Faculty
Maureen Ross Neilson
Host Seasons 1-4
Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Maureen Ross Neilson graduated from Canterbury School of the Arts. She then continued her studies in Toronto, studying the performing arts at Ryerson University.
Neilson was involved with The Canadian Improv Games, both as a participant, and then later as a workshop programmer and adjudicator. In Toronto she has toured with several different comedy troupes, thoroughly enjoying the fan base that laughed their way with her through the 1990s.
Maureen has had an eclectic career to date, from playing several of the Bard's ladies as a clown to puppeteering on the popular CBC children's television series, Mr. Dressup. Most recently, Maureen has appeared in numerous memorable roles. She starred as Laraine Newman alongside Jamie Gertz in It's Always Something: The Gilda Radner Story on ABC. She also played a young Sophia Loren in the movie Between Strangers and appears as Dr. Sharon DeLauro on the hit series DOC.
Ernst Hupel
Designer Seasons 1-4
Ernst Hupel is the co-owner of 2H Interior Design Ltd. and has been an interior designer for over 15 years with a focus on custom, high-end residential and commercial spaces. Ernst has worked with a diverse group of clients, both in Canada and internationally, and is widely respected for his classic approach to design and for maintaining the integrity of the spaces he works on.
Melanie Martin
Designer Seasons 1-4
Melanie Martin studied in both the Interior Design and Residential Décor programs at Algonquin College in Ottawa, ON and graduated with honours. She has been working in the interior design business since 1991 and founded her own company, Distinctive Designs, in 1995. She specializes in residential interior design, interior decorating and, with her team of design and architectural associates, works on custom new home design as well as custom renovations.
Melanie has won awards for her design work as well as for business achievement. She has given numerous public seminars for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, TD Canada Trust, Chapters, and has been a featured expert at various design home shows. Melanie has written design and décor related articles for newspapers and magazines and has also shared her knowledge by teaching for the Ottawa Board of Education and Algonquin College. She has also been an active member with the Ottawa Carleton Home Builders’ Association since 1997 and has acted as Chairperson of the Home Show Committee for 1999 and 2000.
Baron Bryant
Project Consultant & Lead Carpenter Season 4
Growing up in the artistically inclined community of Chelsea, Quebec, Baron Bryant was exposed to countless artists and artisans. It was this creative environment that inspired him to pursue a successful career in carpentry and design.
For over fifteen years Baron specialized in stick frame, timber and log home construction before moving into prop construction in 2002. For three years he worked at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa with some of the country's most renowned set designers and builders. Working with various materials he was able to bring many theatrical designs to life. He then brought his skills to film as a set builder, set dresser, prop master and special effects technician for H2O starring Paul Gross and a number of TV movies of the week. Not long after, Baron made the leap to on-camera work in 2007 when he appeared in the second season of the television series From the Ground Up with Debbie Travis. More recently Baron's projects include building sets for Odyssey Theater's staging of A Curious Mishap, Charbonneau Productions’ television series Moitie Moitie, and Instinct Films’ Six Days in June. When he's not busy building, creating, and designing Baron can be found canoeing, road-biking, or cross-country skiing.
Christina Maureen Rice
Seamstress & Project Assistant Season 2, 3 & 4
Christina is a certified interior decorator who studied in the Residential Décor program at Algonquin College in Ottawa and graduated with honours in 1999. She has established her own interior decorating company, TaDa! Interior Design, and enjoys decorating her clients' homes according to their personalities and styles. Christina can assist with all a home's needs from simple paint consultations to larger, more involved, renovation projects. As well as being a successful decorator, Christina is also an experienced seamstress and has become well-known for her custom designs. She specializes in window treatments, bedding, and soft furnishings.
William Mood
Assistant Carpenter & Project Manager Season 2, 3 & 4
Will was born and raised on a farm just outside Peterborough, ON where he developed a strong work ethic, a self-deprecating sense of humour, and a quick wit. He also learned to never shy away from a challenge. A Carleton University honours graduate in film studies, Will has been on a constant quest for a career to sustain his endless thirst for knowledge. After stints as a miner, an architect's assistant, a pipe fitter, and a production assistant for an animation company, Will answered a call for a carpenter's assistant for Mountain Road Productions’ Gemini-award-winning series Broken House Chronicles. This led to three seasons of behind-the-scenes assistant carpentry on MRP’s hit series Me, My House & I along with production work on other television shows, specials, and films shot in the Ottawa area.
During the first season of Design U Will served as the show’s Project Manager, where he assisted the carpentry team off-camera and supervised all the design projects seen on the show. Now, Will is in front of the camera helping make our design students’ ideas a reality. When not working in television, Will manages an independent video store in downtown Ottawa and plays on two or three baseball teams. Rumour has it he has seen every movie ever made.
