Juggling the roles of fashion designer, decorator and television personality, HGTV star David Bromstad leads a colorful life. This May, he delivered the commencement address for Ringling College of Art and Design’s graduation ceremony, while wearing pink pants.
Now a world-famous interior designer, the Ringling class of 1996 graduate’s career began with a very different dream. “I actually wanted to be a Disney animator,” he says, “ever since I was five years old.” But two months into classes at Ringling College, Bromstad took his first animation course and quickly realized it was not for him. After dreaming about this for 15 years, he had no idea what was next. “So I just rolled through it and said I’m going to be the best drawer and the best painter I can possibly be,” he says. “The campus has changed incredibly,” Bromstad says, looking back on his history at Ringling. “It was a tiny little campus.” He marvels at how large it had become on a tour a few years earlier. “But I still see buildings that were here,” he says. “They’ve kept the integrity of what it was and they’ve just added to the fabulousness.” Ringling College helped inspire his now-famous love of color. “They taught me color theory, and that was such an important part of what my career is because I’m known as ‘The Color Guy.’” Just don’t ask for a favorite. “Every color has a different expression, a different emotion, a different feeling,” he says. “I can’t choose a color—and I won’t. It’s unfair; I don’t want to make the other colors jealous.”
After graduating, he followed his instincts and began working for Disney in a different way. Crafting everything from window displays to sculptures for the Orlando theme parks, he learned the art of perfection from the happiest place on earth. The skills he acquired there led to the chance of a lifetime: to be a contestant on HGTV’s first season of Design Star, a reality TV competition. “I’d never planned on being on TV,” he says. “It was not in the cards. I knew I wanted to be famous for my craft; I didn’t think I was going to actually be famous.” After winning, Bromstad launched his own HGTV show, Color Splash, which ran for 11 seasons between 2007 and 2013 as one of the channel’s most successful shows. Now Bromstad hosts a new HGTV show, My Lottery Dream Home, where he’s responsible for finding the perfect property for recent lottery winners. “We get to find them their dream house of craziness,” Bromstad says. Like the eccentric and wealthy relative of sister show House Hunters, each episode of the show follows a buyer like the California couple of the pilot, who won $180 million and when they found their dream home, bought the entire mountain it was located on. The first two episodes premiered in March to solid ratings, and it is now being picked up for a full season later this year. He’s also starring on HGTV’s Beach Flip, where he’ll act as host, judge and mentor to competing teams as they renovate beachfront properties.
Photo Credit Home Page: David Bromstad with the Beach Flip cast