By Nick Haramis

This spring, Thom Filicia��������best known for delousing bachelor pads on �������Queer Eye for the Straight Guy���������������got in bed with W Hotels, the luxury lodgings chain, to oversee a multitiered project far more expansive than the suburban ranch houses he helped make over on the popular Bravo reality series. The Emmy-winning host and star of the Style Network��������s �������Dress My Nest������� is designing a new Atlanta-based W (set to open next year), while renovating and rethinking existing properties in Los Angeles and San Diego. He��������s also filming the new season of the enduring �������Queer Eye.������� Will cocktail hour ever come?

BLACKBOOK: What��������s the budget on something like this, doing a W from scratch? Are you given free reign with the corporate plastic?

THOM FILICIA: With every project there��������s always a budget, even if it��������s a big one. But if you��������re designing a luxury-brand hotel with a destination bar and a name-chef restaurant, you��������re definitely going to need a couple of Black Cards to make it work.

BB: How much of your personal vision were you able to incorporate into the W brand?

TF: When I work on various design projects, it��������s always my point of view, my style, my aesthetic. What��������s really exciting, though, when you��������re working with a brand as opposed to a residential project, is the challenge of understanding the brand and what it represents, while keeping it true to your creative integrity.

BB: Do you hate all the �������Queer Eye������� references?

TF: No, not at all. I love �������Queer Eye.������� We have another season, another 16 episodes coming out this summer. �������Queer Eye������� is, was, and always will be one of the best things I��������ve ever done.

BB: But on the flip side, how difficult is it to retain your credibility as a designer? The show has its share of hokum.

TF: That��������s a super-valid question. The thing is, I studied interior design in college, have worked for major firms in New York, and I��������ve had my company [Thom Filicia, Inc.] since 1998. While I was shooting �������Queer Eye,������� I was also running a business, working on the World��������s Fair in Japan, and doing residential projects with celebrity clients.

BB: On the show, your task is to imbue straight guys with metrosexual savvy. Is it an altogether different task to revamp an already luxurious hotel chain?

TF: When you look at it, fundamentally, it��������s kind of the same concept. I always look at the guys on �������Queer Eye������� as �������make-betters������� rather than �������makeovers.������� With W, we��������re taking existing properties and some new ones, and we��������re reinventing the brand, coming up with fresh ideas. On �������Queer Eye,������� you��������re dealing with clients who don��������t have a clue. But W has always been about pushing the boundaries, sparking your imagination, and making design and luxury accessible and beautiful at the same time.

BB: In terms of the Buckhead, Atlanta hotel, what does a New Yorker know about Southern comfort?

TF: Um, I like it on the rocks? [laughs] BB: What would you do with a Holiday Inn?

TF: It��������s funny you say that, because the W Buckhead space used to house a Holiday Inn. So, I guess, I��������d turn it into a W. BB: Where does a designer hang his Emmy?

TF: Actually, I use my Emmy as a toilet-paper holder in my powder room.

BB: I knew you were going to say the bathroom.

TF: It��������s not my bathroom! It��������s my powder room. People go in, and a few minutes later I��������ll hear bursts of laughter. To be honest, I think �������she������� likes it in there.