Blair Varden
Assistant Carpenter Season 4
Blair is a good old prairie boy born in Dauphin, MB. His family moved around for many short stints in countless Manitoba towns before being transferred to Ottawa, ON. As a teenager, Blair was bitten by the theatre bug early on in high school, performing in various productions and drama festivals. This led to his discovery of improvisational theatre and his participation in the Canadian Improv Games at the National Arts Centre as a member of the Cairine Wilson Improv team for four years.
Before leaving Ottawa to study theatre at Bishop's University, Blair developed his skills with power tools during summer employment building parks and playgrounds for the city. These carpentry skills were easily transferred to technical theatre. Set building after rehearsal became a favourite activity of his at Bishop's. During Season 3 of Design U, Blair served as the off-camera assistant carpenter helping the crew in any way possible - usually making sure no dessert went to waste. After perfecting the art of not cracking the camera lens while in front of it, Blair made the leap to on-camera assistant carpenter for Season 4.
Penny Southam
Designer Seasons 1 & 2
Award-winning, Registered Interior Designer, Penny Southam, ARIDO, IDC, established Southam Design Inc. in 1992. The firm has become one of Ottawa's top residential design firms - combining modern lines with classic elements to create unique interior and architectural spaces. Penny's firm creates everything from the smallest interior detail to award-winning custom homes. Her client list extends from Montreal to Vancouver, BC.
Penny has also given many design seminars at local design shows, written a weekly design column for The Ottawa Citizen newspaper, and written numerous articles for magazines such as Ottawa Interiors and Style at Home.
More recently, Penny is one of the hosts of W Network's hit series All for Nothing? alongside Paul Rushforth, giving homeowners design tips on how to increase the market value of their homes while spending as little money as possible.
Ramón Robleto
Designer Season 1
Ramon studied both industrial and residential design and has been an interior designer for over seven years. Currently, he works for the Government of Canada as a design manager in the architectural and interior design unit. His main focus is on space planning and design development and he is very interested in expanding his career to include architecture.
Tyler Hamilton
Project Consultant & Lead Carpenter Seasons 1–3
Tyler Hamilton is a self-employed carpenter working primarily in the residential market. He is a born carpenter and clients will attest to the high quality of his craftsmanship and his enthusiasm for his work. Tyler is also an accomplished singer and performer. No stranger to audiences, he first performed in his hometown church in Edmonton at the age of five. He later joined the Scola Cantorum Boys Choir and went on to perform at annual community events including fairs, talent festivals, and citywide musical productions. Tyler has sung the national anthem at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium for the Canadian Football League and was a featured soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
More recently, he achieved national notoriety as one of the top finalists on the inaugural edition of the popular television series Canadian Idol. In the summer of 2004, Tyler starred as Curly in the musical Oklahoma, presented by The Sunshine Festival Theatre Company in Orillia, ON. He continues to write and record music whenever he can.
Jeff Palmer
Assistant Carpenter Season 1
Jeff Palmer grew up surrounded by the construction and design business. With a father who is a general contractor, a mother who is an architect and a degree in Urban Studies from the University of British Columbia, it only made sense that he joined the family business. For the past two years he has worked with his parents in their family-owned company, Prospect Builders Ltd., located just outside Ottawa. Prior to returning to Ottawa, Jeff established a small but successful construction company in Vancouver. Jeff enjoys cutting-edge design, making furniture, and painting – anything that allows him to work with his hands and be creative.
Lucie Soulard
Assistant Carpenter Season 1
Lucie Soulard is a self-employed Jill-of-all-trades: carpenter, sewer, upholsterer, painter, mother of two boys. A native of Ottawa, Lucie began her professional life in the hospitality industry. After several years, she decided to change careers and enrolled in Ottawa's Algonquin College. There, she received a degree in Interior Design and there was no turning back. Before starting her own company, SOULARDesign, Lucie worked in industrial and commercial design. Currently, her projects focus on residential design and renovation. Lucie loves her workshop, her woodworking tools, and her well-worn boots.
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old-fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally four years—and qualify by successfully completing that country's competence test in places such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and South Africa. It is also common that the skill can be learned by gaining work experience other than a formal training program, which may be the case in many places.
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a creative flair, an interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordinates, and manages such enhancement projects. Interior design is a multifaceted profession that includes conceptual development, space planning, site inspections, programming, research, communicating with the stakeholders of a project, construction management, and execution of the design.
Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded English-language college located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The college has three campuses, all in Ontario: a primary campus located in Ottawa, and secondary campuses located in Perth and Pembroke. It offers bachelor's degrees, diplomas, and certificates in a range of disciplines and specialties. The college serves the National Capital Region and the outlying areas of Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, and Upstate New York. It has been ranked among the Top 50 Research Colleges in Canada and has been recognized as one of Canada's top innovation leaders. The enabling legislation is the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act. It is a member of Polytechnics Canada.
