He's a visionary with a need for a coffee break. He's likely to be found in flip-flops at most any moment. He's a fun guy who doesn't consider himself to be a celebrity designer, although Hollywood has started calling. He transformed a Hollywood Hills home into a magnificent resort-like property in just two-and-a-half months - with the cameras rolling. He's Mike Nielsen, known to viewers of the Bravo series My Life on the D-List with Kathy Griffin as "Designer Mike."
Nielsen and Griffin became friends when they met at a premiere party about six years ago. It was in part due to this friendship that he agreed to help Griffin transform her home and create the desired "sexy-sleek" contemporary atmosphere.
While he normally doesn't work on residential projects, Nielsen made an exception for Griffin because he said this one sounded fun and was for a friend, although he only had about one week to prepare for the job.
While life as the "D-List" designer was intense, Nielsen says the experience was a lot of fun and he and Griffin became very close after living on-site together for almost six months. Nielsen says he'd even be willing to consider a return to reality TV.Who knows? Maybe we'll see The Designer Mike Show on next season's Bravo lineup.
When not appearing on television, Nielsen runs both Mike Nielsen Design and Nielsen Galleries in Phoenix, where he works to design custom furniture and accessories. Although Nielsen has happily called the Valley of the Sun "home" for the past 20 years, his dream project would be to design a W hotel on the Greek island of Mikonos. And lucky enough, he has just the pair of flip-flops for the job.