Turn Key Interiors blends business savvy and artistic design

Libby Brown called interior designer Betsy Gates Moore in 1999.

Brown and her husband had started construction to turn Fowl Cay island in the Bahamas into a mini resort.

They knew that all the furniture and accessories for the resort would have to be sent by barges. They wanted someone who could handle the project from beginning to end.

"Logistics were an indescribable nightmare," Libby Brown said. "The degree of difficulty was tremendous."

Moore designed the interior look at the mini-resort, bought the items, had them warehoused and then shipped to the island.

"We had a deadline for opening and Betsy was up against the wall," Brown said. "I have run businesses all my life and dealt with designers a lot. Betsy is the only artistic design-oriented person I have known that can run a big building design project to a line-by-line budget."

Moore started Moore Interiors, now called Turn Key Interiors, in 1986, a year before she finished her degree in interior design at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The full-service, professional interior design firm serves residential and commercial clients, focusing on blending classic design with a modern lifestyle.

Moore worked part time as a buyer at Burnett's Designers in Carytown while attending VCU.

A few months later, in the fall of 1987, Moore became the director of design at This End Up Furniture Co., the crate-style furniture maker and retailer the Browns had co-founded.

"The company was willing to take a risk on someone right out of design school because of my previous retail buying experience," she said. "Within two weeks, I was flying across the country and setting up stores on the West Coast."

During her time with This End Up, Moore developed a home-fashions program that included window treatments, bedding, pillows and fabrics that became a significant part of the retailer's merchandise mix.

Moore left This End Up in 1999 to concentrate on her own interior design firm -- she had been working on her own projects off and on for 12 years.

One of Moore's first large projects was the Fowl Cay resort, which included four rental houses, an owner's cottage, a manager's house and a large clubhouse/restaurant.

"It was a soup-to-nuts operation," Moore said. "Everything had to be documented, listed and priced for Bahamian customs. It took about 18 months."

Moore increased her business through word-of-mouth endorsements and referrals.

Since 2000, she has experienced 20 percent average annual growth in revenue. "I've developed long-term relationships with my customers," she said.

In May 2006, Moore asked Nancy Thomas to join the firm as a partner and began using the name Turn Key Interiors.

The two had worked together at This End Up and on one of Moore's previous design projects. Thomas left Turn Key this year when she became president and CEO of the Retail Merchant's Association.

Moore moved her office from Monument Avenue to her home in Powhatan County in March.

Over the years, Moore has completed projects throughout the Richmond region and Virginia. She also has worked on projects elsewhere in the U.S., including Maryland, upstate New York, North Carolina, George and Florida.

Bruce Gottwald Jr. knew of Moore's work and asked Turn Key to design the interior of his 9,000-square-foot house in Costa Rica's Peninsula Papagayo. Gottwald uses the property as a vacation home while it is for sale.

"We chose Turn Key not only because the company is creative and very good with what they do, but also because they specialize in Caribbean and Central American vacation homes," Gottwald said. "They did warehousing of the furniture before taking it down and they got it through customs. That took a lot off of me."

Gottwald was impressed with Turn Key's ability to work within a budget to find pieces of furniture that are similar to or less expensive than what the customer suggests.