Flat Rock / Hendersonville — (828) 595-2226 | Waynesville — (828) 246-9122
Dawn Driskill — Interior Designer, Owner & Founder of The Design Gallery
Dawn brings more than twenty-five years’ experience in award-winning custom interior design and color consulting to the homes and vacation cottages of Western North Carolina. She adds a California touch of lush color combinations and clean lines to the comfortable styling characteristic of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her award-winning interior design work has been featured in both local and national magazines.
A consistent commitment to quality and personalized service is apparent in all of Dawn’s design work, as recognized by her clientele list of legal and health professionals, CEOs, and professional athletes and entertainers.
Dawn draws on a nationwide network of suppliers. In Western North Carolina, Dawn has built a network of reliable tradesmen and women who are plumbers, electricians, architects, and contractors who specialize in kitchen and bath installations, outdoor living spaces, room additions and complete remodeling.
Dawn is an experienced project manager who personally supervises all aspects of bringing a home from its traditional past into the stunning present. Current projects include: a design/build custom home in Brevard, NC; design and complete remodel of a mid-century mountain Deck home; full kitchen and bath remodels in Hendersonville, Asheville and Flat Rock; complete renovation of a warehouse to a modern office building.
Betsy Edwards — Interior Designer
Betsy’s love of creating living spaces has been apparent since youth. She takes an anthropological approach to her work; finding the best solutions of form and function makes all the difference in how people enjoy their daily lives, families, celebrations & work.
From Carolina Home + Garden: "I really try to find out about the client’s history... and what they’re drawn to. I also plan for the client’s future needs, whether aging, additional children in the future, or other considerations. Then I let the space speak to me. I can pretty much see a space fully designed when I’m walking through it.”
An award-winning interior architectural designer, Betsy's experience includes nearly two decades in the Atlanta design community working on national and international hospitality and residential projects, including Country Clubs and Disney Projects with Design Continuum, Inc., International Hyatt Hotels with Hirsch-Bedner and Associates, many of Atlanta’s finest restaurants with The Johnson Studio, and hospitality and residential projects with her own firm, BennettEdwards Interior Design. In Santa Barbara, CA, Betsy spent 7 years working on Country Club and residential projects of her own as well as for The Warner Group Architects.
Since returning to WNC, Betsy Edwards Design has focused on residential and Country Club renovations, as well as a surge of new construction home builds. Projects continue at The Ramble in Asheville, in Champion Hills and Kenmure in Hendersonville, and Lake Toxaway. New construction residences in Gulf Stream, FL provide much needed ocean ventures.
Missi Smith — Interior Designer
Missi has more than 20 years of experience in the design industry. She has worked as a new construction and remodel designer for residential properties and has acted as a general contractor on new home builds as well as several investment homes. Missi prides herself on digging to find the best deals for her clients to keep their design quality high and costs reasonable. The key to timeless design is staying on top of today’s design trends and materials while avoiding the latest fads, so Missi dedicates herself to staying in touch with the daily beats of the design industry for every project.
“Good design should provide comfort, contentment and your story when it is done correctly. I like to use clients favorite items along with new items to always make the home feel like it is unique to them.”
Missi is a Minnesota girl who has been living in the south for 25 years. She and her husband moved from Georgia to the mountains of North Carolina 3 years ago and they don’t think they will ever leave. Missi loves the laid-back attitude of the Hendersonville/Asheville area and enjoys having four seasons again.
Missi’s four children and three crazy dogs keep her well-loved and busy. When she is not working on a project, she likes reading true crime novels, all sports (especially MN sports), a good brunch, and visits from her family.
Heather Grant — Project Manager & Co-Designer
Prior to joining the Design Gallery team in 2021, Heather cut her design and management teeth in the digital realm. As Director of Digital Marketing for a web-based design company, Heather oversaw the planning and execution of high-level design and marketing tactics for companies all over the world. Methodical, communicative, and with a natural design eye, Heather was very successful in her role and felt great joy in aiding her clients in achieving their goals.
Now at the Design Gallery, Heather finds great success and joy in working with her interior design clients. Being both a project manager and a co-designer, she performs administrative and creative roles simultaneously. On the management side, she oversees timeline and budget planning, monitors progress, and communicates with vendors, clients, and the lead designer on the project. On the creative side, she brings together color, texture & all manners of materials to manifest each client’s vision and goals into functional, beautiful & purposefully-designed spaces.
