HGTV's Design Star winning host, Emily, premiered her show last Sunday.
This was the first year I watched HGTV's Design Star. Though I had some issues with the show itself, Emily drew me in because she had a slightly snarky personality and a good eye for the details. It seemed like every design/decor/house blogger was cheering for her. She felt like one of us because of her blog, The Brass Petal, even though she is actually an already accomplished stylist. I was really pleased that she won and became HGTV's next Design Star.
Her show Secrets From a Stylist fills a gap in HGTV's programming. It is targeted to the Domino/Lonny/house blogging crowd. Outside of Genevieve Gorder (one of my favorites), most of the hosts and shows do not.
Secrets From a Stylist has a visual look very different from any other program on that network. I loved the tilt shift camera effects and the magazine-like stills with Domino-ish labels. The production values were high and it didn't feel like it was banged out on an assembly line like some of the other HGTV shows do.
The other thing I really liked was that she styled three different design concepts to get to the final "reveal". A lot of the reviews I've read either didn't like the time spent on this or were confused. I LOVED it because no one is purely one style or another and it helped me understand how I could layer my sometimes conflicting design sensibilities in one room. It encouraged me to see how I could work with the furniture I have and add to it so my room doesn't feel like a showroom, or in my case, a vintage time capsule. This isn't something that would be easy to get across with a quick sketch or mood board review.The end result was aspirational, but still achievable to the average viewer.
If I were the producer of the show I'd probably dial back the kitschy elements of the design diagnostic segment (Emily - please ditch the cheesy eyewear) and spend more time explaining the concept of showing the three layered looks. Emily clearly knew where she was going with the final look, but I'm not sure the audience understood that. Here's hoping HGTV tweaks the show a bit and gets a full series on soon. They're casting for it right now. If you live in LA and want to have Emily style your home, sign up and please report back with all of your insider gossip!
Now to the fun part - the wallpaper! Emily used wallpaper in three of the rooms she styled. The dining area had an accent wall papered in a toile by Thibaut. Maybe I impressed you by whipping out some hardcore wallpaper ID skills, but no, she actually revealed her sources on her blog.
The guest bedroom with the funny little sleeping nook featured "Leaf" by
Katie Ridder (she has an annoying flash-drive site, so I can't link right to the paper - boo).
The last room Emily worked on was a den. I absolutely loved the grey grasscloth she used, but haven't found a source yet.
If you want to read more about Secrets From a Stylist check out Emily's blog, or read the shopping tips she shared on the Design Star blog.
If you missed the debut of her program they're playing it again tonight (Saturday, September 4) at 8/7 Central. I'd link to other dates, but I have to say I can never find anything on that site.
Yo HGTV - if you're reading this - please work on your site's information architecture and search functionality! Ahem.
