Carmeon on Camera

Behind the scenes with Memphian Carmeon Hamilton — grand-prize winner of “Design Star: Next Gen” and star of her new filmed-in-Memphis discovery+ show, “Reno My Rental.”

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Carmeon Hamilton is a singular presence: vivacious and determined, her broad smile and almondine eyes framed by locs, you sense immediately upon meeting her that she has a certain ineffable quality, an iridescent glow — that, to call it what it is, she has star power.

Readers of Memphis magazine have already met Carmeon Hamilton. In 2018, we published a short article about her when the designer was participating in that year’s Art by Design showcase benefitting ArtsMemphis. Then in 2020, we relaunched our Habitats series with a visit to the Cordova home of the interior designer, blogger, and social media influencer. Little did we know that we were catching the 35-year-old on the cusp of a life-changing year that began when she was cast in Design Star: Next Gen, the reboot of the popular interior design competition show on discovery+.

“When you guys were here doing the shoot last fall, I was getting ready to leave to do the show,” Hamilton recalls. “Of course. I couldn’t tell anybody about it at the time.”

She went on to win the Design Star competition, which came as no real surprise to many of Hamilton’s followers. And as winner, she had the opportunity to launch her very own discovery+ show. Reno My Rental, which was filmed in Memphis, premiered simultaneously on the streamer and HGTV this September.

“TV is a whole different world. Social media, where I’m using Instagram Stories and talking to camera, helped me prepare for TV. But when there’s big, 40-pound cameras — 10 of them, all around, watching you all the time — that is a different beast.” — Carmeon Hamilton

But with her star ascendant, tragedy struck. On the afternoon of August 29th, Marcus Hamilton, Carmeon’s husband, was riding his motorcycle on North Watkins when an intoxicated driver turned in front of him. Marcus died on the scene. The couple had been together for almost 15 years, since college, and were preparing for a celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary; their son, Davin, recently began seventh grade.

“It’s just devastating,” says friend Alicia George. “Here you are, all your dreams are coming true, everything you’ve worked so hard for. You’re at the top of the game, like everybody wants to be, and your husband is killed by a drunk driver. I can’t wrap my brain around it.”

How could anyone? In an Instagram post, Hamilton wrote, “I can’t bring myself to figure out Davin’s and my next step, because I shouldn’t have to.”

The show will, literally, go on: Reno My Rental had finished filming before Hamilton’s life turned upside-down. This article was already scheduled to run as the October cover story. We debated shelving it for a time, and asked Hamilton’s team for input. The consensus was that, with the launch of Reno My Rental slated to continue as scheduled, proceeding with Hamilton’s story made sense.

Becoming a Star

A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas’ Interior Design program, Hamilton started a design blog called Cohesive Randomness while still in college. Her long-running lifestyle writing slowly gained a following over the years, as she built her business, Nubi Interiors. On Instagram, she amassed tens of thousands of followers (now, more than 135,000 people have been drawn to her on that platform). That’s where she received a direct message from a television producer asking if she would be interested in auditioning for a show.

“I had gone through the entire process of casting for several different projects prior to being cast for Design Star,” she says, “but everything just fell through. It was always, ‘We think you’re great! Can you interview for this?’ And then you hear nothing. I went through that probably for two years — lots of interest, but nothing ever came from it. So I was a little jaded, and actually told this casting producer, ‘No thank you.’ But he was very persistent. I had no idea it was Design Star until they told me I was cast five months later. So even they kept it a secret from me. But the original Design Star was one of my favorite shows, period!”

Hamilton compares the experience of designing on the fly in front of an audience of millions to being a gladiator in the arena. “Your life depends on it, or otherwise you’re eliminated, and your chances of winning are over. I still can’t believe I made it to the end.”

Hamilton was hesitant to say yes. “My business had peaked at the same time. Everything had taken off, and I did not want to say goodbye and shut down, because I would literally have to disappear for a month and a half. I said, ‘Why in the world would I do this?’ Like, if someone said, ‘Here’s your show!’, yes. But to compete for a chance to do a show was not appealing.”

