DIY Network

Gilda Riccardi

In March 2002 Gilda Riccardi, the host of DIY's The Painted Room, fulfilled a personal dream: she opened a retail store in upstate New York, which sells housewares with a taste of Provence. She designed the interior of the store, and she does all of the buying and displays, all of which she enjoys enormously.

Besides being involved in a design career, Gilda also holds degrees in nursing, health-care management and law. After receiving her Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School in 1988 (where she was the recipient of the moot court award and served as class senator), she became a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office. Now residing in upstate New York, she continues as a trial attorney there, specializing in the representation of children in family court matters.

Over the years, outside the hospital and the courtroom, Gilda has enjoyed performing major roles in amateur dramatic productions. Also a serious student of flamenco, she has performed locally and sits on the executive board of the Carlota Santana Spanish Dance Company, an international company based in New York.