Mikel Welch Designs

Mikel runs his interior design business Mikel Welch Designs and works as an on air personality and design expert for Steve Harvey, recipient of the 2014 and 2015 Emmy for best informative talk show. Here, Mikel has shown the show’s 2.2 million viewers tips and tricks for renovating unfinished basements, designing sophisticated masculine spaces and creating luxury looks at affordable prices. Mikel joined Steve Harvey as a set designer in 2012. In this role, he has created lavish greenrooms for prominent personalities, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Joan Rivers, Halle Berry and Tyler Perry. The public first became familiar with Mikel’s signature style – his bow-tie, relaxed, fun and enthusiastic personality – when he appeared on HGTV Design Star’s Season 7 in 2012, where he finished as a top four contender. But this wasn’t his first brush with reality television. Mikel worked behind the cameras as a set designer for the Style Network’s hit reality show Jerseylicous in 2011. Mikel started to formally learn the ropes of the interior design business after graduation from Atlanta’s Morehouse College. At just 27 years of age, Welch opened Dwell Interior Design Solutions in Atlanta which he maintained until he made the decision to relocate to New York City. In Manhattan, Mikel worked for interior design firms Valerie Onor Designs, among others. Most recently, Mikel was chosen to be one of 26 designers participating in the 2015 Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens – one of the country’s top showhouses. As part of this, he reimagined the office suite of the lake moviemaker John Hughes. Mikel served on the Inaugural Designer Committee of the 2015 Antiques, Garden & Design Show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Welch has appeared as a design expert on WGN-TV, CBS-TV’s The Talk and has made special guest appearances on behalf of West Elm, CB2 and Pottery Barn. His designs have been featured in The Huffington Post, HGTV Magazine, Essence Magazine, NBC-TV Open House, HGTV’s Shop This Room and The Fabulist on E! Network and Splash magazine. Mikel has recently been profiled in Luxe Magazine, Ebony Magazine, CS magazine, Modern Luxury Interiors and Crain’s Chicago Business.