CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 35 M eet the Owner and Principal De- signer Jana Donohoe, JD, Allied Member ASID, IIDA, a long- time Fayetteville resident. Jana has a flair for designing spaces that reflect her cli- ents' personalities and lifestyles. Working in the field for the past 10 years, her quaint café designs and office environments emanate the professional image her clientele seeks and it has increased her business exponentially over the last year. Jana said her design style is best defined as transitional. However, her talents enable her to blend combinations of contemporary and traditional elements to produce a pulled together eclectic look, uniquely tailored to each client's taste. Her design services range from custom residential or commercial office space from scratch, modernizing and en- hancing existing furnishings, or simply rearranging them for a fresh look and feel. As if she were born wired with a knack in the field, the designer fondly recalls days of her youth when her dad first handed her a hammer during a remodel project. Growing up Jana remembers the feeling of satisfaction aer volun- tarily organizing and rearranging furniture in her parent's home to surprise them. Let's just say her parents are glad Jana is living out her dream rearranging other people's homes for a living. Early on, as a military spouse in school studying biology, Jana realized her career path was taking a different turn By KELLy TwEdELL aer moving into her first home which was a fixer-upper. She was hooked and took pride in the painstaking updates and renovation as her creative talents breathed life into the older home. Explaining the intricacies of the industry, it is very sys- tematic and there are five aspects in creating a design. First are the concept and expectations, how the image is to be perceived. Second is designing a concept to propose to cli- ents incorporating a floor plan, furniture plans and fabrics into a presentation followed by the construction and finish- ing phases. A beach house redesign is one of her favorite recent pro- jects. Incorporating the casual, relaxed feeling of what the beach represents and bringing that feeling indoors in terms of light and airy hues, natural elements like shells and a contrast with a nautical theme bearing some navy accents made the space serene. When asked about which space in the home people can most benefit from a redesign she said without a doubt: the kitchen. With a clear vision on how to increase and redefine a space, taking out a wall, and rearranging appliance drops can do wonders beyond just fresh paint, new cabinetry and hardware. "Helping people find their own design style is reward- ing, it's important for the design to convey the mood," said Jana. "e process encompasses several interesting fields like culture, history and art." Given the plethora of design shows on television, the de- Donohoe's talents enable her to blend combinations of contemporary and traditional elements to produce a pulled together eclectic look, uniquely tailored to each client's taste.

• Cover