With her new
radio show, interior designer Karen Mills wants to bring
high-end design to everyone.
Mills, who studied radio, television, film and interior
design at the University of Kansas, believes ordinary
people "who know what they're doing" can decorate
their homes in high style for much less than wealthy
people do.
The trick is to buy things that look like their expensive
equivalent and have "that fabulous" look.
"I try to teach people that just because something
is a designer brand doesn't mean it has quality,"
Mills. "When I did a show on furniture, I taught
people how to recognize great furniture. It's not the
brand name, it's how upholstered furniture is put together.
"You can go to a flea market and find something
that is just as fabulous as something in a high-end
store, if you know what you're doing," she said.
The one-hour show, "Living Large," airs at
1 p.m. Sundays on News Radio 980 KMBZ and at 10:30 a.m.
Saturdays on Classical 1660 KXTR.
Entercom Broadcasting, the stations' owner, describes
"Living Large" as possibly the first high-end
design, lifestyle and home improvement radio show in
the country.
Each week, Mills chooses a design and home improvement
topic and interviews a celebrity and experts about it.
Typically, she will interview four or five guests. Home
improvement subjects include redesign, window treatments,
kitchens and bathrooms. Lifestyle subjects could be
yachts, exercise, hot tubs or travel, Mills said.
After about 25 years in television, the corporate world
and business, Mills is doing radio for the first time.
Entercom executive producer Andrew Ellenberg developed
the show's concept and recruited her last spring.
Mills remembers telling Ellenberg a design show could
not be done on radio because people could not see it.
"But now that I've done it, I like it because people
have fantastic imaginations," Mills said. "If
I can give them a word picture, it's just fabulous what
they can imagine."
Mills also finds she uses all the skills she learned
in her previous careers.
After college, Mills spent four years in television.
She learned how to put a show together, write commercials
and promotions, do voice-overs, and go on air.
Mills spent the next 10 years at IBM, where she learned
about project management. She then worked for other
companies for four years before starting her own project
management and marketing consulting firm.
By 2002, Mills said, she had had enough of the corporate
world and wanted to go back to the business she loved,
interior design. She started Interiors by Design in
2002, specializing in redesign, or remixing existing
furnishings, and staging homes for resale.
Mills said her project management skills - "managing
the different working parts of a project" - come
in handy. These include developing a marketing plan;
writing promos and making sure they go on air; negotiating
with publicists to get their celebrity clients to appear
on her show; and making sure the "Living Large"
Web page (www.entercom.com/living large) is updated.
She wants to bring as many celebrities to the show as
she can.
"People like to hear celebrities and they can speak
well on air," Mills said. "I ask them about
their personal lives and usually they are doing a show
about the topic I'm doing, which makes it interesting
for the listener."
On Sunday, she interviews Constance Ramos, formerly
of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,"
about outdoor spaces. She interviews personal trainer
Jonquil Baugh of Premier Fitness and Nutrition about
getting in shape for the swimsuit season in her lifestyle
segment.
On May 7, guests include Rick Spence from HGTV on the
subject "Curb Appeal" about making a house's
exterior appealing. On May 14, her guest is interior
decorator and author Christopher Lowell, who hosts his
own TV show. Mills will discuss his latest book, "Seven
Layers of Organization."
Mills said she has always wanted to be an interior designer.
Of where she is now, with her own business and a radio
show on design, she said, "I love what I do and
I am doing what I love."
Mills, who lives in Olathe with her husband, Brandon,
and four children from 8 to 20 years old, believes her
radio show sets a trend in broadcasting.
"I think it's going to explode," she said.
She has heard that "Extreme Makeover" host
Ty Pennington and Martha Stewart are being sounded about
radio shows.
Mills also speaks publicly about interior design, conducts
training seminars for Realtors and posts a weekly design
column called "Designer's Eye" on the Entercom
Web site.
She will discuss redesign at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May
6 at the Symphony Designer Showhouse, 6315 Ward Parkway,
Kansas City, Mo.
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