Welcome to the Salt & Still Design Studio!

I’m Maria—a licensed architect and interior designer based in Tampa, Florida, with a deep-rooted love for New England coastal design.

I was born in Chisinau, Moldova, and moved to the United States in 2016, eventually settling in Connecticut for eight years, which shaped me as an individual and as a designer. There, coastal design ceased to be an aesthetic and became a way of life: summers spent in the Hamptons, afternoons exploring the shingled towns of Maine and Massachusetts, and years spent working on homes for clients along the New England shoreline.

That experience shaped Salt & Still’s philosophy: beautiful homes aren’t built on trends—they’re built in layers, over time. The Studio draws from the quiet traditions of Nantucket, Cape Cod, and Maine, favoring rooms that feel collected rather than decorated: natural light, honest materials, and a sense of ease that can’t be manufactured. In these homes, luxury isn’t about excess—it’s about craftsmanship, proportion, and the small details that make a house feel like home. As an architect, I believe that a well-designed space should hold a story: not a curated feed, but family dinners, slow mornings, and the rituals that make a life feel lived-in.

I also believe good design and design education shouldn’t have a price tag or a zip code attached to it. That is why Salt & Still Design Studio exists—not just to share beautiful imagery, but to teach. Together, we’ll break coastal design down room by room, topic by topic: what makes a space feel authentically New England, the dos and don’ts of the style, and how to translate it into your home—wherever that home happens to be. Because you don’t need an address on the coast to live in a coastal-designed home.

Follow Salt & Still on Instagram and Pinterest for the curated inspiration and first access to new posts and Studio updates.