working with us
Your home or project should be unique to your taste as well as a reflection of your life or business. We listen and create spaces with inspired design using a multi-step process - ensuring each project is flawlessly executed.
Our Approach
Our design starts with you.
Donna Gilliam Interiors begins every project by getting to know you. Our goal is to fully understand your vision right from the start. We begin our multi-step design process by providing you with a client questionnaire followed by a 30-minute complimentary phone call.
We listen.
During your initial phone conversation we listen. Donna has an uncanny ability to hear what you don’t say and can realize your unspoken dreams through her exceptional designs. If we both feel it’s a good fit, we’ll take the next step and schedule a design consultation with a pro.
We want to exceed your expectations.
One way we do this is by employing a tried and true multi-step design process. Step one: regardless of the scope, all projects begins with a two-hour initial consultation. This is not a meet-and-greet but a hardworking session to kick-start your project which also allows you to see how we would approach designing your space.
We aim to create surroundings that reflect your personality.
Each project evolves around your personal preferences and personality. We believe no two clients are alike and no two projects should be either. Whether your personal style is traditional, or modern or somewhere in between, we are here to create a space that looks like you and feels like you. It will be a space that could belong only to you.
“High functioning, beautiful interiors that withstand the test of time is my definition of good design”
MEET DONNA
As principal designer and founder of a Nashville-based design firm, Donna was born and raised in Music City earning a first of two degrees at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). Soon after graduating, she journeyed to Los Angeles to continue her acting pursuits. It was on the West Coast that Donna spent much of her adult life broadening her design aesthetic, which is a true reflection of her oft-changing surroundings.
After years as a performing artist, Donna returned to school to pursue a graduate degree in performance and arts administration/non-profit management at California State University, Los Angeles. There, she was hired by the University to help launch the Harriet & Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex, a multi-million presenting organization situated on the CSULA campus. However, after meeting the love of her life, Donna moved to Seattle where she continued her career as a leading arts administrator for some of the city's major arts and higher learning institutions. All the while her interest in design continued to grow. Acknowledging her growing passion, Donna earned an interior design degree and subsequently founded her first design firm - All Things Beautiful. It was in Seattle where she began subscribing to the practice of "doing it right the first time" as her client roster consist of top executives of some of the world's largest companies.
With this tapestry of experience, she returned to Nashville with her family and established Donna Gilliam Interiors. Her principles and talents include uniquely tailoring custom design projects to her clients’ lifestyles and need. “I feel like I have a keen eye for detail and an innate ability to problem solve. I love it when my clients tell me you understand what I am expressing and what I’m not!”
With established relationships with the industry’s most talented artisans, craftspeople and trade suppliers, this excellence is reflected in the quality craftsmanship and products sourced for each project.
Most recently, Donna’s firm culminated work as the interior designers for the National Museum of African American Music, which opened its doors to the public in September 2020. In January 2020 she was selected to serve on the Metro Nashville Public Arts Committee. Her years of experience earned her recognition as a Top 20 African American Designer by the Black Interior Design Network in 2017. Donna’s uncanny versatility equips her to move between residential and commercial projects with ease and flexibility, which emphasizes her talents and makes her a leader in the industry.
When she’s not busy managing her design firm, Donna relishes time spent with her family. She shares their forever-home she designed and built with her husband, active teen daughter, and adorable Brittany Spaniel, which lends her first-hand knowledge of how to design livable spaces for busy households.