Tygert Burton "Ty" Pennington is an American television host, artist, carpenter, author, and former model and actor.
The set decorator is the head of the set decoration department in the film and television industry, responsible for selecting, designing, fabricating, and sourcing the "set dressing" elements of each set in a Feature Film, Television, or New Media episode or commercial, in support of the story and characters of the script. The set decorator is responsible for each décor element inside the sets, from practical lighting, technology, art, furniture, drapery, floor coverings, books, collectables, to exterior furnishings such as satellite dishes, Old West water troughs, streetlamps, traffic lights, garden furniture and sculptures.
Design on a Dime is a decorating television series that aired on HGTV from 2003 to 2013. In this long-running series, a design team demonstrates how problem areas can be revitalized on a budget of only $1,000. The show was based in Chicago, IL. and featured a rotation of design teams and hosts. Later episodes featured designer Casey Noble using innovative solutions to the toughest makeover scenarios and with a bigger budget of $2,500. There were a few variations, including episodes highlighting a $3,000 wedding, Christmas, a special "Etsy" episode, and more.
Cathy Hobbs is an American television host, interior designer and lifestyle expert based in New York City.
William Commanda OC was an Algonquin elder, spiritual leader, and promoter of environmental stewardship. Commanda served as Band Chief of the Kitigàn-zìbì Anishinàbeg First Nation near Maniwaki, Quebec, from 1951 to 1970. In his life, he worked as a guide, a trapper and woodsman, and was a skilled craftsman and artisan who excelled at constructing birch bark canoes. He was Keeper of several Algonquin wampum shell belts, which held records of prophecies, history, treaties and agreements. In 2008, Commanda was appointed to the rank of officer of the Order of Canada.
Dvira Ovadia is a Canadian television personality and an award-winning/celebrity designer. She is best known as winning the 2007 show called From The Ground Up with Debbie Travis season two. The show aired on Global TV May 31, 2007. The show was re-aired on HGTV Canada in the spring of 2008. In spring of 2008, the show was also airing in the United States on the Fine Living Network, Sunday nights at 10EST. Dvira Ovadia is also known for her weekly syndicated column which appears in many blogs which readers often write in to have their decorating questions answered.
Junk Raiders is a Canadian reality television series that debuted in 2009 on The Discovery Channel and ION Life. The series follows the titular Junk Raiders, a team of professionals who attempt to renovate a designated space over a short period of time, and with a relatively low budget. Because of the extremely limited budgets, many of the materials needed must be found by freecycling: finding something unwanted for free and reusing it.
Matthew Finlason is a designer, art director, and producer of film and television projects. He is the host of HGTV's television series The Stagers.
All for Nothing? is a Canadian real estate and design television series that aired on the W Network. The series was produced by Mountain Road Productions and was based in Ottawa and its surrounding areas. The first season premiered on October 7, 2010, comprising 13 one-hour episodes and has since aired on Casa. It also aired on the Ion Life channel in the United States.
Carmen Nery De La Paz is an American television personality, interior/exterior designer, wood turner, welder, and professional cook.
Treehouse Masters is an American reality television series that aired on Animal Planet and starred Pete Nelson, a master treehouse builder and owner of Nelson Treehouse and Supply. Each episode, Nelson and his team design and build custom treehouses for clients across the country. The show debuted on May 31, 2013 and ended on September 29, 2018.
Catch a Contractor is an American reality television home improvement series that premiered March 9, 2014, on Spike. The show features former carpenter Adam Carolla, licensed contractor Skip Bedell and his wife Alison, a private investigator. The series premiere was the most watched debut of a Spike original series since March 2011.
Tiffany (Moulton) Brooks is an American interior designer and television personality. In 2013, she was crowned the winner of the competition show HGTV Design Star.
Amy Devers is an American furniture designer, carpenter, television personality and design blogger. She currently is the host and design expert on A&E's Fix This Yard, the host of Victory Garden’s edibleFEAST on PBS, and a design and carpentry expert on OWN’s Home Made Simple. In the past she has hosted design oriented programs such as Freeform Furniture on DIY, Designer People on Ovation, and was a carpenter on TLC’s Trading Spaces.
Chayse Dacoda is an American born interior designer, product designer, host, spokesperson and comedienne. She is best known for her work on TLC's While You Were Out which was nominated for an Emmy, HGTV's Get it Together and NBC's & LxTV's Show Open House. She also has designed rugs for Jaipur Rugs in India.
Thomas Pheasant, is an American interior designer who owns a design company in Washington, D.C., and has collaboration with Baker and McGuire furniture.
Erich Bruckmann was a boat builder and founder of Bruckmann Manufacturing, one of four companies that in 1969 formed C&C Yachts, a Canadian yacht builder that dominated North American sailing in the 1970s and early 1980s.