It was Marcus, in the end, who convinced her to take the plunge. “There was some apprehension,” Hamilton says. “It’s a competition show, a reality show. What am I going to look like on camera? What if I lose? Is that going to ruin my business? But [he was] like, ‘It’s an opportunity of a lifetime. You’re going to regret not doing it.’ So, I did it.”

Filmed on the Southern California coast, Design Star: Next Gen pitted Hamilton against seven other designers in a series of challenges, ranging from revamping the “ugliest rooms in America” to creating an attractive, practical office space. “TV is a whole different world,” she says. “Social media, where I’m using Instagram Stories and talking to camera, helped me prepare for TV. But when there’s big, 40-pound cameras — 10 of them, all around, watching you all the time — that is a different beast.”

Her online experience also helped her combat impostor syndrome. “In the world of social media, you can really get into self-criticism and comparison,” she says. “There are so many people who create beautiful spaces, and then you walk into this social experiment of sorts. It’s nerve-racking, comparing yourself to people you’ve never met before. You don’t know anything about them. So you kind of psych yourself out. What if they’re better than me here? I’ve never seen their work before. It’s so perfect. What if I’m nothing compared to what they do? You basically have to realize, ‘They picked me for a reason.’ And I settled into that very early, because it was stressing me out leading up to the competition.”

From the beginning, Hamilton and her fellow contestants were united in insisting that the show not devolve into artificial, interpersonal conflict. “They said, ‘No, we’re focusing on design, not drama, this go-round,’” she says. “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.”

But just because there wasn’t rancor on set doesn’t mean Design Star: Next Gen was easy. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” says Hamilton. “The typical timeline for a one bedroom can be three months — and that’s if everything’s in stock. You have to go through the design process; go through approvals; go through the actual construction, painting, getting the trades together, ordering things and waiting on those things to come in, installing — and then making everything pretty and hanging the art.”

On Design Star: Next Gen, contestants had access to resources, but not time. “On TV, it looked like three days. We had 18 hours.”

Hamilton compares the experience of designing on the fly in front of an audience of millions to being a gladiator in the arena. “Your life depends on it, or otherwise you’re eliminated, and your chances of winning are over,” she says. “I still can’t believe I made it to the end.”

But make it she did. After five rounds of elimination, Hamilton faced two final opponents in a challenge to design a bedroom that reflected her own unique style. Ultimately, guest judge Jonathan Scott, co-star of Property Brothers, crowned Hamilton the winner. The prize was $50,000 and a contract to create her own design show, which would appear on the streaming service discovery+ while premiering simultaneously on HGTV.

“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.”

A Unique Show

What set Hamilton’s pitch apart from most design show concepts was that she wanted to focus on renters rather than homeowners.

“There’s no premier show right now on HGTV or on discovery+ that features or highlights renters,” says veteran reality show producer Ming Lee Howell. “A lot of millennials 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. And 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.”

Development of the show that ultimately became Reno My Rental began even before the world learned, on March 31, that Hamilton had won Design Star: Next Gen. “I thought it was going to take a long time, but the network was excited,” says Hamilton. “They’re like, ‘No, we’re ready to go. We want to get this show moving. We want to get you in Memphis.’ It’s been a whirlwind ever since.”

“Carmeon lights up the room. Everybody really gravitates towards her. She’s just so humble, but she definitely knows what she’s doing, so you feel very comfortable and safe around her.” — Alicia George

The premise of Reno My Rental mirrors the process interior designers go through with their clients. Hamilton meets with a Memphis family who want to spruce up their rented apartment, studio, or house, assesses their needs, gets a sense of their personalities, and then remakes their space.

Alicia George is a makeup artist who serves as vice chair of the Memphis and Shelby County Film Commission. She was one of the first to apply for Reno My Rental — only this time, instead of preparing the talent for a day on set, she wanted to be in front of the camera. “A producer friend of mine posted that there was a design show coming to Memphis, and that they were looking for rental houses,” she recalls. “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.”

George says she heard back from the producers almost immediately. “I think they liked my unique story — I’m a makeup artist who lives in a pink house in Central Gardens.”

Howell, who serves as Reno My Rental’s executive producer, was not previously familiar with Memphis. “I was driving around Central Gardens thinking, ‘This is like Hancock Park in Los Angeles,’” she says. “You see these sprawling mansions, and it is beautiful.”

