By Carole Hawkins, Staff Writer
When Judith Sisler Johnston got the interior design contract for the Madeline, a new model home at Tamaya, she had a problem.
The color of the floor tiles, she learned, would be slate and the tone of the walls came from the cool side of the palette. She knew people are more naturally drawn to warm inviting colors.
“I studied this floor for a long time and then finally I said, ‘I see turquoise,’” she said. “I see earthy, oceany jewel tones, and that’s how I’m going to give this house life.”
Aquamarine, tart lime and ivory linen with a backdrop of silvery slate and smoke accents made their way into the home’s area rugs, curtains, throw pillows and artwork, giving the house a light airy feeling.
“You see the ocean colors in here, you see the beach,” she said. “This is a courtyard home, between the city and the sea. By doing the house in spa colors, it’s a psychological reinforcement of the rest of builder’s marketing.”
Sisler Johnston today is one of Northeast Florida’s most recognizable names in interior design.
But the 25-year decor veteran didn’t initially choose the career. She was recruited to it.
From the time she first set up homes for herself as an adult, they drew attention, whether it was a one-room efficiency apartment, a duplex or a little house.
“Every neighbor, friend and cousin wanted me to help them with their place because they always loved what I would do. My pink colors, my fabrics, my furniture, my accessories,” she said. “I had lots of invitations for free work.”
When her first husband’s career took the family from the Midwest to Sarasota, Sisler Johnston got a real estate license “like everyone else who moves to Florida,” she quipped. She began working for a developer selling high-end condominiums to second-homebuyers.
She learned that most of those buyers didn’t have furniture for their new condos. So she offered her services on the side as a freelance interior designer, simply because she had a knack for it.
After moving to Jacksonville, Sisler Johnston continued in real estate, working for Stokes & Co. It was 1981 and the company was growing by leaps and bounds, developing condominium communities. Sisler Johnston furnished models for the builder, a new idea at the time.
“In those days, people didn’t understand what condominiums were,” she said. “Open floor plans had just become popular and people didn’t understand how to live in them. You had furniture that didn’t sit against a wall, it floated. People didn’t understand where they’d put the television or the sofa.”
By using interior design as a marketing tool, the developer sold more units. And, Sisler Johnston found a career niche.
In 1984, she struck out on her own, using Stokes as an anchor client and growing her business through referrals. Over the years, she broadened her reach to include interior design for resort hotels, custom homes and senior-living facilities.
Today, Sisler Johnston has accumulated more than 200 industry awards and has been featured for 20 years in Baron’s “Who’s Who in Interior Design” and also in “Great Designers of the World.”
She continues to count model-home furnishing as a personal strength. It’s a task that doesn’t necessarily mean putting a personal fingerprint on each design.
“I don’t create designs that people will either love or hate, because then you’ve just eliminated 50 percent of the market,” she said. “I like to create beautiful interiors that everybody will like, even if it’s not your personal taste.”
For example, the Madeline is a contemporary home design. But mixed in with its contemporary pieces — a sectional sofa and a chair with a leopard design — are very traditional pieces, like a wooden console, dressed with a contemporary worn brushed finish. It gives the home elements that will appeal to everyone, she said.
With so much territory mastered in her career, it’s hard to imagine where the future might take the veteran designer.
“I’m happy with what I’m doing, so I’m going to continue doing it,” Sisler Johnston said. “I’m at the age where I could retire if I wanted to. But I have no desire to do that, because I’m doing what I like to do.”