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Arts & Entertainment

Local Designers Star in HGTV Show this Weekend

Corey Damen Jenkins and Michelle Mio battle it out for a winning spot on 'Showhouse Showdown.'

HGTV's Showhouse Showdown, a new show that pits designer against designer in a showhouse competition, will feature two local interior designers, including Corey Damen Jenkins of Design with Vision: DWV Interiors in Bloomfield Hills, and Michelle Mio of Rariden Schumacher Mio in Birmingham. The showhouses are based in Midland, where the episode was filmed.

Watch the two designers battle it out for the winning spot March 24 at 2:30 p.m. An encore broadcast will run March 30 at 1:30 p.m.

The designers take over two newly built and identical homes with the same budgets to create a winning interior design. One designer is voted the winner by members of the public who represent the developer’s target market. The goal is to impress potential buyers in an open house tour. The victor's interior design portfolio will be added to HGTV’s  national designer directory, which is viewed by millions of potential clients.  

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“Corey (Damen Jenkins) is really talented,” said  Cindy Schwartz of . “He works really hard and to get to the point where he was chosen for an HGTV show takes a lot. That’s some circle to be in,” added the Huntington Woods resident.

“Some of the best design talent in the country is right here in metro Detroit, and Corey and Michelle are certainly among  the best,” said interior designer Kathleen McGovern of the in Grosse Pointe Park. “It will be fun to see them ‘duke it out.’”

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Jenkins, who grew up in Rochester Hills, was selected to star in HGTV's Showhouse Showdown because of his savvy take on interior design.

My project features ‘Old World Style’ for a Tuscan-style farmhouse,” explained Jenkins. “I am tremendously excited. So much hard work went into the construction of the showhouses and filming. I'm especially proud of the Michigan-based talent and custom craftsmanship that went into my project from companies like Walls Of Virtue, Fieldstone Winery, Detroit Spectrum Painters, Kropp Woodworking, and Designer Furniture Services and the Michigan Design Center, just to name a few."    

Mio also was exuberant about being featured on the show. 

"I had a great time filming the show," she said. "It was a lot of work, but something I can now scratch off my bucket list."

She chose a Bohemian Chic style.

"I am so grateful to the artisans and fabricators who helped to make my home so beautiful," Mio said. "I had a custom-upholstered bed made for the bedroom, a landscape mural on the dining room walls, a custom kitchen island made of stainless steel and granite, a 'floating' wall with mounted console tables for the great room and more. These same artists worked with our conservative budget ($30,000 for all furniture, rugs, window treatments, art, accessories, wall paper, etc.) and delivered it in a week’s time."

Illysia Neumann-Loreck, a Plymouth-based fashion stylist who runs  www.closetenvy.net,  said she’s “obsessed” with interior design. “Since I spend my days working on fashion, I need to get my interior design fix at night and on the weekends,” said Neumann-Loreck.

“It's going to be interesting to see how two different designers pull together an identical house in such vastly different ways in Showhouse Showdown,” she said.  “I can't wait to see how it's done metro-Detroit style with Corey and Michelle.”  

Tune in Saturday or next Friday to see which of these talented local designers was voted winner.

Said Jenkins: "I am very humbled to be featured on this HGTV program and I hope that viewers at home will enjoy it!"

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