When Biggs Powell decided to go out on a limb and open his own firm, he found a 1920s Victorian clapboard in midtown Memphis, tore it apart, and then put it back together with all the details it never quite had but really deserved, like gracious crown moldings, substantial baseboards and elegant mantles. At first he thought he would paint the walls white to create a gallery-like setting for the antiques he would sell on the side, while his interior design business got rolling. "But as I started to play around with paint, all these colors—celery green, chocolate brown, tangerine—just came out of me," says Powell.

    Obviously unafraid of color, he's equally undaunted by pattern, bravely juxtaposing bold checks with tapestry-like floral. "I have all of my sofas made locally so I have a lot of control," he says. "You can't pinch pennies on upholstery." Inspired by David Hicks and the eccentric glamour of French design from the 1920s through the 1960s, Biggs is inevitably drawn to sculptural shapes and sensuous textures. "If I'm not passionate about something, it's not in the shop. There's no filler. I think you should surround yourself with things—and people—that you really love.