dirt of a working day, an office for the paperwork a ranch or farm runs on, and built-ins in durable wood detailed for local fabricators. In an older house we plan the update around what is sound and leave the contractor a clear scope.

• Kitchens and pantries planned for large family meals
• Mudrooms and laundry rooms at the working entrance
• Ranch and farm offices with built-in storage
• Finishes that clean up after boots, dogs and dust

The lake draws people who do not live here all year. Buckhead Ridge adds a wave of winter visitors to its year-round residents, and it has long been popular with bass tournament anglers and duck hunters. North of the city, the Fort Drum Wildlife Management Area covers nearly 21,000 acres billed as the birthplace of the St. Johns River.

For a fishing camp, hunting lodge or weekend house, we design for groups and for turnover: bunk rooms and built-in beds, locked and ventilated storage for guns, rods and decoys, a kitchen that can feed a crowd, and finishes that can be wiped down or replaced without fuss. Our furniture design service details the built-ins, and project direction coordinates contractors and sends photo and video reports when the owners are back on the coast.

In town, Park Street, which carries State Road 70 and U.S. 98, crosses Parrott Avenue, which carries U.S. 441. The Speckled Perch Festival kicks off with a parade around Flagler Park. In the 1930s Okeechobee was the commercial center for the surrounding area, shipping winter vegetables by rail and home to a catfish shipping plant. Older buildings survive, including the 1923 Freedman-Raulerson House on South Parrott Avenue, a Spanish Revival house on the National Register.

For shops, offices, clinics and restaurants, our commercial interior design service covers layout, finishes, lighting and 3D renderings, plus branding and signage when a new business needs them. Inside city limits, the City of Okeechobee's own Building and Permitting department issues permits, and its Planning and Zoning staff answer questions about zoning and floodplain status.