HGTV Celebrity Designer Transforms Coraopolis Woman's Living Room

PITTSBURGH,None — From Hollywood, Calif. to Coraopolis, Pa., HGTV celebrity designer Angelo Surmelis was just in town to transform the living room of one lucky young homeowner.

"It's a fairly decent-size room. The challenge in the room was that it had a lot of color that was not necessarily working for the space," Angelo said.

The color of Crystal Kerr's living room was green, from the walls to the accessories.

"We neutralized the color, gave her a great backdrop. Then we created seating areas because she loves to entertain. So the key here was to create a seating area around the focal point, which is the TV in one part of the room and then there's a fireplace in the other part, so we didn't want to negate that," Angelo said.

SLIDESHOW: Before And After Photos Of Crystal's Room

Crystal was chosen as the winner of CSN Stores' Living Room Search and Rescue contest from more than 6,000 national entries.

She purchased her home four years ago with the love and support of her father who passed away last March.

"The thing that was cool is that I think she wasn't just happy because the room looked nice. I think she was happy because of what it all meant. It kind of brought her dad and buying the house full circle. For me, the biggest thrill is looking at the person's face when they see the room for the first time, and Crystal knocked it out of the park. Looking into her eyes when she saw that room, it was awesome," Angelo said.

Crystal told See and Be Seen's Jessica Fera that some of her favorite new pieces included trunk-style end tables and nesting ottomans, which can be purchased as part of Angelo's Home line on CSNstores.com.

"It looks like a picture out of a magazine," Crystal said. "My living room can be in one of those now! It's surreal. I love all of the furniture."

With the help of a few new accessories, Angelo said you can rescue your own living room, if you remember one thing.

"I'm telling you, a gallon of paint, people, a gallon of paint, and some color on the wall, instant transformation," Angelo said.

If you'd rather leave it to the pros, you can enter a room makeover contest going on right now on CSNstores.com.

Angelo, whose list of celebrity clients has included Hugh Hefner and the Playboy mansion, said working in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh isn't as different as people might think.

"To me, the work is exactly the same thing," Angelo said. "No matter where you are in the country, what your budget is, what size home you live in, you want the same exact thing, you really do. It's just that you either have $500 to play with or $50,000 to play with, but you want the exact same thing."

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