The Firm

A Florida Studio Built Around How People Actually Live.

Based in Tampa and Miami, Florida

Founded in 2009 by Leslie Haugland, Novilux Design™ started as a one-person studio and has grown into a full-service firm with an in-person presence in Tampa, Miami, and Palm Beach. What hasn't changed is the size of our client roster at any given time—we take on a limited number of projects so that every one of them gets real attention from the same core team, start to finish.

Most of our work falls into new construction, major renovations, and full home transformations, though we also take on smaller, focused engagements. Over the years we've built relationships with fabricators, workrooms, and suppliers that most homeowners never get access to directly, and we bring that network to bear on every project regardless of size.

While Tampa, Miami, and Palm Beach remain our primary service areas, we take on a small number of out-of-state projects each year on a retainer basis, with travel built into the scope.

Marble fireplace feature wall with fluted panel side lighting in a luxury living room

We measure a project's success less by how it photographs on the day it's finished and more by how it holds up two years in—whether the storage still makes sense, whether the fabrics have aged well, whether the family actually uses the room we designed for them.

Why Novilux Design

Leslie has worked across enough industries—hospitality, healthcare, retail, private residences—to know that the same layout doesn't solve two different problems. Every engagement starts with questions most firms skip: who uses this space, at what time of day, and what's actually been frustrating them about it.

That habit of listening first has built a track record across both commercial and residential work: hotels, restaurants, offices, private homes, high-rise condominiums, and yacht interiors.

Leslie Haugland has spent 17 years designing for commercial and residential clients, developing her craft through both formal study and hands-on collaboration with architects, engineers, builders, and developers on projects most designers only see from a distance.

The Designer

A Designer Who Reads a Room Before She Redesigns It

Black and white portrait of Leslie Haugland leaning against a windowsill

Leslie Haugland

President & Principal Designer

BFA Interior Design

MA Interior and Spatial Design

Allied Member, American Society of Interior Designers (ASID)

Leslie Haugland grew up in a house where nothing matched and everything meant something — her grandmother's mismatched china, her father's woodworking tools, fabric remnants from a mother who sewed her own curtains. That early education in how objects hold memory shaped the designer she would become. She went on to study Interior Design in London, then returned to the States determined to build a practice that treated a home the way her family always had: as a living record of the people inside it.

In 2009, with a single client and a borrowed drafting table, she founded Novilux Design. What began as a one-woman studio in Tampa has grown into a full-service firm with a presence across Tampa, Miami, and Palm Beach — but the founding instinct hasn't moved: every space should feel inevitable, as if it could belong to no one else. As an esteemed allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers, she now brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, spanning over 17 years across the globe, to residences, hotels, restaurants, and yachts alike.

What sets Leslie apart is her unique approach to design, which she views as a form of poetry, harnessing emotions and stirring the senses to create a space that evokes grandeur and depth. Her designs are born of a quest for perfection, where even the most minimalistic touches can speak volumes. She believes that it's not just about visual aesthetics but also about how the space makes you feel.

Creating what she calls “Invisible Design,” Leslie weaves together natural and cultural elements seamlessly, orchestrating every subtlety to craft a compelling ambiance that transcends the obvious. Her designs are an exquisite composition, where form and function merge unobtrusively, resulting in a lasting impact that is momentary yet meaningful.

Explore Her Journey