Our HomeWorkshop.com Contributors are experts in their areas of design and decorating. You’ll enjoy their helpful articles with designer advice, trends, Designer DIY’s and ideas that you can easily apply in your own home.

• Interior Redesign and Staging – GraceAnn Simoni
• Interior Design – Leona Gaita
• Kitchen Design – Susan Serra, CKD
• Furniture Makeovers and Upcycling – Diana Durkes
• Decorative Painting and Surface Design – Regina Garay

GraceAnn Simoni

Interior Redesign and Staging Expert

GraceAnn Simoni, IRIS, MSA, CIRS, CISS, NAPO, shares with us budget tips and advice for decorating with your existing furniture and accessories. And when it’s time to sell your home, GraceAnn’s staging advice can help you sell your home quickly and for a good price.

“I wake up every morning at 6 a.m. without the use of an alarm clock!! Why? Because I am so excited to face another day doing what I am passionate about,” says GraceAnn. “As a child I loved to play with my doll furniture arranging and re-arranging, play office with lots of paper pushing and to play school, with me as teacher, of course. Thankfully that is exactly what I am doing and have been since 2001.

“I started Yours Redesigned by GraceAnn to help busy people get the Home They Want in the House They Have™, using the concepts of Interior Redesign or A Day of Beauty for Your Home™. In 2002 the demand for help in getting homes prepared to sell added the Home Staging arm to the business.

“Finally, and best of all, in 2005, I became an IRIS, (Interior Redesign Industry Specialists) approved trainer. Now as the Midwest Staging Redesign Institute, I can help others turn a passion for decorating and helping people in to a profession. What I loved as a child has brought me full circle to the best home based business I could ever imagine.”

Leona Gaita

Interior Design Expert

Leona Gaita is has an infectious enthusiasm for her work as an interior designer. She specializes in space planning, color and fabric selection and full-scale interior design and renovation. She shares with us her inspiring ideas and advice to help us enrich our homes and lives with beauty and elegance.

In 1994, Leona Gaita joined Gaita Interiors, a staple of the local community for over 40 years, serving Larchmont, Westchester County and the New York metropolitan area. With a lifelong involvement in the fine arts and design, Leona expanded the friendly neighborhood upholstery shop into a full service design firm.

“As I think about what people really need right now, in terms of the economy, and what I can offer, blogging about design seemed to be the most direct way of helping people help themselves,” says Leona. “My ultimate goal, for my clients and my readers is always for their home to reflect their very own unique outlook and personality. I hope that through my posts here and with my own Gaita Interiors blog, I can give the average person the tools they need to beautify their living environment for themselves, and have fun doing it!”

Susan Serra, CKD

Kitchen Design Expert

Susan Serra is a CKD (Certified Kitchen Designer), CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialist), USGBC (United States Green Building Council) member and NKBA. Susan helps us to express our own styles in our kitchens by sharing her knowledge and advice about kitchen design, trends and available products.

“It’s very simple…I love kitchens, kitchen design, kitchen products, kitchen planning, all things kitchen related,” says Susan. “I know why I love kitchens. It’s because kitchens are the soul of the home, where one finds physical and spiritual nourishment with family and friends, or with oneself, and most of all, it’s where all five senses surround us, and how wonderful is that?”

Susan is an award winning designer and the principal of Susan Serra Associates, Inc., for nearly 20 years. Susan’s design work is widely published in online and print shelter publications and she is a frequent source for the media on kitchen design issues.

Susan’s blog “The Kitchen Designer” is the most read blog authored by a professional kitchen designer.

Diana Durkes

Furniture Makeovers and Upcycling Expert

Diana Durkes believes that home is where both the heart and creativity live. In a culture where big box style is everywhere, she makes room for individuality with a little DIY know-how. As she gives furniture and accessories new lives, Diana shares with us her ingenuity and workmanship.

Her rehabs start with rescued pieces and salvaged materials that are still “perfectly good,” such as orphaned tables and chairs with good bones that just need a little work. And she guides style expressionistas through their own restorations.

With a background in media and retail, Diana’s design interests were piqued while growing up. “On any given Friday morning, my mother’s friend Phyllis would stop by for coffee and minutes later, the two of them would be trying the couch on this side of the living room, the wing chair over there,” says Diana.

Diana writes for Time Out Chicago in the Tossed and Found column that showcases her signature before-and-afters each month. She also pens the blog Garage Sale Warrior for the Chicago Trib’s Chicago Now. More makeovers can be seen at Fine Diving in Chicago, Diana’s do-it-yourself design blog, where she gives how-to’s to her growing fan base of fellow DIY Design Junkies.

Regina Garay

Decorative Painting and Surface Design Expert

Regina Garay is an accomplished artisan with creativity and energy to spare. A specialist at all manner of decorative painting techniques, Regina shares with us tips, how-to’s and trends in surface design that we can apply in our homes, as well as inspirational designs from public spaces.

“You know how when you meet your true love, your heart beats faster, you feel a little nervous and all you feel is a happy giddiness? That’s what happened when I painted my first room. Since that time, I’ve come to love all aspects of decorative painting and all manner of surfaces it can transform — it is truly what I was born to do and am endlessly curious about.

“I started Garay Artisans in 1998 and when it really snowballed, my brother and sister came on board to help. Based in Orlando, FL, we have since transformed many spaces, including the Grand Bohemian Hotels in Orlando, Savannah and Asheville, the Hilton at Walt Disney World Hotel and the Orlando Airport. In 2008-2009, we won the national Grand Prize for the American Painting Contractor’s Top Job Awards, which is given to the company with the project that had the highest level of creativity and execution for that year.

“The siblings and I opened our own studio in 2007 to continue using our decorative painting skills and now produce handcrafted wallpapers and beautiful antique and ornamental mirrors. I write the Fauxology blog, and the family podcasts together at Sibling Artistry, to share our obsession with the decorative arts. I’ve found kindred spirits from all walks of life and I look forward to meeting many more here at HomeWorkshop.com!