Designing for Women

There is just something about the Cinderella-like transformations that take place on home-design shows that American TV audiences crave.

Maybe it’s the take-away impression that we, too, can turn the family garage into a master suite armed with nothing but glue guns and tacky tape. It’s those intrepid TV designers who ignite this sense of superhuman do-it-yourself skills, even for just a fast-paced hour, with a passion for what they do that can come across tenfold.

Such is the case with Monica Pedersen, a former designer on HGTV’s “Designed to Sell” and “Bang for Your Buck,” and now a judge for a competition show called “American Dream Builders,” debuting Sunday on NBC.

The former model with the 1,000-watt smile has a passion for home transformation that is both tireless and relatable. She is the kind of expert who embraces homemade projects that save a buck, whether it’s buying chairs at flea markets or foregoing that expensive tablecloth for a favorite design from the fabric store.

And after becoming a new mother last year, she understands even more the need for busy women to “get it right” with their decorating choices.

“People just don’t have time to shop and I know that now, being a mom, I’m going, ‘Oh my God, how?’ I used to spend two days picking out a sofa for a client. Those days are gone, it’s like forget about it,” she said.

Recently, Pedersen was at the World Market Center Las Vegas to introduce one of her most recent endeavors, a new line of furniture. It’s a partnership with Abbyson Living, a family-operated furniture company based in California. The comprehensive home collection is a nod toward Pedersen’s fondness for timeless pieces with elegant details, and consumers’ desire for styles that endure, she said.

“I’m really designing for ‘her,’ and she may be a working girl, she might be a working mom or just a mom. You know, a woman who wants to be surrounded by beautiful things that are going to last and that are of good value,” Pedersen said.

The pieces in Pedersen’s first furniture line include tufted chairs, sofas and ottomans designed with rounded, feminine curves, and details such as nailhead trim and soft-to-the-touch fabrics. There are neutral palettes, but Pedersen also offers solid fabrics in pops of color such as hermes orange, apple green and deep red.

Leather furniture also will be incorporated into the line, but in a style that is more attractive to women, consisting of “warm, soft neutrals that are elegant, understated, but not cold,” she said.

Yavar Rafieha, president of Abbyson Living, noted that Pedersen reflects the company’s vision to bring elegance into the home at an affordable price. The partnership has also allowed Abbyson to embrace new colors such as orchid and ocean blue.

“We really fell in love with her style and her personality and her taste. And we felt like she complemented our brand and she had very similar interests in terms of her mission to beautify the home. She also has a lot of experience visiting homes throughout the United States so she knows design,” Rafieha said.

The first phase of the collection will debut at the end of April and be available through Abbyson’s online retailers, while the line of “leather for her” will come out this summer, he said. The third phase will be Pedersen’s room vignettes, groupings such as sofas, chairs and ottomans.

In the meantime, there is a Monica Pedersen display at the company’s World Market Center showroom.

When asked why they chose Las Vegas as a launching pad for the line, both Rafieha and Pedersen praised World Market Center as an extraordinary venue in the furniture industry and also pointed out that cutting-edge interior design is something that permeates the city.

“You can see any style of window treatment that you want, any flooring, I mean it’s easy to be inspired just by the design. The spa at Encore, oh my gosh, it’s amazing. So (Las Vegas) is a perfect spot, great energy — that’s like my adopted second city,” Pedersen said.

The furniture builder and interior designer have something else in common. Both will be on new reality shows starting this month. Abbyson Living will be one of the businesses featured on a TNT show called “Inside Job,” where job candidates compete for executive positions with various companies.

Pedersen’s show, “American Dream Builders,” is a competition show as well, with two teams of six top designers competing each week to see who does the best job completely making over a home. A designer is eliminated from the losing team at the end of each episode.

The structures that get revamped during the 10 shows include a Palm Springs midcentury modern home, a cabin in Big Bear and a beach house, Pedersen said. One of the things that impressed her about the competitors was their “muscle memory,” or the creative way they dealt with the design obstacles they faced.

“If you love design television you’re going to love it because for the first time you really get to see these makeovers and you get to see the whole house done, and the homes themselves are very relatable. It’s not like this huge McMansion experience,” she said.

Her schedule was much less hectic as a judge compared to her experiences “working all night long” as a reality-show designer, but that doesn’t mean it was totally smooth sailing. She had to move with her husband and 8-week-old baby from Chicago to Los Angeles for the filming.

“It was really crazy, one of the craziest things I’ve done,” she said.