Interior designer in Vero Beach, Florida

Riomar dates to 1919, when three Midwesterners bought a 160-acre tract on the barrier island and laid out a nine-hole golf course along the ocean; the Riomar Country Club was chartered in 1925. The name means river to sea, and the neighborhood still runs from the lagoon to the Atlantic under centuries-old oaks, although few of its original 1920s and 1930s houses survive. Central Beach, with streets named for trees and flowers in alphabetical order, puts houses and low-rise condominiums a short walk from Humiston Park, the Driftwood Inn and the boutiques and restaurants of Ocean Drive.

Island interiors turn on light, air and exposure. We plan rooms around the ocean or lagoon view, choose hardware, fabrics and finishes that tolerate salt air, and design covered porches and outdoor rooms as part of the house rather than an add-on.

On the mainland, Vero Beach grew outward from the town the Indian River Farms Company platted in 1913. Osceola Park, subdivided from 1915 and built up through 1958, holds the city's largest concentration of early 20th-century buildings and became a National Register district in 2013. McAnsh Park, a historic neighborhood around Troy Moody Park, is a short walk from downtown, where the 1926 Pueblo Arcade stands near the galleries of 14th Avenue. North of the city line, Gifford, organized in the mid-1880s, is the hometown of several of the Highwaymen landscape painters.

Properties on the Vero Beach Register of Historic Places need a certificate of appropriateness from the city for some exterior changes. Inside, older houses reward a light hand: keep original floors, windows and proportions where they survive, rebuild kitchens and baths within the existing footprint, and add lighting and storage without erasing the character.

North of the city, Indian River Shores is a separate town, incorporated in 1953 and made up mostly of gated, low-density communities along A1A; its population nearly doubles between October and Easter. John's Island, begun in 1969, covers 1,650 acres from ocean to lagoon, and its property owners association runs architectural and landscape review. South of the city, unincorporated South Beach runs to the St. Lucie County line and includes The Moorings, a club community designed around boating. On the mainland, Grand Harbor pairs golf with a marina on the lagoon.

Club renovations answer to two reviewers, the association and the permitting jurisdiction. Indian River Shores runs its own building department, while South Beach and the other unincorporated areas are permitted by Indian River County. We prepare drawings and finish schedules for association submittals, and our project direction service coordinates licensed contractors and sends photo and video reports to owners who are away for the summer.

Sea turtles nest on Indian River County beaches from March 1 through October 31, and Vero Beach's lighting ordinance, first adopted in 1990, bars lights from shining onto the beach during that season. For an oceanfront house the lighting plan has to account for it: fixtures kept low and shielded, long-wavelength amber sources where light can reach the sand, and window treatments that close off ocean-facing rooms at night, as the county's guidance recommends.

Salt air, sun and humidity narrow the finish list on both sides of the lagoon. We specify fabrics, flooring, cabinetry and hardware for that exposure and coordinate with the licensed contractors who handle impact windows, flood-zone requirements under the county's 2023 flood maps, and any structural change.

• Oceanfront lighting plans that account for nesting season
• Finishes and hardware selected for salt air in Riomar and along Ocean Drive
• Window treatments that manage afternoon glare and nighttime light
• Coordination with contractors on impact openings and flood elevation