Michelle’s motto: “It all starts with a conversation”. What are your personal tastes? What is your brand? What do you hope to achieve? How comfortable are you with thinking out of the box? What is your budget? Those important conversations go on daily at the two companies that Michelle leads – Conceptual Designs Inc. and WITHIN by Conceptual Designs. A passion for design uniqueness and detail mark Michelle’s style. She brings years of experience and savvy in commercial and residential design to her companies and sees them in a symbiotic relationship. “Every commercial client lives in a home; every person has a residence who either works, shops or plays in a business.” Her focus on customer expectations and satisfaction is backed by research and market trips to the places where trends have their roots. “We pride ourselves on a design staff who are experts. There isn’t another design firm in the Quad Cities with the breadth of talent we have” she says. Michelle, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Iowa State University, also believes in giving back to the community. She returns to ISU often to meet and mentor the next generation of designers, is a founder of the Downtown Bettendorf Business Women group and is chairperson of the Downtown Bettendorf Organization board.

Liz’s motto: “We’ve done that, so let’s do something else”. Liz has a passion for interior design and for creating spaces that people want to be in. She admits to always having been “artsy and craftsy,” and those talents extend to painting, ceramics, silkscreen printing and woodworking. “I just like taking things and making them better than what they are,” she said. The graduate of Harrington College of Design in Chicago says she is not afraid of color and pattern. “I love to push, get people out of their comfort zone,” she said, but emphasizes, “We try to achieve a better version of a client’s vision.” She stays connected to online interior design blogs and new products and trends in order to keep the designs presented by CDI new and fresh. Liz creates all of the interior 3D models and renderings and uses these tools to consistently wow our clients.