Former Robb & Stucky designers Joyce and Jeff Hart are behind the chic new furniture settings at Bee Ridge Lighting & Design, thanks to the vision of the 28,000-square-foot emporium’s owner, Maureen Drackett. “Maureen wanted a total home lifestyle concept for her customers. She has great lighting designers, but saw an opportunity to expand to a complete design package,” Jeff explains.

Fans of Sarasota’s first couple of design will find a transformed showroom and vignettes with furniture from names like Century, Theodore Alexander, Hancock & Moore and Jessica Charles. It’s a well-curated mix of styles, not unlike the Harts’ own home. “We live in a 1926 house, so we’ve abandoned our love of really modern style in favor of more eclectic design,” Jeff says. “But our taste in art is still contemporary; we’ll have a 20th-century Syd Solomon painting above an 18th-century French buffet.”

“Traditional in our home is geared toward a French style,” Joyce adds.

Bee Ridge Lighting & Design, 3909 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota (941) 922-2626

J. Hart Interior Design, 3909 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota (941) 923-0519

Get Joyce and Jeff’s Look

New Directions The Harts’ eclectic style is exemplified by fresh-looking furniture and accessories with traditional roots, like Global Views’ Brazilian-leather Lucy chair, inspired by mid-20th-century interior architecture and featuring a walnut-colored hardwood frame.

What this town needs “More good French restaurants. I’m tired of Italian; there’s an Italian restaurant on every corner,” says Joyce. “Sarasota also needs a traffic director, especially when we have big events in town or on St. Armands Circle.”

Can’t live without “If there were an earthquake or hurricane, the first thing I’d take are the family photographs,” says Joyce. “And our art,” adds Jeff. “We collect paintings by local artists—Syd Solomon and Beth Arthur, and many paintings by artists who were teachers at Ringling.”