San Antonio has a healthy mix of high-toned style and down-home fun, and the area’s best interior designers are creating living spaces that effortlessly combine these two equal priorities. Call it upscale comfort, call it casual-chic, or call this style what it really is: A reflection of the way people here actually live their lives and use their homes. The interior design firms on this list are all experts in creating eminently livable spaces with an elegant touch, helping to make family homes in San Antonio spaces of respite and inspiration.
Address:
12506 Elm Manor Street, San Antonio, TX 78230
Whitney Schones Design creates inspiring and comfortable spaces, and they offer a full range of interior design services, from whole-house renovations to redesigning kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, and outdoor areas. The company was founded in 2003 by Whitney Schones, the firm’s president and principal interior designer. Schones recently described her interesting approach to design to the San Antonio Express News, saying “I am a therapist for your home.” This certainly comes through in her colorful, elegant, and livable interiors, which are finely balanced to both inspire and soothe. Whitney Schones has created wonderful interiors in the San Antonio metro area’s long-established and ever-trendy neighborhoods and upscale communities and developments, including Alamo Heights, Alta Vista, and Fossil Ridge. Schone’s work has been featured in San Antonio Woman Magazine and other publications and websites.
For an interior in Olmos Park, Whitney Schones Design created an eclectic showplace for all kinds of interesting art pieces, including a collection of folk-art masks centered on one wall, a large decorative tusk, and several amazing paintings. For all that, though, these are interiors that you want to hang out in, especially the sitting area with a creamsicle pallette and reading chairs arranged around a white, fur rug. Another recent project features a series of colorful and varied residential interiors, a playful strategy of clashes and chance meetings of dark blue, pink, orange, green, and more — all by turns dazzling and soothing and inspiring, alongside the beautiful wood floors and the overall warm and family-oriented design.
Casey Roy Interior Design
Address:
4119 McCullough Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78212
Casey Roy, founder and principal designer for Casey Roy Interior Design, has worked on many welcoming and beautiful interiors for an eclectic range of luxury residential, commercial, and hospitality projects. A graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental design, before going out on her own and opening Casey Roy Interior Design in 2011, Roy worked for Wilson & Associates in Dallas and DMR Architecture in North Carolina. She also worked at San Antonio’s Baxter Design Group as a managing director of design. The firm’s work has been featured in San Antonio Woman, Urban Home, and the Houston Chronicle, among other publications. In addition to offering a full range of interior design services, Casey Roy Interior Design has a custom-framing retail shop and a home decor retail store called Citrine Home.
Casey Roy Interior Design recently created colorful and eclectic interiors for a mid-rise condo project in San Antonio. Busy and hectic without being jumbled and distracting, the rooms feature a range of fun and stylish color details, rarely repeated but always memorable and eye-catching. In every room, among the modern, elegant furniture and diverse collectibles and paintings, there are surprising splashes and pools of green, turquoise, orange, purple, yellow, and more. For a “hill country contemporary” project, a client’s vacation home outside of San Antonio, the firm took a more subdued and classic approach, using brown, gold, and cream to create an upscale and elegant look that will impress guests but also be comfy and cozy after they leave.
Bradshaw Designs
Address:
19 Brees Boulevard, San Antonio, TX 78209
A local leader in renovation and interior design, Julie Bradshaw, founder and leader of Bradshaw Designs in San Antonio, has spent more than 25 years transforming kitchens and bathrooms, and creating wonderful interiors for homes in some of the city’s most stylish and upscale neighborhoods, including Alamo Heights, Olmos Park, and Terrell Hills. The firm has a lot of experience working with historical structures and is dedicated to matching and restoring the classic design details that make older homes attractive to many clients. Recognized specialists in kitchen and bathroom remodels, Bradshaw Designs has five interior designers and one architect on staff. Bradshaw received a bachelor’s degree in interior design from University of Texas at Austin. The firm’s work has been honored with Legacy of Design, Pinnacle of Design, and Best of Show Awards from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), and its work has been featured on HGTV and in numerous publications such as Modern Luxury Interiors, San Antonio Express News, Home Design & Decor, and Design Texas.
