By Mi-Ling Stone Poole – 

Recently, I spoke with Summer Baltzer, host of HGTV’s “Design on a Dime” and TLC’s new show “Unhinged.”

Baltzer has spent the past 10 years helping  homeowners spruce up their spaces. She told me she has taped at least 100 “Design on a Dime” shows.

She will be at the Oklahoma City Home & Garden Show today and Sunday at State Fair Park, presenting workshops about how to decorate a great room and fix up a bedroom.

Her new show “Unhinged” on TLC was conceived after her parents were duped out of their hard-earned money by an unscrupulous contactor. The show aids homeowners in similar circumstances and provides up to $10,000 per family to help them remedy their particular problem.

Baltzer was inspired by design at an early age. Her mother was a seamstress and her father a contractor. She might have missed her calling had it not been for her father. While she was studying theater in college, she helped her father build a set for a theater production and found her passion. She trained in interior design at California State University at Northridge.

When asked for cost-saving design tips she said:
• Painting a room is the most cost effective.
• Change out fabrics.
• Repurpose items; move them from room to room.
• Seek bargains at flea markets and antique shops.
• Rearranging a room doesn’t cost a thing.

When asked what her favorite design styles were, she said to mix modern, transitional and eclectic together for a comfy, clean look.