Custom code Netlify Interior design Hosting freedom Cost savings

DBD Lifestyles

A whimsical luxury interior design firm serving Central Florida, New England, and clients nationwide. Custom built from scratch and freed from a bloated hosting package, saving them ~$300/year.

St. Petersburg, FL  ·  2025

DBD Lifestyles live website
dbd-lifestyles.com

Platform

Custom HTML/CSS/JS

Hosting

Netlify

Service area

Central FL, New England, nationwide

Package used

Thrive

Annual savings

~$300/yr

Trapped in a hosting package they'd outgrown on day one

DBD Lifestyles is a whimsical luxury interior design firm serving clients across Central Florida, New England, and nationwide. They're known for elevated, playful, story-rich spaces and a portfolio of stunning residential projects.

Their existing site lived inside a bundled hosting package that came in cheap the first year, then more than tripled in price the second. The package included a stack of features they didn't need: e-commerce tools for a service-based business, plus a basic-template builder that didn't come close to matching the whimsical luxury they actually deliver.

They were paying premium prices for the wrong things, while the part that mattered most (a site that looked like their work) was the one thing the package couldn't give them.

What wasn't working
  • First-year deal that more than tripled in price the second year
  • Bundled package full of features they didn't need (including e-commerce for a service business)
  • Basic template that didn't match a whimsical luxury brand
  • No portfolio project pages — work wasn't being showcased properly
  • Email bundled into the same overpriced package
  • No mobile-first design approach
What they needed
  • A site that actually looked like their brand — periwinkle, pink, mauve, cream
  • Individual portfolio project pages with real photos
  • Affordable, reliable hosting that scales with them, not against them
  • Email at a fair, predictable price
  • A workflow that makes future updates easy and safe

Custom built, properly hosted, brand-forward

We built the site from scratch in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No templates, no page builders. The design pulls from DBD's brand palette (periwinkle, pink, mauve, cream) with Lobster Two for display headings and Raleway for body text. Every design decision was made to match the elevated, playful character of their work.

What was built
  • Full custom site: services page with 2×2 grid, portfolio section, about, contact
  • Four real portfolio project pages: Alice in Wonderland Bath, Peacock Bedroom, Gator Den, Toy Story Pixar Airbnb
  • Award badges: Best of Florida 2025 nominee, Maine Homes Design Award 2023
  • Footer redesign, mobile nav fix, social media links
  • Hosting moved to Netlify with a dev branch workflow for safe updates
  • Domain and email moved out of the bundled package and onto a leaner, fairly-priced setup

Tools set up during this project

Netlify GitHub Desktop VS Code

A site that matches the quality of their work

DBD Lifestyles now has a site that actually looks like them. The brand-forward design, real project showcases, and clean navigation give prospective clients an immediate sense of the firm's aesthetic and range, whether they're in Central Florida, New England, or anywhere else.

The move off the bundled hosting package saves them approximately $300/year with no loss of quality or reliability. The dev branch workflow means future updates and new project pages can be shipped quickly and safely.

↗ Visit dbd-lifestyles.com
want a story like this?

Let's build something together.