THE TWO TAYLORS
One's an interior designer, the other's an architect- and they're married
By: Jo Werne

Phyllis and William Taylor work wit "two minds and one goal" to create
living environments for their clients.

An interior designer and architect, respectively, the couple have been business partners for 20 years of their 25 year marriage. Through their Miami Beach company, The Taylor & Taylor Partnership, they have designed and remodeled many Florida homes, giving them a tropical twist.

" We love all styles," William says, "but whatever we do we interpret it so that it feels right in Florida.

A client in Winter park wanted a brick Tudor-style home- a style that suggests England or the Northeast rather than Florida. To make the home fit in with the environment native keystone was used and brick was given a veneer of stucco so that "there's just a hint of brick. It fits in with the neighborhood," the architect explains.

REINVENT THE WHEEL
The couple finds that their clients know that their clients know what they want "and that means that we are always reinventing the wheel," says Phyllis. One such client was University of Miami President Donna Shalala, who lives in UM's president's mansion.

" She was a model client, quick to make decisions," says the designer. "It was a staid dark house and she wanted a tropical feeling. We used mamey, papaya and coral colors. She gives a dinner party every Friday for 24 guests. We found a large dining table that can be separated into three for eight guests each."

Besides residences, this husband/wife design team has done commercial and hospitality projects, including restaurants, private clubs and hotels. Their work has won them awards, including the "Best in America Living Award" from the South Florida Builders Association and honors for Kitchen design from Sub Zero.

When an architect and interior designer work together, which comes first, the architect or the interiors?

" It works both ways," William Taylor explains. "More often than not a client starts to work with me and in the process, because we both work in one office, they become familiar with Phyllis and hire her to do the interior.

Or she's hired for a job and they get to know me and need some architectural adjustments."

" They say it's "inevitable" that they take work home. "Because we are so busy in the office, the only time just the two of us can be together and concentrate on designs is at home," says the architect.

" Almost every night I go home with a roll of sketches to discuss. But by the time we get dinner on the table, it's too late to do any work. So we get up early in the morning when we are really fresh and work." They have two children. Jeremy, 20, a third-year architect student at the University of Miami, lives with chums in a house off campus. Daughter Lauren,17, is senior at Ransom-Everglades and has a bedroom at home that her Mom painted orange and furnished with antiques as a surprise when Lauren was away.

WELCOMING PORCH
The Taylors designed and built their house in Miami Beach 14 years ago. It's Florida vernacular with a wide, welcoming porch. The living room and dining room are one large space with an antique table as a divider. The white fireplace has a façade resembling the tin ceilings of Key West. The adjacent "great room"- kitchen, dining, family room- "is where we live," says Phyllis Taylor, whose signature touch in every client's home is a child's chair. She collects even tinier chairs on trips and museum visits. They are arranged on shelves, a happy reminder of treasured vacations.