“I have been holding a secret for so long,” says Carmeon Hamilton.
Now, the Memphis-based interior designer, lifestyle blogger, and Instagram influencer can let the cat out of the bag. She is the host, star, and driving force behind Reno My Rental, an unscripted design show premiering Saturday, September 18th, at 10 p.m. Central on the streaming network discovery+, with a simultaneous premiere special on cable channel HGTV.
Hamilton is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas’ interior design program and has been improving Bluff City living spaces with her firm Nubi Interiors. First through her blog, then on Instagram, she has amassed an impressive online following. Among her fans is Alicia George, a makeup artist for film and television and vice chair of the Memphis & Shelby County Film Commission, who first met Hamilton at ArtsMemphis’ annual Art By Design fundraiser. “She has a style that’s a little Bohemian but very sophisticated. I love all the work I have seen that she has done.”
Hamilton says her goal as a designer has always been to improve her clients’ lives. “Living well, loving the way that they live, and taking those things that most people call the minutiae of life, those smaller things, and really understanding that every single element of the day, whether minor or major, really adds up to how well we live. Whether you’re eating off a paper plate or a ceramic plate, those minor moments are what allow us to understand that we can be grateful for the smallest things. That’s really the philosophy behind what I do — making sure my clients understand the importance of living beautifully.”
In February 2020, the designer was concentrating on using her social media skills to build her business when she was contacted by a casting producer on Instagram who said they were putting together talent for a new competition show. Hamilton says the process was secretive. “They just said it’s an interior design show. I had no idea what network it was for, what kind of vehicle it was, nothing. But they just keep saying, ‘We think you’re a great fit!’ I’m like, ‘A great fit for what?’”
A New Design Star
The show, it turned out, was Design Star: Next Gen, a reboot of the popular HGTV reality competition series that premiered in 2006 and ran for eight seasons. Hamilton says she was a fan of the original series and was shocked when the producers asked her to compete against seven other designers from all over America. The grand prize for whomever made it through the gauntlet of challenges was $50,000 and a chance to create a new show for the fledgling streaming network discovery+. At first, she was hesitant to accept the role because she didn’t want to neglect her successful business. But her husband, Marcus, encouraged her to pursue the rare opportunity. “The entire process was very surreal. But definitely one I will cherish for the rest of my life,” says Hamilton.
When she got on set and met her competitors, she discovered she was not the only one with misgivings. “We were all very leery of going into a competition,” she recalls. “There’s always a villain and animosity and drama, and none of us wanted that. We all ended up being really close and really supportive, and I think that aspect made the experience that much more positive. … I walked away with seven new friends.”
Hamilton says at first her goal was simply not to be the first one eliminated. But week after week, through challenges like improving the ugliest room in America, up-cycling post-industrial buildings, and creating a thriving indoor/outdoor space, the other competitors fell away, and she remained standing. Finally, guest judge Jonathan Scott, star of Property Brothers, crowned Hamilton the winner.
“During the competition, they asked all of us, ‘If you had the opportunity to have your own show, what kind of show would it be?’ I think my original idea was named Hometown Hope. From the beginning, I wanted to do a TV show in Memphis. … My husband and I had goals to go into underprivileged and underserved neighborhoods and truly elevate their homes. I want people who are part of those neighborhoods to stay and cultivate those neighborhoods, but using my talents and resources to truly elevate the way they live, so that they have that much more appreciation for where they live.
“I shot Design Star in five weeks, ending in October. The show premiered in February, and I was announced the winner on March 31st. I actually have been working with the producers and the network since December, basically two weeks after I won Design Star, developing my show. I thought it was going to take a long time, but the network was excited. They’re like, ‘We’re ready to go. We want to get this show moving. We want to get you in Memphis.’ And it’s been a whirlwind ever since.”
Rental Nation
“Reno My Rental is the name of the show,” says Hamilton. “We’re focusing on rentals, but not from the landlord’s point of view. It’s for the people who actually live in these spaces. A lot of renters have a problem with infusing their own personal styles and aesthetics into their homes, and that is what this show is about — showing people that can be done.”
Ming Lee Howell, executive producer of Reno My Rental, has been working in unscripted television for two decades. “There’s no premiere show right now on HGTV or on discovery+ that features or highlights renters,” she says. “A lot of millennials, I think, are choosing to rent because they’re traveling light and they don’t want the responsibility or the burden of a mortgage. They don’t want the maintenance that comes along with a house. So they’re trying to turn their rentals into homes. That’s why I feel it’s really relevant right now — the timing is right. And Memphis is a great place because you can rent whatever you want. There are so many different types of properties, from a historic home to a high-rise apartment building to a loft Downtown. And so, because there are these options, we get to play around with different types of renovations.”
Last summer, Hamilton, Howell, and a team of artisans, builders, and television crew worked on improving properties all over Shelby County. “We’ve been in Frayser, Cordova, Midtown, and Downtown off of South Main,” Hamilton says. “When I said I wanted to do the show in Memphis, they were dead set on making sure we showed as much of Memphis as possible. I have a belief that you can’t tell a Memphis story without telling all of it. It’s not just Graceland and barbecue; they have to see everything. Even the stops that we made in between the projects, like going to my welder’s shop in South Memphis, fabric shopping in East Memphis, my favorite coffee shop in Overton Square, 17 Berkshire — I want people to see the greatness of all of it.”
