Java With Jamie: At home with Bobby Berk
Bobby Berk is an Emmy Award winner, an author and entrepreneur, but he's most known for his interior design work. In today's "Java With Jamie," Bobby invited me over to his Hollywood Hills home to have a cup of coffee and talk about an L.A.-based project he's really proud of.
Bobby Berk and his husband Dewey Do moved to Los Angeles from New York in 2018.
"We met almost 20 years ago," Bobby said. "We met online, it might even have still been dial-up. Not literally, but pretty close."
But Bobby's path to happily ever after in the Hollywood Hills is much more complex.
"Born in Texas, grew up in Missouri, then moved to Denver, then moved to New York," said Bobby. "While filming the show I've lived in Atlanta, Kansas City, Philly, Tokyo."
That show? "Queer Eye," where "The Fab Five" give makeovers to people from very different backgrounds. There's laughing and crying, and the transformations are remarkable.
Is it as fun as it looks?
"It is! It is," said Bobby. "I mean, it's a lot of work behind the scenes. Not to belittle at all my castmates' categories at all, because the show wouldn't be what it is without each and every one of us, mine just happens to be more physical heavy lifting. And I knew that going in."
Bobby Berk is in charge of making over people's homes or workspaces. Everything from barns to bedrooms. Always worrying about nailing it -- in a time frame of three days.
In real life, Bobby partnered with the Lowe's Hometowns campaign, which is taking on 100 improvement projects across the U.S.
"I try to use my powers for good," said Bobby.
Here in Los Angeles, they tackled My Friend's Place, a nonprofit organization helping the homeless.
"They do amazing outreach for youth that are experiencing homelessness, especially in the LGBTQ community," Bobby says on the show.
"There is a higher rate of homelessness in LGBTQ -- myself having been one of those people. Because you know a lot of the time once we come out, our home life drastically deteriorates, or we're simply kicked out, so her organization takes them in, finds them housing, gives them a place to shower, gives them clothes, gives them food, job training, really helps them try to get their life back on track," said Bobby.
"The space needed some love. We re-did their bathrooms, which their bathrooms are a huge part of their services, because you know, these kids are homeless, they don't have a place to take showers, they don't have a place to manage their hygiene, so remodeling these bathrooms was a huge deal for them," said Bobby. "We also remodeled their kitchen, we painted the entire exterior in this really pretty lovely green, just felt much happier than the kind of drab gray that it was before."
Do you look around and go "Gosh, I wish I had had a space like this?"
"Yeah, because I didn't, at all," said Bobby. "There was no organization, especially in my hometown, that offered anything like that. Those places were the churches, and the churches closed their doors once you came out."
Bobby was adopted by his maternal aunt and her husband when his mom couldn't take care of him as a child. He grew up in the middle of Amish farm country in Missouri. When he came out as a gay man, he had nowhere to turn.
"Growing up, there was those people that were like 'You're not going to amount to anything,' especially once I came out, they're like 'You're destined to be miserable, you're destined to not be happy,'" said Bobby.
That success started as a fluke, working for a design company, creating their ecommerce division. When they went out of business:
"I cloned the e-commerce database that I had built and I registered Bobby Berk Home real quick, and that night I was like 'Maybe I'll sell a sofa or two while I find another job,' and I sold more than a few. I was one of the first online retailers selling furniture."
Bobby then got asked to do projects that required build-outs and floor plans -- something he knew nothing about.
"My life has been a just constant failing upwards," said Bobby.
Those movements have taken him to shows like "Blown Away," "Lip Sync Battle," and "The Masked Singer" -- all outside his comfort zone, which leads to Bobby's biggest piece of advice:
"Don't say 'No' just because you don't know how to do it -- either figure it out yourself, or surround yourself with people that know that strengths are different from your strengths."
