Dawn D. Totty is an multi-award winning and innovative Interior Designer focused on service, customization, enhancing property value and affordably designing spaces to reach their full potential. Whether a home or business renovation, she has been successfully meeting individual needs and bringing personal visions to life, everywhere she goes. Dawn knows each and every person has their own version of what a beautiful home or a productive business environment looks like. From traditional, to modern, to contemporary, to eclectic, and to everything in between, she customizes designs which reflects the client, rather than the Interior Designer.
“I look at myself as a problem solver,” says Totty, who often hears the word “overwhelmed” when she first meets clients who are in need of her assistance.
“My design doesn’t happen when I walk in through a client’s door. It begins when I pull in the driveway,” she adds.
As part of Totty’s expertise, she knows how to maximize natural light, as well as how to maintain the integrity and charm of each unique home or building, while doing needed updates. Saving both time and money is always an utmost priority in each of Dawn’s projects. Nearly every customized piece Totty brings to the table contains a compelling story, and most stories begin with yard sales, estates, consignments and “on the side of the road.” With a listening ear, a gifted heart and a thrifty mind, Totty shops smart. As she refinishes, re-faces, repairs, strips, scrubs, sands and paints her priceless finds, she turns the forgotten and the ordinary into the rediscovered and the extraordinary.
In addition to her aesthetic talents and undeniable creativity lies the mind of an entrepreneur. Totty isn’t just a designer – she’s a real estate investor with a highly favorable track record. She has been known to make sizeable profits off of her investments. Her extensive experience in this area has trained her to know what potential buyers see. She knows today’s buyers are well-educated with specific expectations, and she knows the challenges one can have in being objective about their own property. She believes in getting the top dollar in the quickest sold time possible. Statistically, professionally staged homes command higher prices and sell quicker as home buyers shop with logic and buy with emotion.
As a well-rounded professional, she has been awarded the “Top Designer Award” as well as the “Best Service Award” in the “Best of Houzz” for 2014, 2015 and 2016. Impressively, the hand-picked recipients of these honors account for only 3% of the 134,000 professional designers on Houzz. Joining Totty’s Houzz recognition, is her “Super Service Awards” with Angie’s List for both 2014 and 2015. Again, Totty was among the 3% of Angie’s List design recipients chosen for these awards. Additionally, the Huntsville Realtor Association, awarded her complete home design in Alabama the 1st place award out of the 15 homes in the running (a few of the homes were valued at double the price of the home she designed). Also included on Dawn’s resume is 8 photographs in Vogue magazine. Both photos of Dawn’s designs and of her as a model will be appearing in upcoming Vogue publications.
Despite her clear success, Dawn D. Totty remains humble and reachable to a diverse array of clients. Her heart for others, as well as her experiences of working with all backgrounds from across the country, positively sets her apart in an ever competitive business. As a multifaceted lover of the arts, the current Chattanooga resident’s design career began in the New York fashion industry where she worked with top modeling agencies as a Designer, Stylist, Consultant and Professional Speaker. She is a graduate of the Interior Design Institute as well as the Staging Diva Institute in Toronto and continually advances her training. For the past 23 years, she has been living her out her passion of designing people, places and spaces.
“The way you dress isn’t any different than interior design,” insists Totty, who has found a unique way to creatively tie fashion and interior design together.
“My design experience has been one of a wide range and a big beautiful mix of people from all around the U.S,” she adds.
As she broadens her horizons and expands her territory, she looks forward to the people she has yet to meet and the places she has yet to go.