Miami’s home designs are on fire, and Ray and Eilyn Jimenez may be the ones to thank.
Starting Tuesday, August 20, HGTV will put the spotlight on the 305 when Divided by Design premieres. While the show’s two leading stars are happily married and both in the home renovation business, there’s one twist: They work for competing design firms and fight for the same exact clients.
“This show is all about two people who love each other but are extremely competitive and really want to win, but not mad if the other person wins. It’s weird,” Eilyn exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the season premiere. “Usually when you’re competing against someone, you really want to win, and yes, you’re happy for the other person, but you’re like, ‘Damn! I wish I got it!’ For us, even at the end, even if you want it, you’re still so happy for that other person because they are your significant other, and that overrides wanting to be selfish for yourself.”
It’s a mindset viewers will quickly embrace as the interior designers use their professional rivalry to fuel their creativity.
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While there can only be one Jimenez who gets the final project, the other partner finds a way to be involved in different, heartfelt ways.
“Any time you have an issue or a question or an idea or a problem, you’re going to talk to — in my case — your significant other to see how she would handle X, Y and Z situation,” Ray explained to Us. “If we had a really tough day — whether it’s with a contractor or a client — we’re going to vent, and the advice is just to listen. Someone needs to say, ‘It’s OK, baby. Everything’s gonna be OK.’ But it really is. It really is something special.”
While design takes center stage in HGTV’s new series, Ray and Eilyn can’t help but also showcase their love for one another as they expand their businesses and prioritize their love story. (Eilyn is the founder and creative director of Sire Design, while Ray is the man behind Raymond Nicolas Design House.)
The couple met eight years ago at an Art Basel party when Ray made the first move and introduced himself.
“I will never forget that evening,” Ray gushed to Us. “She walks in. She has her hair parted to the left covering half her face. She’s super conservative, but her face is super exotic-looking, and I’m just like, ‘What is happening right now and what language does this woman speak?’ I was definitely interested.”
In October 2019, the pair got married during a destination wedding off the coast of Barcelona.
To this day, both Ray and Eilyn make it a priority to keep the spark alive and prioritize creative date nights in the city.
“We love to go out. We love to do things that are out of the box,” Eilyn said. “I think it’s important. There’s nobody more grounding for me than Ray. There is nobody that can make all my problems go away or all my stress go away — even if he’s my stress. It’s about having fun and finding things that we can have fun with.”
Part of that fun may be teasing each other in the fashion department. While Ray is guilty of tucking in his signature tank tops, Eilyn loves to buy a few too many items on Amazon.
“She calls it a fashion show,” Ray joked to Us. “She’ll order a bunch of things online — which is my favorite — every other week and she’ll get two or three big boxes of clothes. … She’ll give me a fashion show. ‘What do you think about this or that? I can work with this. And I need to get this and they need to get that.’”
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Before poking too much fun at his wife, Ray did give credit where credit is due.
“Her fashion style I think is on point,” he added. “It’s professional. It’s sexy. It’s conservative, eloquent, timeless. … It’s just a lot of fun getting to play with her.”
Divided by Design premieres on HGTV Tuesday, August 20, at 9 p.m. ET.
