With his eponymous talk show now in its second season, it’s hard to imagine that it was only 2002 when Chicago-based designer Nate Berkus first appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, transforming a 319-square-foot studio apartment into a stunning French country pied-à-terre. Now those blue eyes, boyish good looks and talent for creating stylish yet livable spaces are everywhere from NBC to HSN—and even the big screen—as he adds executive producer of this summer’s critically acclaimed film The Help to his already burgeoning résumé. “Oprah has been such a role model for me,” says Berkus. “Every time I feel my schedule is insane, I look at what she was able to accomplish in a single day and I know that there’s a way to do it.”
7 AM
Wake up. I’m attached at the hip to my Nespresso coffee maker (when it broke, I panicked and called the company’s toll-free help line and an operator walked me through the steps to get it working). Then I go meet my trainer, Rich Barretta.
8:15 AM
Head to The Nate Berkus Show studio to meet with my team. Last year was our first year out of the gate, so we had the summer to learn from our mistakes. We kept everything that was really spectacular about the show and we let go of the stuff that didn’t work. I eat a breakfast of oatmeal with skim milk and Splenda, and hot water with lemon at the studio.
10 AM
Prepare for our first taping of the day. I love some of the ideas that I came up with the first year, like “House Proud,” where I share a viewer’s home with my audience. That’s a way for me to bring the best of real-people design, facing real budgets that are accessible to everybody, and hopefully the show becomes a place that people go every day for inspiration.
NOON
With the first taping wrapped, I change into a pair of jodhpurs and a riding helmet and head outside to meet Carson Kressley, who is dressed in Western wear. We’re filming the opening of the show on horseback for the next episode he’ll cohost with me this fall. Afterward, I run to my dressing room for a quick soup and sandwich.
2 PM
Second taping of the day begins with a rehearsal. The show this year has a much more unplugged feel. I’m taking viewers behind the scenes—the process of a makeover, why we make the decisions we do, and what they can take away from that. My design team now has a role on the show, and they should. They’re working around the clock transforming spaces around the country. Everybody—no matter who you are, where you live or how much money you have or don’t have—everybody wants to live better. It’s a universal thing.
