'Build Me Up': Orlando Soria creates a beautiful space for Corie after she lost her husband to brain cancer
HGTV's new show 'Build Me Up' premiered today and it features Orlando Soria. An interior designer, social media influencer and author, Soria is seen working with homeowners to welcome a complete overhaul in terms of the space they live in — all this to create and embrace a fresher perspective in life. He will be seen applying his design expertise to renovate homes while he takes care of his clients with humor and emotional support. For the first episode, he was seen working with Corie Yutkin, a widow who lost her husband Michael to cancer.
Corie is a rabbi from Irvine, California. She moved into her current house eight years ago and six months after moving in, Michael was diagnosed with brain cancer. He had grade 4 brain tumor and he died a year ago. Corie says she believes that he sends signs to her and their daughters via heart-shaped leaves and dandelion flowers. After his death, Corie and her daughters are been looked after by the community who support and feed them. Soria now wants to create a new living space, which could also help her heal in the process.
Corie and Michael had a lot of plans to make certain changes to their house but they never came to fruition. They wanted an open floor by knocking down all the walls that sub-divided the house. After the last surgery that Michael underwent, he was left incapacitated on the left side and as a result, he was bound to his wheelchair. Corie's closet had to be knocked down to make their bathroom wheelchair-friendly. This change in her bedroom is a constant reminder to Corie about Michael's absence and that is one memory that she was ready to part with. Apart from that, Corie's kitchen ceiling needed to be fixed and so did multiple spots around the house that were leaking.
The entire budget for this renovation was $100,000 and Soria armed with his crew was ready to create a beautiful home that Corie dreamt of with her late husband. After the whole renovation that included merging the kitchen, dining space and living room and turning her bedroom into a meditative retreat space, Soria was ready for Corie to witness what he had created for her. After the final reveal, the super emotional Corie felt like she was ready to usher Corie 2.0 in her life, which involved being more present for her daughters and not living in fear of something else going wrong.