every piece of artist Melissa Koby’s bold, colorful work features a sun. “It’s meant to be joyous and empowering,” she says. “Dark and moody is definitely not my vibe.” But when Melissa and her husband, Adam, first moved into their Tampa, FL, home, the kitchen was just that. “Honestly, it was a little depressing,” she says. The couple had been renting an apartment nearby, but with their careers taking off—Melissa was working on a line for World Market, and Adam, an emergency room doctor, had just finished his residency—they decided to invest in a bigger place. Their timing was impeccable. Two months after closing on the 1926 bungalow, Melissa found out she was pregnant with twins. She and Adam quickly hired their friend, designer Ann Cox, to update the space…
