Alison Victoria, the designer known for her work on HGTV's "Windy City Rehab," has relocated from Chicago to Las Vegas to launch a new series, "Sin City Rehab." The show, which premiered on September 17, documents her return to the city where she began her career, as she takes on new design challenges in the unique Las Vegas real estate market.
After a period of professional and personal challenges in Chicago, including legal disputes and difficulty selling a custom-built home, Victoria has established Las Vegas as her primary residence. The new series focuses on her efforts to transform homes in a city known for its modern, often uniform, architecture.
Key Takeaways
- HGTV star Alison Victoria has moved from Chicago to Las Vegas, launching a new show titled "Sin City Rehab."
- The new series follows her design projects in the Las Vegas market, contrasting with her previous work on historic Chicago properties.
- Victoria has deep roots in Las Vegas, having attended college at UNLV and started her home-building career there in the early 2000s.
- She aims to introduce unique, historically-inspired designs to what she describes as a "cookie-cutter" housing landscape.
- The show will also explore her personal journey of re-establishing her business and navigating the competitive house-flipping market in Las Vegas.
A Return to Familiar Ground
For Alison Victoria, the move to Las Vegas is not just a change of scenery but a return to her professional origins. Before gaining fame in Chicago, she attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and took her first job in the industry with a local homebuilder.
During the early 2000s, she was involved in the ground-up construction of more than 50 houses in the area. This early experience provided her with a foundational understanding of the Las Vegas housing stock. Now, she finds herself renovating the very types of homes she helped build decades ago.
"It's pretty funny, because it's like, I get to be a part of that," Victoria said about redesigning homes from that era. She explained that while working for a builder, she operated within specific standards. Today, she has the creative freedom to completely reimagine these spaces.
The Appeal of a New Environment
Victoria describes her new life in Las Vegas as a significant personal and professional shift. She contrasts the constant sunshine and opportunities for year-round indoor-outdoor living with the seasonal constraints she faced in Chicago.
"Chicago was really a dream home—in a different way," she stated. "But like, Vegas is the dreamiest life. I wake up every day in a place that I love so much, in a home that just feels like I'm on vacation 24 hours a day."
This sense of being on a permanent vacation is reflected in the design of her own Las Vegas home, which she says was inspired by a favorite hotel in Cabo San Lucas and design elements from Italy.
Contrasting Real Estate Markets
A central theme of Victoria's new venture is the stark difference between the Chicago and Las Vegas real estate markets. Her work in Chicago, documented on "Windy City Rehab," largely involved renovating historic properties, many over a century old, situated on tight city lots.
Chicago vs. Las Vegas Architecture
In Chicago, Victoria often worked with brownstones and graystones on standard 25-by-125-foot lots, where the primary challenge was modernizing historic interiors. In contrast, Las Vegas homes are significantly newer, with Victoria noting that the oldest homes are around 50 years old. This provides a different kind of canvas for her design work.
"Chicago is known for its architecture. Chicago has a big history to it," she explained. "The history out West and the history in the Midwest are very different."
Victoria sees an opportunity in the Las Vegas market, which she characterizes as largely "cookie-cutter." Her stated goal is to "change Las Vegas one house at a time" by infusing properties with a sense of history and character they currently lack. She believes there is more room for creativity and risk-taking in Las Vegas design.
Designing Her Own Las Vegas Dream Home
Victoria's personal residence in Las Vegas serves as a portfolio of her design philosophy for the West. She has curated a collection of unique and historic pieces from around the world to give the home character.
Global Inspirations in a Vegas Home
Victoria's home features several notable antique elements:
- Front Doors: Sourced from a church in Spain, nearly 200 years old.
- Fireplace Mantel: Imported from Paris.
- Bar: An antique piece from an old speakeasy in Chicago.
The property emphasizes a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. "The indoor-outdoor living is amazing, because you can do it every day of the year," she said. A significant portion of her budget was allocated to landscaping, creating a lush environment that includes a backyard kitchen, a hot tub area, and personal citrus and herb gardens.
The kitchen remains her favorite space, a central hub surrounded by windows that frame the green landscape. A major renovation of her own home is also set to be a key feature in an upcoming episode of "Sin City Rehab."
Challenges and a New Beginning
The new show will not only highlight design transformations but also document Victoria's journey of re-entering the competitive house-flipping market. She acknowledged that the process has been challenging, noting the presence of many investors, or "shysters," looking to profit from the booming market.
"Las Vegas has always kind of been booming," she observed, comparing the current growth to the surge in the late 1990s. "You got a lot of people coming in here trying to buy up these houses to flip them... it's not so easy to try to get back into it."
Victoria emphasized that the series will offer an authentic look at her struggles and triumphs, similar to how her previous show documented difficult periods in her life. "People got to watch me go through the hardest fight of my life, and they're going to get to watch me fight again," she stated.
Despite the challenges, the move represents a positive new chapter. Victoria splits her time between Las Vegas and Malibu, California, where her boyfriend resides, but she firmly considers Las Vegas her home. "I'll tell you this much: I'm home," she said. "I am finally, for the first time in my life, I am home... I finally feel like I'm living my best life, and it feels really, really safe, and it feels really good."
