4 interior designers to compete for title

Four of Utah's very best interior designers will compete for the title "Utah's Design Star" during the 28th Annual Deseret Morning News Fall Home Improvement, Remodeling and Decorating Show, which opens on Friday.

Each of the four will be given a 12-foot-by-8-foot room. Each will have two days to complete design work. Each will have a budget of $500 to work with.

Judges will select a winner at the end of the two days. The winner will be announced and awards will be given out at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

This will give visitors to the show the opportunity to judge for themselves.

The winner will be featured in a design segment on ABC's "Good Things Utah," and in Utah Style and Design Magazine and, in addition, will enjoy a four-night Baja, Mexico, cruise.

Judges will be Vern Yip, from HGTV's hit show "Design Star" and formerly with "Trading Spaces," Utahn Temple McDowell, former "Design Star" final four contestant, and Jill Williams Grover, interior designer and author.

The four designers are Jennifer Chipman, Jonnie Parker Hartman, Mandi Mauldin Felici and Rebecca Ruff.

Chipman has always had a natural enthusiasm for color and design. She began working in the design industry by doing displays for retail stores.

She also worked as a retail interior designer while earning her degree in environment and behavior from the University of Utah in 1997.

In 1998, she started her own home-based interior design business — Chipman Interiors. She has had the opportunity to design homes for the Salt Lake Parade of Homes, Utah Valley Parade of Homes, as well as model homes and spec homes for several local homebuilders and residential clients inside and outside of Utah.

She has also done design work for office and medical buildings as well as become a wedding consulting and floral designer.

Her most rewarding times, she said, involve raising her three children and collaborating with her husband, Matthew.

In her free time she enjoys playing the violin, cooking, gardening and spending time with family and friends.

Hartman graduated with her degree in fine arts from the University of Utah. She also had the opportunity to study abroad at Parsons School of design in France.

For the last three years she has been running her own interior art business, creating large-scale art installations for commercial, public and residential spaces.