How to Hire an Interior Designer for a Miami Residential Project
Miami residential design is not a subset of New York residential design. The board approval processes, the hurricane building code, the humidity and salt exposure, and the specific way units combine and finish out in the newer luxury condo buildings are all different from anywhere else in the country. A designer who approaches a Miami project the same way they would one in Manhattan will miss on all four fronts. This piece is about what to look for in an interior designer for a Miami condo, a combination-of-units project, or a single-family home in Coconut Grove or the Design District.
In 2025, Studio Kestrel completed a full-gut renovation and combination of two units at 57 Ocean in Mid-Beach, a residence overlooking the Atlantic. That project made one thing clear: the practical constraints of building here shape the design as much as the aesthetic direction does.
Miami condo boards are stricter than most homeowners expect
Almost every luxury condo building in Miami runs its own residential renovation review process — from the Mid-Beach and Bal Harbour towers (Faena House, 57 Ocean, the Setai, the Estates at Acqualina, Continuum) to the downtown skyline (One Thousand Museum, Aston Martin Residences) and most of the newer Design District and Coconut Grove buildings. The rules vary by building but typically require:
Board or management approval of the architect and general contractor before any work begins
Approval of construction hours (typically 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, no weekends)
Approval of the trade elevator schedule for demolition, deliveries, and installation
Insurance certificates from every trade with the building named as additional insured
A defined construction window, with some buildings restricting noisy work during peak season
Noise, dust, and debris protocols that are enforced by security
A designer who understands how Miami buildings work will build the approval timeline into the project schedule from the start. One who doesn't will hit it unprepared, and the project will lose weeks waiting for board sign-off. Ask the designer to walk you through how they'd handle your building's review process: which approvals come first, what the board will want to see, and how they'd plan the schedule around it. A clear, specific answer matters more than a long list of addresses.
Hurricane code shapes what can actually be built
Miami-Dade County sits in Florida's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone and has some of the strictest building requirements in the country. New or replaced exterior openings require impact-rated, Miami-Dade-approved products. Balcony and terrace furnishings need to be either weighted, anchored, or fully removable — buildings can and do require homeowners to clear all balcony contents before named-storm arrival.
A designer working in Miami should specify hurricane-rated impact glass for any new exterior openings, marine-grade stainless (316, not 304) for exterior-adjacent hardware, and interior finishes that can tolerate a building sitting closed and empty during a summer storm event. If the designer's specifications don't reference Miami-Dade code compliance, the general contractor will be back-solving during construction.
Salt and humidity are the real material constraint
Even miles from the water, Miami's humidity and salt exposure are more aggressive than anywhere in the Northeast. Wood species need to be selected for stability across a wide humidity range — quartersawn or rift-sawn white oak, teak, ipe outdoors. Brass patinas faster. Iron rusts. Fabrics grow mold in unconditioned spaces. Adhesives on wallcoverings and floor materials behave differently in high-humidity install conditions.
An interior designer working in Miami should specify:
Performance fabrics (Sunbrella, Perennials, Crypton) for most upholstery, not just outdoor
Marine-grade hardware on any exterior-adjacent applications
Wood species and construction rated for humidity — plywood cores with hardwood veneers rather than solid wood on large-format cabinetry
Rugs in synthetic or performance fibers on ground-floor and pool-adjacent spaces
HVAC and dehumidification strategies for units that sit empty during shoulder seasons
Ask the designer to walk you through how their material specifications change for Miami versus Northeast projects. If the answer is generic, the specifications are generic too.
Combining units is a Miami specialty
A large share of luxury Miami condo work is combining two, three, or four units into a single residence. That work is structurally and legally different from a standard renovation:
Structural walls between units may or may not be modifiable — engineering review is required
Plumbing, HVAC, and electrical from both original units need to be re-routed and unified
The board approval process is more involved because the combination changes the building's floor plan of record
Kitchens and primary bathrooms often need to be relocated entirely
Utility metering may need to be reconfigured through the building management
A designer who's done combination-of-units projects in Miami will know the specific engineering and approval workflow. A designer who hasn't will underestimate both the timeline and the scope.
Local fabrication matters more than local showrooms
Most of the major furniture and kitchen brands, including Poltrona Frau, Molteni, Boffi, Minotti, and Holly Hunt, have showrooms in both New York and Miami's Design District, so where a designer is based makes little difference for furnishings. What matters more is fabrication. Large custom millwork, stone, and upholstery are expensive and slow to ship, and stone slabs are best selected in person, so the real question is which pieces get made locally and which get built elsewhere and brought in.
Ask the designer how they'd handle fabrication for your project: what they'd have built in Miami, what they'd produce elsewhere, and how that affects cost and lead times. A clear answer shows they've planned for the logistics, not just the design.
What to ask before you hire
For a Miami residential project, the questions that matter are practical:
How would you approach my building's board review process, and what's a realistic timeline for approvals?
How does your material specification change for a Miami property versus a Northeast property?
Have you done combination-of-units projects, and can you walk me through the engineering and approval workflow?
Who do you work with locally for carpentry, cabinetry, stone, tile, and paint?
Who on your team will be on site, and how often?
What's your process for coordinating with the architect and structural engineer on a hurricane-code project?
A designer who answers these with concrete process and specific knowledge of how Miami buildings work has done this before. A designer who deflects or generalizes hasn't.
When to hire us
The studio works between New York and Miami, and takes on a limited number of full-service Miami projects each year, including full-gut renovations, combination-of-units work, and turnkey new-construction homes. If you're closing on a Miami condo or planning a renovation and want to talk through the timeline, book a consultation.
Paul De Andrade is the founder and principal designer of Studio Kestrel, a residential interior design practice working across New York City, the Hamptons, and Miami. He has been designing interiors since 2014, founded Studio Kestrel in 2019, and has completed more than 30 full-service projects through the studio since. His work is rooted in organic modern principles, feng shui, and a wellness-led approach to how a home is built around daily life. Studio Kestrel has been featured in Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Homes & Gardens, Domino, and Hamptons Magazine, among others.
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