Six Memphians from all walks of life were recruited for the opportunity to upgrade their rental space. Alicia George was one of them. “A producer of a friend of mine posted that there was a design show coming to Memphis and that they were looking for rental houses. I got really excited. I love interior design, and I had a feeling it was Carmeon’s show because of Design Star. I had been following her for a long time.”
Potential guests on Reno My Rental are asked to submit two or three rooms in their home that they would like to renovate. “I have a unique story,” George says. “I’m a makeup artist that lives in the pink house in Central Gardens. … I have a sunroom that I do makeup in a lot, especially for brides and clients because there’s just a lot of good light in there. I wanted to turn it into more of a makeup studio space but still a livable sunroom, like a live-work space.”
Normally, a job like this would take Hamilton a couple of months, but Howell says they don’t have that kind of time. “We have to turn things around pretty fast, so each one of these is about a two-week renovation. We have two going on at the same time in our production schedule, and we’re doing two spaces at each renovation.”
Last April, Ashley Dyson and her husband Marquise moved from Midtown to a new home in Frayser, where they would have more room for their toddler daughter, Harper. Before the move, Ashley told Marquise she wanted to create a special space for him in their new home. “He was like, ‘Honey, don’t worry about me. Let’s just move into the house and get settled.’”
So when her friend sent her the application for Reno My Rental, Dyson knew exactly what she wanted to do. “So when it just all really started to come together, it was like prayers answered,” Dyson says.
Home Work
At the Dysons’ place, Hamilton chose to work on Marquise’s den and the adjacent kitchen. “We focus on things that the tenants can take with them when they leave,” says Hamilton. “So this particular home, working with Ashley and Marquise, I got to know them through the casting process before we could get started with the design process. … I know that Marquise loves to travel, but he has a very stressful job. Ashley is there to support him, but she also loves baking and cooking because she has a connection with her mother, and she has a little girl that she wants to gift with that love for cooking.”
Once there’s a plan in place, the renovations begin. The renters don’t get to see the results until the work is complete. “It’s a weird thing,” says George. “You have to move out of your house for two weeks and totally trust and turn your house over to complete strangers.”
Dyson says the suspense was real. “We were getting little teases of things that were happening in the space, but we still had no real clue of what was going on.”
“We try to incorporate them into small projects,” Hamilton says. “We went to the lumberyard together to pick out reclaimed wood, but they had no idea what any of this stuff was turning into or where it was going. So it’s all a surprise at the end. I’m waiting in the background, holding my breath, hoping they love it.”
Dyson says, when she saw her transformed kitchen, “pleased is an understatement. I was absolutely floored. I walked in and I just could not believe it.”
In Central Gardens, Hamilton transformed George’s sunroom and bedroom, where she kept a special piece of furniture. “It was actually a makeup vanity of my mom’s,” George says. “I probably learned how to do makeup at that vanity, where I saw my mom do it every single day. But it was in really bad shape. The finish had worn off of it and it had been really beat up. I had talked about lacquering, which is a really trendy thing, but I’ve always been scared of actually doing anything to it myself. I didn’t want to ruin it. And so Carmeon took it and had it lacquered, and it looks beautiful. So it was a whole sentimental thing — all the emotions were real when the reveal happened.”
An Emotional Ending
Howell says she believes Hamilton was a genuine discovery. “I’ve worked with a bunch of different types of people — celebrities and designers. For a first-season television designer, she is a star. She’s a natural. She knows what she wants.”
Hamilton says filming Reno My Rental has helped her appreciate Memphis. “I learned that this city is so ready to be seen in a positive light. Everyone has been so willing to do whatever they can to make this show successful because they feel like this is the best Memphis has ever been seen, and what the show could potentially do for the city. I know a lot of entrepreneurs and people who aren’t familiar with this place probably don’t understand the feeling of community. But this city does not struggle with that whatsoever.”
Hamilton says throughout the whole whirlwind of the last year, her husband Marcus was by her side, encouraging her. “He has been the biggest support. He and my son are actually part of the show. You’ll see them by my side.”
As Hamilton and the crew were in post-production, preparing for the show’s debut, an unimaginable tragedy struck. On the afternoon of August 29th, Marcus Hamilton was riding his motorcycle on N. Watkins when he was struck by a Mercedes, which was making a left turn onto Chelsea Avenue. Marcus died at the scene. The driver of the Mercedes, Carl Grandberry, was charged with failure to yield, driving under the influence, and public intoxication.
Hamilton, who was preparing to promote Reno My Rental, has not spoken publicly since the tragedy, except for a heart-wrenching post on her Instagram. “It is with deep sorrow and an eternally broken heart that I tell you that the love of my life, Marcus Hamilton, has passed away,” she wrote. “I am no stranger to loss, but this loss brings something beyond pain. Something I can’t describe. I’m now missing a major part of myself, and that void seems to grow more and more every second. I can’t bring myself to figure out Davin’s and my next step, because there shouldn’t be a need for one. But in the midst of this immense pain came a wave of support from the community of people that we’ve worked so hard to build. They are the only reason I have the strength and ability to put these words in writing. Thank you all for being one of the best parts of our love story, and loudly encouraging us to be the passionately flawed humans we were, living a life well lived. I only ask for grace and privacy as my family and I navigate this extraordinary loss.”
Carmeon Hamilton’s episodes of Design Star: Next Gen are currently available for streaming on discovery+. Reno My Rental premieres simultaneously on discovery+ and HGTV on September 18th at 10 p.m. CDT.