A kitchen and bath specialist with experience renovating tricky residential gems in San Antonio’s classy Olmos Park, Alamo Heights, and other neighborhoods, Julie Bradshaw told Modern Luxury Interiors that she wants her renovations to “speak the language of the house.” In the many kitchen and bath projects in her recent portfolio, she shows a sophisticated yet comfortable sensibility, designing oasis-like bathroom spaces with stylish, deep, stand-alone tubs and dark wood his-and-her vanities that look like they’d be welcome at the best resort-hotels around. In a recent kitchen project, Bradshaw created a warm and open space with contemporary, eye-catching barstools and hardwood floors, flooded with natural light and surely a gathering spot for the whole family.
Betsy Homan Interior Design
Address:
111 W. Sunset Road, San Antonio, TX 78209
Adept with a diverse range of styles and fusions, from traditional luxury to upscale elegance, from warm modern to colorful contemporary, Betsy Homan Interior Design wants to “cocoon people in livable luxury.” That’s a laudable goal for an interior designer, and the firm has won many honors for its approach, including First Place Pinnacle of Design Awards from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) for living room and family room interiors. Principal and founder Betsy Homan has been an interior designer for 40 years. She has a unique perspective on high-style luxury, having designed the interiors of many private airplanes used by “VIPs, Heads of State, and Corporate CEOS.” A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Homan also specializes in designing interiors for luxury homes, high-rise condos, and offices, and the firm works on new construction, additions, and remodels. She has been featured in San Antonio Home Design & Decor, San Antonio Women, Texas Living, and most recently Andrew Martin Interior Design Review 2017.
Betsy Homan Interior Design recently completely redesigned the interiors of a historic home in San Antonio’s stylish Monte Vista neighborhood, giving the rooms an updated look and a more youthful feel, while still retaining a high-style look and sophisticated feel. The style of the rooms changes with their use, with a dark-wood club atmosphere in the bar, and colorful and fun modern touches in the living room. The materials are top shelf and in many cases custom, including custom-made chandeliers and custom-designed wool and silk rugs, drapes, and bedspreads, and a mixture of French and contemporary furniture. For a project in San Antonio’s Sonterra area, the firm created warm and livable spaces, adding custom English-style media cabinets in the family room and a wall-to-wall, built-in bookcase in the main master bedroom.
Jana Ward Interiors & Clear Choice Remodeling
Address:
5139 North Loop 1604 W. #106, San Antonio, TX, 78249
Experts at remodeling and updating the San Antonio metro area’s tired and dated kitchens and bathrooms, as well as retrofitting and rethinking local homes so an elderly family member can continue to live at home, Jana Ward Interiors & Clear Choice Remodeling, formerly Clear Choice Interior Design, is an experienced, detail-oriented, and understanding combination for a full range of interior design services. Owner Jana Ward is a certified remodeler and green professional with nearly 20 years of experience. Calling herself the “Construction Chick,” she has appeared on WOAI-TV San Antonio’s morning show San Antonio Living. Clear Choice has frequently been honored by the Greater San Antonio Builders Association, and they recently won the Grand Remodeler of the Year Award and an award for best remodel project for Americans with disabilities.
Most often when people want to remodel a room in their home, it’s either the bathroom or the kitchen. These are also the rooms that typically need the most retrofitting for elderly family members to continue to live in them, as they are two of the most common residential spaces where accidents occur. The team at Clear Choice Remodeling specializes in “ageing in place.” For one recent remodel, the firm transformed a client’s bathroom from cramped, inefficient, and perhaps even dangerous for its elderly owner, into a spacious, bright, and stylish retreat, with a huge walk-in shower that’s as easy to get into as strolling across the new tile floors. With this and other similar projects, Clear Choice is working on the leading edge of a residential remodeling trend that is expected to expand as Baby Boomers age.
Dy Lynne Decor Inc.
