Vale man sets sights on Design Star competition
Dan Vickery works to host own design show

By Vickie Schaffeld Holbrook
Special to the Argus Observer
Monday, July 20, 2009 10:36 AM PDT

Vale — “You’ll have to wait and watch.”

That’s the rehearsed answer locally homegrown Design Star finalist Dan Vickery gives if you ask if he wins the highly competitive reality designers’ challenge show on HGTV.

“I will be on TV some- day,” Vickery told friends and family years ago.

Tonight, that dream comes true when the Vale High School graduate joins 10 other finalists who compete for the opportunity to host a design show on the home and garden improvement network.

The fourth season pits the finalists in stressful situations that test their abilities to meet deadlines, budgets, rigorous production schedules and real-life clients — all in front of cameras. The shows have been taped and will air weekly on Sunday nights through Sept. 13 when the winner is crowned.

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The basic premise is similar to many of the other reality shows: Real people compete for the right to stay alive for another episode toward the final challenge.

Viewers will see contestants melt under pressure, fight for their dream and pull together magnificent projects in hours. Professional designers — Genevieve Gorder, Candice Olson and Vern Yip — evaluate the finished jobs and the designers’ television- hosting talent.

The elimination segments — whittled down to mere minutes in the hour-long segments that air weekly — were grueling, lasting sometimes for hours.

“I had hives on my palms,” Vickery said about the first critique session after the finalists designed their living spaces in the 10,000-square-foot Hollywood home formerly occupied by Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball.

“The judges don’t hold back at all. They are all doing what is our dream job — what we want to do.”

After applying for the second time, the 27-year-old University of Oregon architecture graduate said he went in with the attitude to win.

Last year Vickery was a semi-finalist.

This year he hadn’t planned on applying again but did so when the producers asked him where his application was, even though they had 10,000 applicants for this year’s show. Vickery counts his blessings when it comes to his design skills.

“I really think design is genetic. It is something you are born with and something that can grow with experience, with education. But just like anybody in any field, we all have natural gifts and what we’re drawn to do.”

But he also points to his parents and grandparents who always provided support and life lessons.

“I have been blessed by being surrounded by talented people my entire life, my parents and grandparents,” Vickery said of his farm boy childhood in Willowcreek. His mom and grandma — Bev Vickery and Barbara Schaffeld — owned a quilting business where he learned about design, texture and patterns.

“This is pretty exciting, and we have always been proud of Dan, but now everyone will see what we’ve always known,” Bev Vickery said. “Dan is our “Design Star!”

Watch Vickery on HGTV

The first Design Star episode airs at 8 p.m. today on Cable One Channel 49. If you don’t have cable or satellite, you can watch the episode the next day from  http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-design-star/show/index.html. Learn more about Vickery at danvickery.net.

Vickie Schaffeld Holbrook of Nampa is Dan’s aunt and godmother and plans to write ‘biased’ weekly updates for the Argus Observer as this year’s Design Star reality show unfolds. You can catch additional information and past articles about Vickery at http://www.idahopress.com/blogs/DIY_Diva.