Interior designer in Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian Highlands began in 1957 with 1,345 acres on both sides of U.S. 1, and General Development Corporation went on to build the streets and drainage for about 15,000 single-family home sites. Most of those lots had houses on them by the late 1990s, so the Highlands holds homes from several decades, served by the canal, ditch and swale system that still carries most of the city's stormwater to the St. Sebastian River.

Houses like these gain more from a clear plan than from a large budget. We plan the updates they most often need: opening a closed kitchen to the living area, reworking baths, replacing mismatched flooring throughout, and adding storage and better lighting. Permits inside city limits go through Sebastian's own building department, and our drawings give the licensed contractor what that review asks for.

• Kitchen redesign with cabinetry, countertops and lighting specified together
• Whole-house flooring and finish plans that unify rooms updated at different times
• Bath updates planned around existing plumbing where possible
• Built-in storage for fishing, boating and beach gear

The oldest part of the city lines the lagoon. Old Town Sebastian's two National Register districts, listed in 2003 and 2004, include landmarks such as the Harbor Light Motel and the Hardee Oak, planted in 1891. The working waterfront survives at Fisherman's Landing on Indian River Drive, where a city partnership restored a fish house and piers for a fish market, an eatery and a museum of local fishing history. Homes along the lagoon look east across the water toward the barrier island.

Riverfront interiors can take the fishing-village character as a starting point rather than a theme: porches and screened rooms treated as living space, finishes that stand up to sand and salt, and rooms arranged around the view. Everything east of the Florida East Coast Railway to the lagoon lies in the city's Riverfront District, where exterior changes to colors, materials, roof finishes and signage go through city review.

The places around Sebastian come with their own conditions. Fellsmere, incorporated in 1911 and surrounded by citrus groves and farmland, handles its own building permitting. Roseland lies along the St. Sebastian River, which forms the Brevard County line. Vero Lake Estates, an unincorporated subdivision of about 2,700 homes off County Road 510, grew after developers bought blocks of lots in the early-2000s boom. Heavy rain in November 2023 flooded parts of both Fellsmere and Vero Lake Estates, which is a good reason to plan water-tolerant flooring and moisture-resistant lower cabinetry into remodels there.

Across the lagoon from Wabasso, Wabasso Beach and the Town of Orchid sit on the northern part of Orchid Island. Most of Orchid is the gated Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club, and the town issues its own building permits and keeps its own turtle-lighting code, while Wabasso and Wabasso Beach are unincorporated and permitted by the county.

Businesses along Indian River Drive sit inside the Riverfront District, whose code encourages traditional building types with porches, balconies and arcades, prohibits Art Deco, restricts corporate prototype buildings, and limits exterior colors to a master list. We design restaurant, retail and office interiors that can carry the same Old Florida character indoors, with 3D renderings for landlord and permit discussions and design direction through the build-out with licensed contractors.

When the business needs a sign and a brand as well as a room, our branding and digital design service works within the district's color and signage rules, so the storefront, the menu board and the interior read as one place.