ORLANDO, Fla. -- Your favorite HGTV star may have helped style our theme parks.
We landed an exclusive interview with David Bromstad (Design Star, My Lottery Dream Home). We caught up with him in downtown Orlando at the grand opening of a shared office space on the 11th floor of the Morgan & Morgan building.
Read below for highlights from our conversation, including Bromstad's influence on Disney and Universal:
ALLISON WALKER TORRES: The "My Lottery Dream Home" season 5 debut got the highest rating on HGTV since January. Whoa, David.
DAVID BROMSTAD: I know. I'm shocked and thrilled. We're having the most fun ever, and it's really nice to see it in the ratings as well.
AWT: But speaking of lotteries, I know that a $10 scratch-off ticket is not your jam.
DB: See, I already won the lottery when I won Design Star. So for me to think I'm going to strike twice and win $1 million -- that's not happening! I'm not going to try to make it happen. I'm not going to waste my money. It's hard for me to spend $10 or $20 or $30 on a ticket and do that over and over again. I'd rather have clothes.
AWT: Let's talk Disney. You worked there?
DB: I worked for Disney as a visual merchandiser for six months. After that, my boss was like, 'You're too talented. I can tell you're bored.' So I took my full-time job and all my benefits and went to an art, kind of like sculpting place... Basically, I was the grunt and I was sanding all the sculptures to make them perfect. And we all know how perfect Disney is. So I learned my art of perfection, really, from them. And then I became a private artist for them.
AWT: Can we still see your work there, at Disney?
DB: Ok, so there's one place at Disney that I found -- it's at Disney's Hollywood Studios, kind of on the corner. It's facing the lake with some Mayan windows, and it's the backdrop that I did. It's still there.
AWT: What about at Universal?
DB: I went to Universal, and I did these beautiful murals -- I have to say, they're really stunning -- of desserts and fruits, and vegetables for a bakery. Those are all up. They're big. They're massive. So that's at the patisserie, like, a French patisserie there at Universal.
AWT: What's next for you, David?
DB: I'm only home two days a week, so it's hard, really, to do anything else. At this moment, I'm enjoying this. But of course, furniture line and product lines, and fun stuff will hopefully be down the pipe.