What attributes do you look for in a trusted friend? Honesty? Loyalty? Integrity? When it comes to choosing someone to care for your home, you’d likely look for those same qualities in the person you choose to work with. HLI Home Renovators, a local home remodeling company, brings those values to every project. Working with them is like having coffee with an old friend. They listen, and they want what’s best for you. For owners Darreyl Walker and Donna Tarantino-Walker, it all starts with a conversation. From there, it’s about what matters most to the homeowner and creating a space that feels right for the people who call it home.
The Beginning
HLI Home Renovators started very organically. “After Darreyl retired from the military, he started thinking about what he wanted to do next,” Donna recalls. His military career, years of business ownership, and natural ability to build and repair gave him a unique combination of skills.
“One day, we were visiting friends and Darreyl noticed that their kitchen faucet was loose. He asked if he could take a look at it, borrowed a tool, and fixed it.” Donna says that after that, friends started requesting Darreyl’s assistance with all kinds of projects around their homes. He quickly realized there was a real need for someone homeowners could trust — someone who was resourceful, honest, and willing to take the time to figure out the right solution, so in 2016, HLI Home Renovators was born.
At first, the projects were small. A picture hung here, a shelf put up there, but things changed when Darreyl began working with a real estate agent. That partnership opened the door to helping sellers with repairs and thoughtful updates as they prepared their homes for sale.
“Darreyl knew how they could improve the appearance and function of their homes without spending money where it wasn’t necessary.” From there, the projects got bigger. Today HLI works on kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces. They lay flooring, paint, and do custom woodwork. If you need it, odds are they can do it. Donna emphasizes, though, that just because the scope of their work has changed, their philosophy has not. “Whether someone calls us for one project or a much larger transformation, we want to understand what they need, solve the problem, and help them enjoy their home again.”
Their Specialty
Donna says that one of Darreyl’s strengths is his ability to walk into a space and immediately imagine its potential. She says that people are often surprised by what he envisions. And once he sees the possibilities, he does his research to figure out how to bring them to life. “If there’s something unusual about a project, an older piece that needs to be restored, or a particular look a homeowner wants to achieve, he’ll take the time to understand it and determine the best way to make it happen.” Darreyl is a skilled woodworker who has built cabinetry, countertops, chairs, and custom pieces when a project requires it. He says that sometimes the solution isn’t something you can buy.
“Before we think about what we might do with a space, we want to understand how a customer lives, what matters to them, and what they’re really trying to accomplish. We want to walk in their shoes.”
What Sets Them Apart
“Both of us have spent our careers working with people and learning to understand what they want — sometimes even when they have difficulty putting it into words. That ability is especially important when you are working in someone’s home because a home is incredibly personal.”
They never walk into someone’s home and tell the owner what they would do, Donna adds.
They ask questions like, what frustrates you about this space? What do you love and want to keep? What matters most to you? What makes sense for your budget? From there, they combine creativity with practical problem-solving to rethink how a room functions, restore rather than replace, or create something that entirely changes the space. It all circles back to three words that are important to them, the ones that make up their name: Honestly, Loyalty, Integrity. Donna says these aren’t just words put on a sign outside their building; they’re values they both live and keep at the center of how they work with every customer.
Another part of what makes HLI unique is that Darreyl and Donna are a husband-and-wife team, each bringing their own strengths to the business. With her background in fashion, beauty, merchandising, and marketing, Donna often takes the lead on the marketing side, while Darreyl brings his craftsmanship, woodworking skills, research, and problem-solving abilities to each project, creating spaces that are thoughtfully tailored to each homeowner’s needs and vision.
What’s Next?
“What probably means the most to us are the relationships we have built along this journey. So much of our business comes from word of mouth. A customer calls us back for another project. Then their neighbor calls. Then a friend or family member calls.”
Donna says they’re continually surprised and grateful for the number of referrals they receive. Looking ahead, they’d like to grow HLI thoughtfully, but they never want to lose the personal touch they bring to each homeowner. “At the end of the day, our goal is simple: help our customers create homes that work better for the way they live and help them rediscover the love of home."