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A shuttered Charleston drawing room held in deep shade — a low brown linen sofa, a console stacked with books, a dark ceramic vessel and an unlit bronze floor lamp — with tall doors thrown open on the right onto a sunlit walled brick garden and a live oak hung with Spanish moss.

Interiors drawn,not decorated.

A two-person studio in Charleston. We draw, specify and document interiors — then hand contractors something exact enough to build from.

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Selected work06

Selected work

A sitting room with folded louvred shutters, a cane armchair beside a low linen sofa, and a walled garden beyond.
Plate 012024

Tradd Street House

South of Broad — Residential — full interior

A dining room with a long heart pine table and rush-seated chairs under linen pendant shades, open to a side piazza.
Plate 022024

Rutledge Residence

Harleston Village — Residential — living and dining

A stair hall where a tall shuttered window casts a lattice of shadow across a lime-washed wall and painted floorboards.
Plate 032023

Anson Street Apartment

Ansonborough — Residential — refurbishment

An open porch lounge under a painted board ceiling, rattan and oak seating facing dense coastal planting.
Plate 042023

Sullivan's Island House

Sullivan's Island — Residential — new build

A narrow studio office with a long oak worktable, cane chairs, full-height louvred shutters and built-in shelving.
Plate 052023

Studio Cannon

Cannonborough — Commercial — small office

Detail of a tabby-rendered wall meeting a dark oak threshold, with a slim brass shadow-gap between them.
Plate 062022

Folly Beach House

Folly Beach — Residential — furniture and finishes

The practice

Practice

We are two. You will work with both of us — from the first survey to the last drawing. Nothing is handed down, nothing is handed off.

Plinth & Bay is a design and specification practice. We resolve how a space is planned, lit, finished and furnished, and we document it to the point where a contractor can price it and build it without guessing.

We do not run the site. That is deliberate. It keeps us on your side of the table, specifying what the room needs rather than what is convenient to install.

Services
Detail of white oak joinery meeting a woven cane cabinet panel, with an aged brass pull handle.

Detail — white oak and cane

What we actually do

Four things, plainly. We will design and document all of it, or any single part of it.

Interior architecture
Spatial planning, circulation, openings, levels, built-in joinery and the daylight strategy. The decisions that are expensive to change later.
Materials and finishes
Floors, walls, ceilings, wet areas and hardware — specified by name, finish and supplier, chosen for Lowcountry humidity and salt air, and for how the room is actually used.
Furniture, fixtures and lighting
Loose and fitted furniture, lighting layout and fittings, textiles and window treatment. We name the piece, the supplier and the lead time — you or your contractor place the order.
Drawings and documentation
Plans, elevations, joinery details and a written schedule a contractor can price line by line. This is what most of it comes down to.
Process

Four steps

  1. 01

    Survey and brief

    We measure the space ourselves and write down what you want from it, including the parts you have not decided yet. You get a fee proposal against a defined scope — not an hourly rate with an open end.

  2. 02

    Concept and spatial strategy

    Plans, a material direction and a small number of resolved options. We show you the reasoning, not a mood board. This is the stage where changing your mind is free.

  3. 03

    Specification and documentation

    The drawing set: dimensioned plans, elevations, joinery details, finishes schedule and an FF&E list. Detailed enough that two contractors quoting it are quoting the same thing.

  4. 04

    Tender and site review

    We help you read the quotes, answer the contractor's questions during the build, and check the work against the drawings at agreed points. We do not manage the site or hold the build contract.

Studio

Two of us

There is no third person. If you engage Plinth & Bay, these are the two people who will survey your house, draw it and answer your calls.

Portrait of Nell Carrington, standing at a table of material samples and rolled drawings in a shuttered studio.

Nell Carrington

Principal — interior architecture

Leads spatial planning, joinery and documentation. Handles the drawing set and the contractor's questions during the build.

Portrait of Theo Vandiver, seated at an oak worktable spread with drawings and finish samples, a garden behind.

Theo Vandiver

Principal — materials and FF&E

Leads material specification, lighting and furniture. Chooses finishes for how they behave in Lowcountry humidity and salt air, not for how they photograph.

Enquiry

Request a consultation

Tell us where the project is and what stage it is at. We reply to every enquiry, and we will say so plainly if we are not the right studio for it.

The fastest way to reach us is a text.

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