About Gail Doby

After spending 20 years in interior design specializing in high-end residential projects, I have two major goals:

1. To educate the public about interior design and how to work with a professional.  Even if you don’t plan to hire a pro, you can learn about the pitfalls of the business – hopefully without having to experience some of the costly mistakes that happen even to the most experienced designers.
2. To provide a forum for designers to enhance their practical knowledge.

My intent is to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of this “glamorous” business.  One of the biggest shocks to me as a new designer many years ago was that creative design was only 5% of our job, and the other 95% was creative problem-solving, nagging, perseverence, and psychology applied with infinite patience.

Here is a quick bio about me – I have a BSBA in Finance & Banking, some work toward my MBA (decided not to finish it as working in big corporate America was not my long-term preference…too much of an entrepreneur) and an Associate of Applied Science in Interior Design.   

After graduating with my BSBA, I worked for a Fortune 500 company in the home furnishings industry for 6 years as a sales and marketing representative in the carpet division (Oklahoma City and Houston).  Then I worked for a distributor of flooring and carpet for 4 1/2 years in Dallas in the commercial division.  I worked with architects and designers to specify our products starting in 1977.

After that, I worked for a subsidiary of American Airlines when they were designing a new online reservation system with Marriott, Budget Rent-A-Car and Hilton Hotels.  That was one of my first paid projects that involved design in the commercial arena.  During this stint, I helped to design and plan the 35,000 sf facility as well as a satellite location for the software development team.  Part of my job was to complete a seamless move of the staff over the New Years Eve holiday…we had to have all computers, equipment and boxes of office items in place so everyone could work the first morning after the break.  I also did several projects for friends on an unpaid basis…good learning experience…starting a few years before that.

After the contract with American Airlines ended, I moved for a brief time to San Francisco and then ended up in Denver working for a graphics software company as Director of Marketing.  Shortly after that, the company went bankrupt and I stayed in Denver.  One of my friends flew me to Cleveland to help her with her house, and that is when I decided to get my design degree. 

I met my husband during this time, and we both decided to go back to school.  While I was studying design, I was working for clients and actually started own design firm. 

I am passionate about new construction and renovation.  Bathrooms are one of my favorites – especially luxury spa baths.  As a firm, our specialties include construction design and lighting.  We also love custom furniture, draperies and millwork design. 

We were recently featured in Architecture and Design of the West (December 2007) and on the front cover of Kitchen + Bath Business (October 2007).

My firm includes Erin Weir, Client Services Manager; Mary Tschumper, Business Manager and Monique Stemper – Accounting Services.  We are a strong team and we are customer service fanatics.

We launched a new service in January for senior level executives that are moving or relocating.  Please visit www.smoov.org for more information.