Torie Halbert

HGTV Design Star Castoff Interviews

It's finally official--I'll be interviewing Season 5 contestants of HGTV's Design Star after they're booted from the show each week!  If you can't wait for the season to start, you can satisfy your Design Star jones by reading up on [...]

Catching Up with HGTV’s Antonio Ballatore

I cracked open a hole in my schedule to catch up with HGTV’s Design Star Season 4 winner Antonio Ballatore about his upcoming season of The Antonio Treatment. Viewers seem to either love or hate Antonio—there aren’t many people in [...]

HGTV's Design Star: Lonni Paul Interview!

If I've learned anything by conducting these interviews with Design Star finalists and judges, it's that a whole other side of their personalities are revealed when you have the privilege of speaking with the actual person and not viewing an [...]

HGTV's Design Star, Season 4 Episode 7: The Outdoor Challenge

Last night on Landscaper’s Challenge…er, I mean, Design Star… I was already over this episode before it even started. As a general rule, interior designers just don’t know enough about plants to put a cohesive landscaping plan together, and I [...]

Design Star Season 4: Interview with Jason Champion!

“Hey, girl, hey!”  So begins every conversation with Jason Champion, the latest designer to get the boot from HGTV’s Design Star.  I have eagerly awaited this interview, because I got the distinct impression that he was the type of guy [...]

Design Star Season 4, Episode 6: Kids' Rooms!

This week’s episode of Design Star finds the designers going head-to-head in individual challenges making over kids’ bedrooms (in this case, “kids” are defined as seventeen and under), and this is also the first time we're able to see them [...]

HGTV Design Star: Season 4, Episode 5: Military Makeovers

In this hump-season episode of HGTV's Design Star, the six remaining designers are challenged with making over living spaces for two of our nation's military families living in drab Navy housing. There's a little piece of my heart in this [...]