Address:
5007 McCullough Avenue, Olmos Park, TX 78212
Planners and designers of many residential model showhomes in the San Antonio metro area, as well as projects in Boston and Florida, Dy Lynne Decor is one of the area’s top interior design firms. Founder and principal designer Dy Lynne Dabney is also the founder and owner of Joyeux Home Decor, a 10k-square-foot retail store and the headquarters of Dy Lynne Decor Inc. and Dabney Homes, her husband’s construction company. Dabney, a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio, has worked with leading local construction companies on award-winning showhome projects. The firm has won multiple Pinnacle of Design Awards from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) for showhouses under and over $350k, showing the firm is creatively adaptive and resourceful. Dy Lynne Decor has also won several awards from the Greater San Antonio Builders Association for its interior design projects. The firm’s work has been featured in San Antonio Magazine, At Home Magazine, San Antonio Express News, Austin American Statesman, and elsewhere.
Dy Lynne Decor regularly works on residential interior design projects in upscale San Antonio neighborhoods, such as Olmos Park and The Dominion, and the firm’s work has been featured in the city’s annual Parade of Homes. For a recent project in the Elkhorn Ridge development for San Antonio’s Village Builders, Dy Lynne Decor created a creamy and calming look with rustic-chic details and country-style fabrics and themes that nod to the open spaces of the community. The model also includes beautiful stonework in the bathroom. For a home for Bella Vista, Dy Lynne Decor created an upscale rustic look, with distressed wood and leather furniture playing off the exposed-brick fireplace in the cozy and inviting main room.
KD Interiors
Address:
20540 State Highway 46 W. Suite 115-225, Spring Branch, TX 78070
A top interior designer of residential model showhouses in the San Antonio metro area, KD Interiors knows how to make a home look inviting, warm, and stylish. The firm, led by Principal Designer Karen Dietz, is located just outside of the city in Spring Branch and offers a full range of interior design services, from full remodels to furniture and drape selection. With its vast experience in residential model showhouses, KD Interiors has worked with some of the area’s top contractors, including Brookview Builders, Sitterle Homes, and Newmark Homes. Dietz and her team have won many awards from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), the Texas Association of Builders, and the Greater San Antonio Builders Association. Dietz, who opened her firm in 1999, earned a degree in interdisciplinary studies from Texas A&M University and then studied interior design at St. Mary’s University. KD Interior’s work has been featured in Design Texas, the San Antonio Express News, and other publications.
KD Interiors often works with San Antonio luxury home builder Sitterle Homes and others on model showhouses. The firm recently won first-place Pinnacle Awards from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) for Residential Model Showhouse, Special Feature, Master Bedroom Suite, and Living Spaces. One of the team’s typically welcoming, family-friendly, and charming interior design projects is the Belterra San Saba Garden Model Home. The interiors have a casual but elegant look, with an open plan that melds the large kitchen and main living room. A subdued palette of creams and whites and greys against the blonde-wood floors creates a soothing and comfortable atmosphere. For its Serene Hills Model Home project, KD Interiors created a sleek and contemporary riff on Texas themes, with the chrome-metal, long-horn skull hanging on the wall, the stylish leather chairs, and a hanging metal lamp, while a sense modern elegance and high-style family living pervades.
Baxter Design Group
Address:
7701 Broadway, Suite 117, San Antonio, TX 78209
A very thoughtful and innovative interior design firm, the Baxter Design Group believes in using the “whole box of crayons” in creating its high-style, sophisticated interiors. With clients throughout Texas, Manhattan, and elsewhere, Baxter Design Group brings creative energy and an “unrestricted approach” to all of its interior design projects. Principal Designer Debbie Baxter opened the firm in 1980 after living in Spain and Latin America for a time. Baxter has a bachelor’s degree from University of Texas at Austin and studied interior design at Miami Dade College. Baxter Design Group’s work has been featured in Interiors + Design and was also named on the magazine’s Gold List. The firm’s work has also been featured in Urban Home, San Antonio Magazine, and other publications.
