Graduating from Ocean Springs High School, Tina M. Vital began her professional journey by earning a bachelor’s degree in interior design at Mississippi State University in 2007. Throughout the years, she has also been greatly impacted by the works of Lillian August and Dorothy Draper, whose use of color and patterns inspired her own creative gifts. Embarking on her career in the employ of a designer who designed and sold furniture directly to clients out of his showroom, she found herself interested in that same sort of work because she saw how it enabled her employer to provide furniture to design and direct clients at a lower cost. After seven years, Ms. Vital opened Abode Beach Interiors in 2015, where she specializes in interior design, furniture and accessories.
A full-service design firm, Abode Beach Interiors provides a wide range of services. Ms. Vital’s duties include everything from working with architects for renovations and remodels and creating full-scale drawings for contractors, to guiding clients’ through the process of selecting new features and furniture, ensuring design flow between all aspects of a space, and crafting customized spaces with handpicked furniture and accessories to each clients’ specifications. Furthermore, she is responsible for all of the back end management and bookkeeping as well. Throughout all the work she does, she is continually motivated by her desire to see a space come together exactly as planned. Ms. Vital also strives to keep up with new developments and trends in the industry and, to that end, maintains professional membership with the American Society of Interior Designers.
Ms. Vital has continued to educate herself throughout her career, learning what to do and what not to do to keep everything running smoothly. Noting that she learns something new with every project she takes on, she feels that the lessons she has learned regarding client relationships have been some of the most important. Looking toward the future, Ms. Vital hopes to expand her portfolio, cultivate new industry relationships, and hire a team of reliable professionals to increase the number of quality projects they can provide in a timely manner and help the company to run more smoothly in general.
For excellence in her career, Ms. Vital has been the recipient of a number of honors and accolades throughout the years. Most recently, Abode Beach Interiors was named Finest on the Emerald Coast by Northwest Florida Daily News in 2021. That same year, she and the business were featured in Southern Home magazine, in an article titled, “Abode Beach Interiors Creates a Gulf Coast Kaleidoscope.” Above these recognitions, Ms. Vital considers the most rewarding part of her work to be getting to walk back into a home once all of the renovations have been completed to see the results of their efforts.
Ms. Vital has been happily married to her husband, Andrew Vital, a middle school teacher and part-time worker at a veterinary clinic, since 2008. She is incredibly grateful to have had her husband’s support as she built up her business and strove for her goals. In her free time, Ms. Vital enjoys spending time with her family, which has grown to include her three wonderful children, Tristan, age 9; Avery, age 5; and Lilly, age 4.
