Meet Donna
Principal Designer & Owner
Spaces speak to me through proportion, balance, and light. It’s not something I decided to learn, it’s something I’ve carried for as long as I can remember. I’ll walk into a room and feel it immediately: the harmony, the rhythm, the proportion, the way the light moves, and the quiet potential of what the space can become. It’s simply how I’m wired, like an inner compass that points toward what’s timeless, elegant, and beautifully composed.
That compass showed up early. As a child, I was the one begging my parents to take me on architectural tours. On family vacations, I wanted to step inside the grandest hotels, to take in the ceilings, the staircases, the symmetry, and the thoughtful details that made the spaces feel unforgettable. And when I finally traveled through Europe, my camera roll became a love letter to design. Doorways, stonework, ironwork, moldings, classical lines; all captured not to share, but to remember. Even then, I was collecting inspiration for the work I knew I was meant to do.
I earned a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, trained with Lohan & Associates, and at 26, I founded Donna Michelle Interiors with a clear purpose: to design homes with timeless structure and quiet refinement. Spaces that live beautifully and hold their value, year after year. My work has been recognized with a Silver Key Award from the Chicago Home Builders Association.
Looking back, it’s clear, this isn’t just what I do, it’s what I’ve always been drawn to; creating homes that feel calm, elevated, and deeply livable. Spaces that feel beautiful today, and which will remain beautiful for years to come.
Core Values
This firm has never felt like a “company” to me in the usual sense. Donna Michelle Interiors is a life decision. The place where my taste, my standards, and my sense of calling all meet. Yes, it’s a business. But it’s also my craft, my obsession, and the work I’d choose even if I didn’t have to.
When a client trusts me with their home, they’re not just hiring an interior designer. They’re inviting me into the most personal spaces of their lives; spaces that hold routines, celebrations, rest, and memory. That deserves more than good ideas. It deserves a standard.
For me, that standard comes down to two words:
Quality & Kindness
You Can Feel Quality
Quality isn’t a marketing phrase, it’s a feeling. It’s the way a hand-finished edge catches the light. The way a room sounds when the textiles are right. The way a cabinet door closes with quiet precision. It shows up in what you see, and just as much in what you don’t see: the planning, the alignment, the coordination, the details that make a home feel effortless.
I think of quality as having two layers
The foundation is craftsmanship and discipline: proper scale, correct clearances, drawings that translate, specifications that protect the vision, timelines that respect the build. These are the essentials; non-negotiable.
The artistry is more elusive: the nuance of proportion, the tension between old and new, the exact warmth of a plaster finish next to a stone floor, the way a fabric’s texture changes the mood of afternoon light. That’s where a house becomes a home with presence.
Quality is holistic; it’s the sum of hundreds of small, thoughtful decisions working together. That’s why we treat every surface, every vendor, every install day like it matters, because it does.
Kindness Is Part of the Standard
Quality shapes what we create; kindness shapes how it’s experienced.
Kindness shows up in the way we guide clients through hundreds of decisions without overwhelm. In how we communicate clearly when a lead time shifts. In how we honor budgets, schedules, and the emotions that come with building or renovating a home. It’s not softness, it’s professionalism with humanity.
It also shows up behind the scenes: respect on job sites, appreciation for skilled labor, and the belief that people do their best work when they feel trusted and valued.
Building Something That Endures
Our goal isn’t to chase trends, it’s to create homes with permanence: spaces that feel grounded, personal, and quietly exceptional not just now, but for decades to come.
That’s what we’re building at Donna Michelle Interiors: work shaped by relentless attention to detail, elevated by long-standing trade relationships, and delivered with care.
In every project, we return to the same questions:
Is it quality?
Is it kind?
We’re always listening; because the smallest details are often where the experience is won or lost. Because this work is personal. And we treat it that way.
Testimonials
Our Dream
“Donna Michelle transformed our dark 1980s family room into a refined, light-filled library that feels completely timeless. We wanted something sophisticated for this new season of life as empty nesters, and she understood the vision immediately. Every guest who visits has the same reaction, they can’t believe it’s the same room.”
– Alfred and Barbara Savino, Oak Brook, Illinois
Impressed with and Grateful
“Early on in my relationship with Donna I was impressed with and grateful to learn how much time she spends researching all that is available in the world of interior design. She spends so much time exposing herself to different designs and solutions. This reassures me that her recommendations come from the full spectrum of what’s available.”
– John G. Stob, Elmhurst, Illinois