Tim Bryant has given himself the freedom to pursue everything that interests him. This decision took him from an industry he didn’t enjoy, to living the life he wants, at a place where he likes the person he has become. From Dayton, Ohio, Bryant’s family moved to Haines City when he was six to develop Grenelefe. Starting as a sophomore in high school in the DCT program, his first profession was in finance. This career took him from Haines City to Tampa, Orlando, and Miami in different banks.
Although it wasn’t work he particularly enjoyed, Bryant said, “I learned a lot. I’m a firm believer that you can learn something from everything you do.” When it began to feel like everything at his job was just a number, he remembers, “I said, ‘Enough is enough,’ and I got in touch with the human side of life again.”
This life-altering decision stemmed from a bad car accident he had in 1987 and the loss of his best friend.
“It made me start thinking about life. Do I want to be miserable for the rest of my life or do I want to try to be happy? It’s a choice you make every day.”
Giving Himself Permission
In this new chapter of his life, Bryant started working for a doctor who treated patients with AIDS and terminal illnesses free of charge. Bryant helped the doctor develop the operation into a full clinic. He found value in the time he spent sitting with patients, mixing medicines, and looking for holistic cures for the doctor. “I gave myself permission to do the things that mean something to me,” he said.
Granting himself permission gave him the internal freedom to start painting again – something he hadn’t done since he was nine years old. The first work he did when he’d started painting again, a scene from a bike ride in Provincetown, is framed on the wall of his shop.
The culinary arts and interior design were interests he also began investing in. Bryant credits Laura Covington of Lakeland for being instrumental in his cooking. He said of Covington who owned Park Place Café, “She taught me everything I needed to know about cooking and I just fell in love with how you could get people to enjoy things. It’s like an art form to me. It’s the way it’s plated, the way it tastes, it’s the layers of flavor.”
Contemplating his passions, Bryant remarked, “There are a lot of facets to my life and each one makes me, me.”
The Push
He learned a lot in the 18 years he’d lived in Tampa. Bryant had helped two of his best friends grow companies. They would always ask him if he could do it for them, why not for himself? Sometimes you just don’t have enough faith in yourself he said – sometimes you need a push.
He returned to take care of his father who had cancer and ended up staying. “I was a little fish in a big pond over there, I’m the big fish in a little pond over here. That helped give me my push that I needed to know that I can do this,” said Bryant.
He opened a 2000 square-foot store called Bryant Home Gallery on the Park from 2010 to 2013.
In February of this year, the interior designer opened Bryant Home Gallery Marketplace in Winter Haven. Bryant hand selects vendors for his home furnishings gallery. “If you have a passion for what you do, then I will back you one hundred percent. If you’re just slapping paint on something to sell, there are other stores for that,” he said.
Everything in his store is intentional and artisan. He creates his own pigments, stains, and develops lighting and fabrics. You can see his attention to detail and artistry during a stroll through his store – from lighting he created from antique wooden table legs or a bookcase from the 1970s Princess line of furniture that he sandblasted and stained with ash from an oak fire and denatured alcohol.
A painter and creative himself, art is important to Bryant. He uses his space to highlight the works of local artists like Tinia Clark and Morgan Boyette. In 2012, Bryant started the Art Walk in Winter Haven showcasing local artists in a pop-up gallery. Every month he hosts the community at his gallery (last month was Martinis and Mid-Century). Be on the lookout for his next event on the store’s Facebook page @BryantHomeGallery.
Interior Design
His retail store is only a piece of what Bryant does. As an interior designer with clients from here to Tampa, he helps people develop their style and make their house uniquely their own.
He grew up in construction. His father and grandfather were custom home builders. Bryant would consult with their clients to pinpoint what they want and draw up the floor plans and the exterior. He said, “I enjoy learning and getting to know what makes people tick and to make them feel like it’s their home.”
When consulting with a client, the first thing he tells them is to go through magazines, Pinterest and other forms of inspiration to collect concepts or elements they like. This collection of ideas is how he helps develop their style for a space. The furniture he sells, restores, and creates are unique. “When I get furniture or design a piece of furniture, it’s taking an old piece and giving it a new life and making it appealing to that demographic, so they can appreciate the architecture, the construction, what it is that they’re getting instead of just ordering it online, it comes in a box and you put it together.”
He has started to see this in the younger generation. He said, “They’re getting back to some of these values that we’ve lost along the way and I’m very happy that I see that.”
A Diamond in the Rough
“You have to give yourself permission to like what you like,” Bryant said. “I think that’s important to know that we’re like a diamond in the rough and every time that you want to give it a cut to bring out the brilliance, that’s an aspect of your life – that’s one part of your life, but it takes many of those to make that beautiful stone.”
Like the cuts of a brilliant stone, Bryant considers painting, cooking, interior design, and being in the LGBTQ community only some of the many aspects that make him, him.
“Not one thing defines you,” said Bryant. “Being gay [or] lesbian, that is just a facet of who you are. If you let one thing define you then you’re not living your life.”
He concluded, “I think it’s more important to look at the human side of life and know that you are part of this society because you are human first. What you do after that, how you affect people on a daily basis is up to you because if you give respect to other people, you’re going to get the respect back.”
Photo by Amy Sexson
