HGTV Star Alison Victoria Is Living Her Dream on "Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge" and "Alison's Dream Home"

Getting the call to participate in the Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge reintroduced her to her quotvery firstquot design client quotIt39s only in doing this show a ton of awesome interviews and being super nostalgic that I realized Barbie was my first clientquot she beamed during an exclusive chat with MediaVillage quotShe was my first design job as my Barbie Dream Houseamp174 was the first house I ever designed with furniture and accessories I didn39t even realize how massively important she was I constantly tell people the most important thing in design is your floor plan and how the house flows That extends to the furniture and its layout I was inspired by Barbie I loved Barbie and every one of my friends loved Barbie My sister and I had tons of them but I related more to her little sister Skipper She was shorter brunette a little spunkier and a little less refinedquotWith the historymaking release of the Barbie movie this past weekend a central storyline of the film is Ken39s independence After living in Barbieland his entire life a trip to the real world makes her longtime beau realize his value Barbie even draws a demarcation line in the sand when he suggests moving in with Barbie declaring quotIt39s Barbie39s Dream Housequot So giving Ken his own space in the HGTV house was a thrill quotThat was really coolquot she laughed quotWhen we found out we were getting Ken39s Den it was like 39Okay you guys finally know me and this is exactly where I belong39quotGrowing up a tomboy I39ve got a lot of masculine energyquot she continued quotTy is one of my best buddies so who better to do this with than a reallife Ken I39m with this icon in my industry who is a surfer with all these hats he likes wearing It was so fun to play dress up and showcase Ken who is a huge part of the Barbie brand We needed to show him some love and it was cool that we got to be the only team to do soquotThe fact Superstar Kenamp174 1977 and Mod Hair Kenamp174 1973 were our inspiration for the room made it even more funquot she added quotI wish we had time for the five hours of behindthescenes footage of us playing with the wigs the mustaches and the outfits and prepping the dance routine we did for the judges Besides Windy City Rehab this was the best show I39ve ever worked on and the most surreal Doing TV you stop seeing the cameras and you just do what you love and say how you feel and what you think With this I39d constantly look around and go 39What is happening How did I get here I never want to forget what I feel in this moment39 Just the joy of getting to do this with Ty amp8230 I39ve never felt so presentquotVictoria admits getting to throw aside her quottraditionalquot design aesthetic in creating a 1970sinspired man cave was quotpretty easyquot In fact it was a reprieve from the usual that she embraced quotIt was like putting real life asidequot she recalled quotWhat a break that could be for every one of us That39s what Barbie brought us as little kids an element of playfulness we kind of lose Life39s been a little serious in the last couple of years with some things I39ve gone through Before doing Barbie I attended a retreat where I revisited my childhood and being able to continue that in a really positive way is what this show did for me I39m playful by nature and now I want that little girl here even more every day This show meant more to me than just doing a show It really was the most special experiencequotShe is still in awe of two takeaways from her time on Barbie Dreamhouse quotOne is Jonathan Knight who is now a really good friendquot she shared quotI never told him but I grew up with a New Kids pillowcase of him and now I39m competing against him I grew up loving New Kids on the Block and Barbie and now they39re all right here with me This isn39t realquotThen I got to keep the special Barbie of me that Mattel made for the showquot she added quotNo one fought harder than me for them to give us our dolls and everyone at the network knows that I39m like 39Excuse me where39s my doll39 When they said they weren39t sure if we were getting them I39m like 39Oh no no no That39s not the answer Just let me know when I can expect her in the mail Thank you39 She arrived two days ago and is now in a special nook in Alison39s Dream HomequotSpeaking of that Victoria is excited for viewers to see her own house come to life quotI named the show Alison39s Dream Home when I pitched it to the networkquot she said in closing quotThey wanted to change the name but I explained 39It39s what this is it39s a dream39 I can39t believe it39s mine as it39s out of this world and now it39s a reality That was the perfect namequotBarbie Dream House Challenge is telecast Sundays at 8 pm ET on HGTV Windy City Rehab Alison39s Dream Home is telecast Tuesdays at 9 pm ET on HGTV Both are also available to stream on MAXClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

HGTV Star Alison Victoria Is Living Her Dream on "Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge" and "Alison's Dream Home"

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Steve Gidlow

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

HGTV Star Alison Victoria Is Living Her Dream on "Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge" and "Alison's Dream Home"

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Steve Gidlow

TAGS:

Cookies