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Homes

Decor galore: A mecca for designers

The Decorative Arts Center of Florida provides a veritable mountain of resources and materials practically under one roof for the design trade.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published September 16, 2005

TAMPA - About a decade ago, Gary Dicus bought a couple of gritty-but-gorgeous 1920s brick buildings in what was then a forgotten neighborhood north of Kennedy Boulevard. The expansive industrial structures with their skylights and exposed ducts once housed a potato chip factory, a liquor warehouse and even a food bank for the poor.

Hardly anything fancy, but Dicus had a dream.

Even better, he knew how to make it happen.

The Tampa native and owner of the carpet and rug wholesale business Addison/Dicus Co. longed to create the kind of design center usually found in bigger metropolitan markets, one that offered furniture, fabric, home accessories, carpets and antiques, and deal exclusively with the interior design trade.

Dicus first launched the idea in Drew Park years ago, but lost his space to Tampa International Airport. That was a blessing in disguise, he says, because such a concept might not have worked anywhere but where it is now: in a close-to-downtown neighborhood long dedicated to light manufacturing, storage and historic warehouses.

"You see (similar design centers) in Atlanta, New York and the Miami area," he says, "but generally not in mid-size markets."

Today, his 33,000-square-foot Decorative Arts Center of Florida encompasses three buildings and draws interior designers from all over Florida. They come to leaf through thousands of fabric samples, browse for the perfect 19th century chest, peruse Oriental rugs, high-end botanical arrangements, even original artwork.

The stores cater strictly to the interior design trade: That means, you, dear power shopper, can't abuse your Visa there.

But your interior designer can.

"The advantage is that I can look for carpet, pull fabric samples next door and look at furniture finishes, all in the same place," explains Tampa interior designer, Julie Palios, of Stapleton Gooch Design, who has been shopping the center since it opened. "I can wrap up loose ends on jobs and make sure everything is going in the right direction."

Palios and Dicus agree that more local designers and decorators - used to making out-of-town trips to major markets - are now finding what they need locally at the center, a pale, melon-colored row of buildings with crisp Tuxedo-black awnings.

The center is growing at such a pace that Dicus recently purchased a 20,000-square-foot former furniture showroom across the street. Historic photographs of the building hang outside his office. He plans to refurbish the structure so that it looks much as it did in its heyday, with plate glass commercial showroom windows at street level and old-fashioned paned windows higher up. The first floor will house high-end plumbing fixtures, lighting, appliances, fireplaces and other home goods.

Professional chefs will prepare meals on the finest commercial ranges; homeowners can browse the latest in waterfall showers and infinity tubs - the sort that look as if they're spilling water into the horizon.

The building offers a stunning view of the downtown Tampa skyline from the second floor, where Dicus hopes to eventually offer a custom home-store for clients of home builders, "where they can pick out finishes, paint colors, molding, even roof shingles," he says.

The main Design Center currently houses Kelsey Keller & Associates, which sells original art as well as limited-edition prints and poster reproductions by artists throughout the world; Stillpoint Fine Botanicals, which sells custom dried and preserved botanical arrangements; Interiors Trading Co. and Interiors Furnishings, which offers a selection of both furniture as well as 75,000 fabric swatches by the top manufacturers including Brunswick & Fils.

Other tenants include Mayfair Interiors, specializing in fine antiques and Dicus' own business, which sells carpet and beautiful imported rugs.

"We have many of the most beautiful carpets in the world - and not because of me. The companies we carry are known around the world for design and coloration," said Dicus, who also carries carpets made from sisal, grasses, paper and coconut husks.

Designer Thomas Lamb has been mining the Design Center for unique items for the past seven years. He sorted through a rack of beautifully muted, imported rugs late one afternoon last week, searching for the perfect Tibetan hand-loomed rug for a client in Beach Park. Lamb notes that logistics motivate him to shop the center again and again.

"I usually take my clients on field trips to look at flooring, plumbing, lighting and other things - so whatever items are in close proximity and we can do in one day instead of spending time traveling, really makes sense," he explains. "My clients are usually very high-end and don't have a lot free time. This is a phenomenal resource with art, antiques, furniture, rugs and fabrics under one roof. For a designer, it's really one-stop shopping."

- The Decorative Arts Center is at 309 N Willow Ave. For more information, call (813) 258-6511.

[Last modified September 15, 2005, 11:02:11]