Hannah Gallen — Drafting
Hannah brings a wide range of construction knowledge and drafting experience to the Design Gallery team. Hannah graduated from Converse College in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design. Her passion for interior architecture and design stems from her childhood; when she would tag along with her dad to job sites.
“I fell in love with the home-building process at an early age. The idea that you could create spaces that were specifically designed for the people living in them, fascinated me.”
Hannah provides custom design and drafting services to individuals and companies in Flat Rock, Hendersonville, Asheville, and surrounding areas of Western North Carolina. These services include, but are not limited to, custom home design, addition and/or remodeling design, modifying existing design documents, and converting physical drawings into computer-aided design documents. From conceptual drawings, to working drawings, to final construction documents with material lists/take-offs—she’s got you covered! She believes that understanding each client and how they live, is essential for creating an environment that meets their needs, and best utilizes their space.
“Each space in a home should be thoughtfully and intentionally planned for. We all know that life can be a little unexpected at times, so why not plan for it? I strive to incorporate principles of universal design into every project that I work on. Whether it be lifestyle, age, mobility, or other factors; your home should be accessible and functional at every stage of your life.”
When Hannah is not in the office or at a client meeting, you can find her spending time with family, friends, and her rescue pup, Finn.
Mae Hight — Interior Designer
Born & raised in Montgomery, AL, Mae was inspired in childhood & in her early adult years by her father, who built beautiful custom homes in stately southern settings. In following his work & spending summers visiting job sites with him, Mae was exposed to countless outstanding projects featuring classic southern charm & timeless design. These foundations have carried over into her design aesthetic & continue to inspire her daily.
After graduating from Auburn University’s Interior Design program in 2010, Mae followed her heart to Telluride, CO, where she was mentored & worked under Bruce & Jodie Wright of One Architects, Inc. Their projects focused on mountain contemporary style with a restrained rustic edge—both one of a kind & ageless. Great design transcends style & time; when a home has been thoughtfully conceived and carefully executed, it's known in the heart & carried in the spirit.
Life brought Mae back to Alabama in 2014, where she continued her work in Interior Design under architects & designers. But once again her heart called her to the high country, where she made her home in the mountains of WNC.
A mother of two boys & wife to one amazing fella, Mae works to be inspired for them. Thankful to the core for the opportunity to follow her dreams & own her own interior design business, she looks forward to combining 10+ years experience into one incredible vision: restrained Rustic Elegance with Whimsical Southern Charm.
Kristen Levy — Interior Designer
Kristen is a firm believer that all experiences can be crafted with care, especially the built-environments in which you spend your life. She believes that a space is designed well when it tells a story, whether it be instantaneous or has subtleties that reveal itself over time.
A Philadelphia native, she began her career working for brands including Free People, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, where she specialized in adaptive reuse and honed her talents for creating new architectural details just as bespoke as the historical ones she worked to preserve in her projects. Working on designs nationally and internationally, there was an added task of making each space relevant to the end user, which became an enjoyable challenge. In recent years, she’s been able to translate her experience in high end retail design, to create branded brick and mortars for various start up companies that were looking to create their identities and expand. The personal connection and attention to detail needed on these projects bridged the gap from commercial to residential design.
Since moving to the mountains and starting a family of her own, residential design has been Kristen’s main focus for the last several years. She has experience with green design practices and is a certified aging-in-place specialist, because she believes that everyone should be able to thrive in their environment, regardless of age and mobility. Kristen believes in designing homes that are an extension of the people residing in them, whether it's a primary, secondary or weekend retreat, and helping them write their story for years to come.
Haley Carter — Interior Designer
Born and raised in the Midwest, Haley and her family recently moved to WNC to pursue their personal dreams of living in the mountains. A graduate of Ball State University in 2009 with a degree in interior design, she has worked on a wide variety of projects over the past 12 years; each unique in size, scope, and style. Her design passion ranges from remodel to new construction and everything in between.
Haley's goal is always to create thoughtful and beautiful interiors for her clients. She always strives to meet her client’s personal aesthetic, functional, and economic goals while honoring and celebrating the spaces they call home.
She has a love for nature and always finds the outdoors to be a source of personal inspiration. Natural, organic, and classic materials always have a place in her designs. She believes curation is a really necessary part of making each environment special, unique, and personable. Haley strives to create custom spaces that meet the individual needs for each of her clients.
Haley loves guiding her clients through the design process start to finish and working as a team to bring their personalized designs to life. She knows the process can be overwhelming for a lot of her clients and she strives to make the process enjoyable, after all it is supposed to be fun!