Baxter Design Group worked on the interiors for Lake|Flato’s award-winning, 3,600-square-foot, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum home in Leon Springs, near San Antonio. The team designed the interiors to “merge the organic with the sustainable.” The innovative project features mesquite floors and oak walls, with interiors featuring washed linens, Tibetan rugs, and leather upholstery. The colors and surfaces of this green showplace are “restrained,” in an effort create a calm vibe, while plenty of the greenery surrounding the home comes through the large glass walls and doors, adding an extra dimension to the decor. Baxter Design group also recently worked on a colorful and creative update and remodel of a fantastic mid-century home in San Antonio, staying true to the home’s original style, while freshening up the interiors with a more contemporary take on Mid-century-style furnishings and details.
M Interiors
Address:
5800 Broadway, Suite 110, San Antonio, TX 78209
The unique style expressed by San Antonio’s M Interiors in its residential interior design projects is an amalgam of American chic and timeless, old-world sophistication. Founded in 2004 by designer Melissa Morgan, M Interiors works on luxury residences all over Texas and elsewhere, bringing her own studied, well-traveled, and enthusiastic sensibility to each home, whether the client is seeking a traditional, modern, or contemporary style, or some thrilling mixture of styles and statements. Like all the best interior designers, Morgan brings her own sense of style to each project, while at the same time working-in thick threads of her clients’ personal aesthetic, history, and wishes. Morgan studied French and art history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas after growing up in California. She is an expert in antiques and textiles and is inspired by both the cultures and history of Europe and the American Southwest — enthusiasms that definitely show up in her design work. Her work has been featured on the the show Million Dollar Decorating, as well as in Architectural Digest, Modern Luxury Interiors, Texas Home, and other publications.
In a recent interior redesign of a wonderful mid-century modern residence in the stylish Olmos Park neighborhood of San Antonio, the team at M interiors proved themselves masters of the elegant and beloved style. The new interiors are breathtakingly stylish yet warm and inviting, and it’s a place in which you’d want to attend a sophisticated party at night and then stay the weekend lounging on the vintage 1950s-era furniture, and gaze at the surprising blue walls in one room and the slat-wood ceilings and custom sputnik chandelier in another. Another recent mid-century-rehab project, and one featured in an article in Architectural Digest, had Morgan rehabilitating a pool house built in the 1950s by architect Atlee B. Ayers. Morgan teamed up with San Antonio architect Craig McMahon to redesign and expand the space, adding a guest bedroom, kitchen, and an aesthetic and vibe recalling a golden age of poolside glamour.
Lake|Flato
Address:
311 Third Street #200, San Antonio, TX 78205
A leading local design firm, Lake|Flato has been pioneering sustainable design, leading urban revitalization, and designing innovative, beautiful homes in San Antonio since 1984. Principals Ted Flato and David Lake are both both American Institute of Architects (AIA) Fellows, and both were inducted into the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame in 2014. They and their 89-person firm have won numerous awards, including the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture and AIA’s Firm of Year award. Architect Magazine has placed the firm in the Top 10 of its annual Top 50 list, and Fast Company has called it one the Top 10 most innovative architecture firms in the world. In addition to designing unique residences, Lake|Flato has played an active role in many urban renewal projects in San Antonio and nearby Austin.
The Lake|Flato designed its wonderful 4,600-square-foot “Olmos Park Residence” on a wooded quarter-acre in the upscale San Antonio neighborhood of the same name. The long, narrow house sits within the trees and has private courtyards around the little oak forest. The home won an award from San Antonio AIA and was featured in Interior Design Magazine. The interior design features custom furniture designed by woodworker George Nakashima and others, and includes Andy Warhol portraits of John Wayne and Geronimo, in a sly wink to enduring western cliches. Also featured in Interior Design Magazine, Lake|Flato designed a work of art on a lakefront lot dotted with oak trees. The striking, open house, made of wood and metal and glass, is L-shaped and features a boardwalk between the structures, descending down a hillside and ending at a wonderful pavilion and dock on the lake. Lake|Flato collaborated with Houston-based Plus Two Interiors on the interior design for the house, which features oak flooring and cabinets, and a palette that plays with the color of the bark on trees surrounding the home. It is infused with Mid-century style furniture and a general, casual vibe of a vacation home on the lake.
