A native Louisvillian and a graduate of the University of Louisville, Walter holds a B.A. in art history and an associate degree in interior design. Before joining Bittners in 1988, he served for 13 years as an interior designer for Stewart's in Louisville, followed by two years of independent design work.
Walter creates warm, inviting interiors by using a combination of contemporary and traditional furniture and a variety of design elements. He may pair strong colors with patterned surfaces, or give richness and depth to a monochromatic scheme by emphasizing a variety of textures.
During the last 20 years, Walter has participated in over 12 designer showhomes. Walter designed interiors for Bellarmine University's President's House and their Holiday Designer House in Corydon, Indiana. The President's House and the Holiday House were both designed and decorated exclusively by Bittners. The President's House is a large Italianate style country home constructed in 1872. A Georgian style addition was added to the home in 1905. Walter enhanced the interiors of the home by incorporating colors and patterns that represent the natural setting of the home. In the Holiday House, Walter used natural fiber fabrics, bright, fresh colors and adaptations of 19th century original wallpapers to reflect designs that could have originally been used in this one hundred and eighty year-old home. With a keen eye for historical homes, Walter always uses his expertise in working with his clients.
His extensive experience in renovation, remodeling, and work on historic interiors includes the total renovation of a 1920's bungalow, with all new interior structures; and the total design, including architecture and site plan, of a new 7,000 sq. ft. Colonial Revival house. Walter served as an interior designer for three of the most historic nineteenth century mansions in Louisville: the Italianate Spalding Mansion, the Peterson-Dumesnil House, and the Conrad-Caldwell House, one of the best examples of Richarsonian-Romanesque architecture in Kentucky. Additionally, Walter revamped the lobby and hallway of Louisville's Historic Beaux Arts City Hall, and oversaw the restoration of the Main Courtroom in Louisville's early 20th Century Federal Court House.
Additional historic projects have included the major renovation of a 12,000 square foot replica house, built on the original foundation of a 1789 house, as well as carpet designs for a fine Federal house dating to the early nineteenth century. Both of these homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Current projects include designs for the Owsley Brown Frazier Historic Arms Museum, slated to open in 2004, two historic Louisville churches and the Federal Courthouse in Owensboro, Kentucky.
