It takes quite a daring design professional to proclaim, “I’m not afraid of anything!” This caveat by architect and interior designer Alison Spear goes a long way in explaining the dramatic design she created for a couple in Delray Beach, Fla. — the wife with whom she has been friends since the seventh grade.

“Clients who hire me have to realize that I’m going to push the envelope as far as it will go,” she says, “which is until they tell me to stop.”