Fort Bend Lifestyles and Homes Magazine Dec 2009: Torie Halbert, Houston Designer

It is a rare thing indeed, when at age seven, a child decides upon a career path that will not only lead them to accomplishment and joy in their work, but fame and success beyond what they ever imagined all those years before. Yet for Houston designer and HGTV Design Star finalist, Torie Halbert, such is the case.

This small town girl from Dayton, Texas, had big dreams and started working on fulfilling those dreams very early in life. Torie remembers vividly, “When I was 7 years old, I already loved fabric and wanted so badly to create with it that my mom taught me how to sew. ” At 9 years old, Torie began sewing on a machine, making not only clothes for herself and her dolls, but also pillows, valences and lots of other home elements that foreshadowed her future profession. High school electives in home economics and design courses allowed her to focus on honing her skills and learning the basics. From there, Torie attended Lone Star College in Montgomery County where she earned two degrees in interior design.

While in college, Torie got her first real job as a designer at Home Depot in the d écor department where she was quickly promoted to district designer. This promotion enabled her to travel regionally assisting in opening new stores ’ design departments. She fondly reminisces, “For seven and a half years, I designed and set up vignettes in Home Depot stores all over Texas to give people ideas about what they could do in their own homes. Plus, with my promotion at Home Depot, I was able to work at Expo, their high end design centers, which put me in front of a lot of custom home builders. ” It was there that Torie got her first big project—a remodel in the Champion Forest neighborhood in northwest Houston.

After leaving Home Depot, Torie worked for four years as top designer for a group of 11 custom home builders (Houston ’s Westport Homes among these). Then in 2006, with all the training and expertise she ’d gleaned and refined since the age of 7, she decided to strike out on her own and begin her own design firm —To the T Interiors. The rapport she enjoyed with Westport benefited her immensely at this

Good!” from one of the show’s most outspoken judges, Candace Olson.

As a result of Torie finishing as a top-four finalist on Design Star, she has been covered in major media outlets—both on the small screen and in print. She is also now featured each Thursday on Great Day Houston as their room make-over specialist. This gig is a collaborative effort with both Great Day Houston and Ashley Furniture, where deserving families in the Houston area are rewarded room makeovers. Additionally, Torie maintains her own company, where she continues to work her magic in custom homes, corporate offices and also in some private, more upscale luxury vacation destinations.

Torie Halbert IS Houston’s own Design Star—a description that fits her “To the T!”

point, as they offered her the distinction of staying on as their custom home designer. Additionally, she was called on time and again to design model homes for many of Houston ’s most prominent home builders. Torie acknowledges, “The opportunity to design model homes was such a blessing. I gained experience creating for a wide scale of budgets and also broadened my range as a designer. ”

Torie also relates that in 2008, Westport gave her one of their showcase homes to design from the ground up —both the interior and exterior finishes and completely furnish and accessorize the home. She calls it “a huge feat” and proudly adds that it was one of six homes on Riverstone’s “Tour of Luxury.” The skills she gained from working on high-end custom homes alongside more middle range model homes gave Torie what she describes as “great balance as a designer.”

These professional experiences began to culminate when Torie set her sights on something bigger. She says, “I raised my own bar when I applied for HGTV’s Design Star.” Before even being considered for the show, she had to submit photos of her best work, a five-minute video explaining why she is a Design Star, her educational and professional background, a walk-through video of some of the homes she designed and according to Torie, “TONS of paperwork.” Within three days of sending in her completed portfolio to the casting company, she was notified she had made the first of two cuts. “That is when my anxiety really began to heighten,” she recalls with a grimace.

Following that notification, each week on Friday, Torie got a call to let her know whether or not she was still “in.” After five grueling weeks of anticipation, she finally learned she had made the final cut. Next, Torie was flown to Hollywood to be camera tested, which she says consisted of the executive producers of the show asking her a lot of zany questions while the HGTV people went through her portfolio and watched the whole thing on a big screen in another room. Additionally, she relates that extensive background checks were done to make sure that no embarrassing episodes from the contestants ’ pasts would surface. This screening period lasted about a month.

At long last, she was told to pack for Hollywood where she would live and be confined for six weeks with the other contestants in Chatsworth —a home originally built for Lucille Ball (also owned by Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe).

Week after week, the contestants were challenged to design different rooms in the home using specific materials and staying within very confining budgets, and week after week, Torie survived being cut. She shares that she is most proud of her work on the “White Room” challenge, recounting that it was the first individual challenge and that the contestants had to use only items purchased from the grocery store while staying within the confines of a $1,000 budget and two colors of paint. She says, “I bought all the charcoal, all the puffy Sugar Smack style cereal and all the black beans in the store and used it to make a zebra pattern on the floor. It was WILD and I loved it! ” She painted two of the walls hot pink and used black trash bags and crumpled up napkins to add more color and texture. When she finished her room early, she went in to help a fellow contestant and says with a shy grin, “That’s when America fell in love with me.” She also proudly reports that her work on this room earned her the coveted compliment “Crazy