The Salt Lake Design Society, Salt Lake Community College’s interior design club, toured the cable network Home & Garden Television’s (HGTV) Dream Home in Midway, Utah on Saturday Feb. 18, 2012 to learn the latest design styles and trends in the industry.
The HGTV Dream Home is a custom-built, fully furnished home that the cable network gives away in a drawing. Each year HGTV designers decide on a location nationwide to build a dream home worth over 1 million dollars and takes viewers through the process of planning, building and designing the home.
This year the home was built in Midway, Utah about 45 minutes from Salt Lake City.
“What a fantastic opportunity,” said Beth Low, president of the interior design club, on why she planned the tour. “It’s what we do. I’ve been calling and calling trying to get a private tour scheduled because I was not aware that they did public tours. They just said to check the HGTV blog and then it finally came up.”
- February 25 HGTV Dream Home tour
- March 9 Lighting Design in Draper
- Trip to Los Angeles Pacific Design tour of WestWeek Market in March
- City Creek Shopping Center tour in April
In the past the interior design club has visited sites such as the Grand America Hotel, the Governor’s Mansion and various home show tours such as the Parade of Homes.
According to Low, the purpose of these tours is to help students become more aware of the products, technology, trends and designs in the interior design industry.
Dream Home
HGTV has been building and giving away dream homes like this one since 1997.
This year the home is set on waterfront property near the Provo River. The 4,000 square foot house sits on approximately two and a half acres in a quiet, rural community.
“As Salt Lake Design Society, SLCC’s interior design club, our focuses will be four fold. Increase our skills as interior designers through challenges, critiques and competitions. Develop valuable relationships with fellow design students and design professionals in the community. Use design to serve the community. Have fun and build creativity. Each of these will help us better prepare to contribute to the field of interior design after our time here.”
HGTV used local businesses, contractors and vendors to construct and build the home. The interior of the home was decorated using the latest styles and techniques. All of the art inside the home was by local artists and purchased through galleries in Park City.
The tour was an opportunity for the design club or anyone visiting the home to glean design ideas and view the dream home in person.
Make-A-Wish
Every year HGTV picks a local charity to receive all the proceeds from these tours. This year HGTV picked Make-A-Wish of Utah to be the recipient of all of the ticket sales.
“All of the proceeds from this tour event benefit Make-A-Wish so we’re hoping to raise a lot of money,” said Frank Nilson, director of program services at Make-A-Wish. “It’s wonderful especially this year because we weren’t planning on this income because the economy is so bad right now that any little boost is great.”
Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children battling with a life-threatening illness through the donations they receive.
Tickets for the tours are $15 per person. SLCC’s interior design club has another tour set for Saturday Feb. 25 at 3:00.
Tours run Thursday through Sunday from now until Feb 26. The winner will be announced on the HGTV cable channel sometime in March.
Visit Make-A-Wish for times and reservations to schedule a tour. Also visit the interior design club on Facebook or their blog to find out more information about upcoming events and on joining the club.
