Tierra Verde · Pinellas County
Tierra Verde homes, designed around the water.
Waterfront houses on islands joined in the 1960s, many of them second homes. We design the interiors in full, and we can run the project while you are away.
Tierra Verde is not a city.
Tierra Verde is unincorporated Pinellas County, so permits and flood decisions come from the county’s Building and Development Review Services, not from a city hall. It is the most common surprise for owners who moved from St. Petersburg or St. Pete Beach.
In a flood zone, the cost of the work is measured against the market value of the structure, land excluded. In unincorporated Pinellas the threshold is 49%, and anything new or substantially improved has to sit at least one foot above the base flood elevation. Splitting a renovation into phases does not get around the rule.
Boutique hotel · Client project · Design
The design starts with what the house is allowed to be.
After Helene and Milton in 2024, the county sent substantial-damage letters to homes across unincorporated Pinellas. If you received one, the county holds your status, and the design has to start from it.
Either way, we confirm the flood zone and the structure value for your address, then draw a scope that stays within what the house may become. Below the flood elevation we specify finishes that tolerate water, and we place equipment above it.
Most of it can happen without you here.
The first conversation is by phone or video. We measure at the house, review the drawings on screen, receive the deliveries and walk the rooms when the work is finished. You come back to a house that is ready.
The work
Drawn first. Then built.
Primary bath · Completed
Bedroom · Furnishings
Boutique hotel · Design
Console · Furnishings
Primary bath · Completed
One core service, two ways to begin.
Full-Service Interior Design is our core service, for projects that need a developed design and the studio alongside you. Design Day and the Design Consultation are for decisions and direction. It all starts with a twenty-minute introductory call.
Who issues permits in Tierra Verde?
Pinellas County. Tierra Verde is unincorporated, so permits and flood determinations come from the county’s Building and Development Review Services.
What is the flood threshold here?
In unincorporated Pinellas, work that costs 49% or more of the structure’s market value, land excluded, counts as a substantial improvement, and the house must then meet current flood code, at least one foot above the base flood elevation.
I am not in Florida most of the year. Can you still do the project?
Yes. The conversation and the design reviews happen by phone and video, and we handle measurement, deliveries and the final walk-through at the house.
Where do we start?
With a twenty-minute introductory call to understand the project. From there we recommend Full-Service Interior Design, a Design Day or a Design Consultation, whichever fits.