Howell says she found a lot to love about the Bluff City. “I found that with true Memphians, once you are here, you don’t want to leave, because you fall in love with the city. I’m from Los Angeles, California, but since I’ve been here, I have not met nicer, more earnest, just real people. Memphians really are prideful of the city and they want to do a lot for the city — you know, the grit and the grind, right? It’s a hardworking, persevering, colorful city.

A Whole Home

“This is our love letter to the city,’ she continues, “so we want to represent Memphis in a really great way, in the way it deserves to be represented. I think a lot of young people are moving here. Entrepreneurs, creative types, hardworking professionals are renting here. and you can get a lot for your money. If you’re a couple with a kid, you can move to Cordova or Frayser and have a big front lawn or a big backyard and live in a house. You can’t do that in California.”

Hamilton says she wanted to break out of the glossy design show mold by taking her cameras to lower-income neighborhoods, “because I have a huge understanding of how our environments play into our well-being,” she says. “If you love where you live and are in a space that’s safe and beautiful, you’re that much better of a person when you go out into the world. Everything starts at home.”

Ashley Dyson and her husband, Marquise, recently moved from Midtown to a home in Frayser, looking for more space for their young daughter, Harper. Dyson applied for Reno My Rental after a friend showed her Hamilton’s work.

“That’s when I started following Carmeon,” she says. “I was looking at her work, her designs and just everything she stands for. … She sees people in her designs. I just really love how she pulls out all those different things, and uses those dark tones, but still makes the room feel bright and open, with a personal touch. And I loved all of her plants!”

On Reno My Rental, Hamilton renovates the Dyson family’s kitchen and creates a new den where Marquise can unwind from his stressful job. “I felt like once she saw us, she understood us,” says Ashley.

Howell says Hamilton is a natural TV personality. “She’s very fair. She’s so creative. And she’s just a lovely person inside and out. She’s real, you know? What you see is what you get with her, and she’s just so engaging.”

“Carmeon lights up the room,” says George, whose bedroom and sunroom were renovated. “Everybody really gravitates towards her. She’s just so humble, but she definitely knows what she’s doing, so you feel very comfortable and safe around her.”

That feeling of safety helps participants get through the hardest part of the show: Moving out of their homes for up to two weeks while Hamilton’s crew does their work. They don’t see the final form until everything is complete and Hamilton leads them into the newly redesigned space.

“I’m walking in with them,” she says, “so I just hang in the background and watch it, just like the viewers will get to see their reaction. I hold my breath until I hear that scream, ‘Oh my God!’ It’s the fuel to want to do it over and over again. You don’t get that reaction in real-life design, because the clients are right there with you, making these decisions. But [on the show], they literally have to trust me to get it right.”

Triumph and Tragedy

Hamilton says filming Reno My Rental has been quite a learning experience. “What have I learned about myself? I take direction well!” she laughs. “I’ve been told from production that I don’t act as if this is my first time having a show. So I’m happy to learn that I’ve been preparing my whole life for this moment. You don’t know what any of this is like until you’re in it, but now that I’m in it, I can do this. I feel like this is where I was supposed to be from the beginning.”

She was always quick to credit her husband Marcus for his role in her success. The evening she was named winner of Design Star: Next Gen, camera crews captured her placing a cell phone call to Marcus to share the news. “Congratulations, baby. I told you! You deserve everything that’s come and everything that is to come,” he says. “I wanted you to be the first person I told,” she responds.

When we spoke before Marcus’s death, she said, “He’s been incredible and supportive. This has, of course, meant long hours, and he’s been there every step of the way. I couldn’t be a good mom throughout this process without him being an amazing dad.”

After her husband’s death, Hamilton gave her blessing for the show to go on as scheduled, partially to honor Marcus, who appears in several episodes. Her only public statement since the accident was a post on her Instagram:

“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.”

When we profiled Hamilton a year ago, the title of the article was “The Importance of Living Beautifully” — the ethos guiding her design work and her life. In the aftermath of tragedy, her insistence on a beautiful life carries a new poignancy and depth.

Reno My Rental premiered on discovery+ on September 18th.