DIY Network host Anitra Mecadon talks dirty tools, her show ‘Mega Dens,’ working on the Blog Cabin with host Grundy, her inspirations, and how to work with DIY guys on a jobsite.
Mark: You’re back inside MyFixitUpLife with my wife, Theresa.
Theresa: My husband, Mark and I’m ready to get my Blog Cabin on.
Mark: I am tooled up, ramped up, amped up, ready to go because I want to win.
Theresa: I don’t know when you don’t have your tools on. Do you shower with your tools on?
Mark: That would be silly.
Theresa: I know the answer to that question because we’re married but you’re always tooled up.
Mark: Ready to …
Theresa: That would be silly, would it? Would there be a way to clean them?
Mark: Okay. I’m going to jump right to our guest who was pivotal in the execution of the creation of Blog Cabin. None other than Anitra Mecadon, Mega Dens, who is always ready to roll and ask why would anyone shower off the dirt you get on your tools that shows you use them?
Anitra: I don’t know, man. I like my tools dirty and it’s a good thing because the Scialabbas are not the neatest contractors I’ve ever worked with.
Mark: Okay, so you just have to dish, I mean, throw it out there. Were they doing stuff that maybe you would not have done on Mega Dens?
Anitra: No, they have been amazing. Look, these guys are really … They’re second generation builders, right? I’m a second generation DIY chick. They’re second generation contractors. We have completely different skill sets which comes in handy but it also makes the relationship a little bit more like a couple, maybe like I don’t know, you too working together on a DIY project.
Theresa: Guilty maybe, I think. I have to say.
Mark: It’s possible.
Theresa: Possible and I’m always right, right? Aren’t you, Anitra?
Anitra: What? Yeah, you know what? I’m really good at making somebody else feel right too. Maybe that’s why the relationship feels different but man, I am always right. We think … We think about being 360, we go around and around and around. We think about all the angles and guys, don’t get mad at me boys but you know what you know and you do what you know and you do it well. I’m going to sit there and go, “well, why don’t we,” or “how about we,” or “maybe if we.”
Theresa: That sounds exactly like me and my husband, Mark, he hunts … he hunts everything down. He’s got everything in his scope and he’s trying to get the grizzly bear, whatever it is, he’s trying to get for dinner. Is that right? What do you eat for dinner?
Mark: Yeah. Anitra, as it turns out we’re going to invite you over for grizzly bear that we’re cooking on our giant grill out back where in a state that isn’t anywhere were near where grizzly bears live.
Theresa: While I say, “What if we have … ”
Mark: “What if we … “
Theresa: “A little salad with dinner. What if I invite the neighbors?” Right?
Mark: They call me Johnny Crosshairs, okay? Because once I get it in my sights, it’s mine. I got to win it.
Theresa: Well, I got to know about Blog Cabin because people are so excited, they want to win it. They’re watching it … watching the episodes and what’s it like working with Grundy on Blog Cabin?
Anitra: Oh my God. He is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world and I am not … I am not just saying that. He … I can’t stop laughing when I’m around him. He’s so fun to be with. He’s completely and utterly out of his mind. I’m not going to lie. We’re building these great rooms and the boy’s got skills, man. Grundy has skills but at the same time, it’s like how could you be serious when you’re with Grundy? I don’t know what to do. I don’t know … Honestly, I don’t know how any work got done between Grundy and the fact that there are dolphins swimming by on the dock right outside where you’re working, how do you work?
Theresa: Well, I have to say is Grundy like the new version of Mary Poppins, like a spoon full of sugar gets the work done and he’s like, a big old bowl of giggle gets the work done?
Anitra: I think so, man. I have never seen him unhappy. He is one of the happiest people and he’s always, always, always in the mood to have fun. To me, there is nothing better than DIYing with a friend other than if your friend is absolutely crazy like Grundy then it’s like the best of the best, man. It’s so fun. You guys ought to see him. You’re going to see. You’ll see.
Mark: I love it. I mean, these episodes are going to be wild. I have one question, there’s only one right answer to this question. How many times did Grundy just haul his shirt off or not and run off at the end of the dock and tried to catch the dolphins?
Anitra: I would have paid money to see that.
Theresa: I’m glad that Mark wasn’t there because he probably would have tried to jump in to grab the dolphins. You would have dared him, wouldn’t you?
Mark: Well, they go great with grizzly bear.
Theresa: Oh my goodness.
Mark: That’s wrong. That’s just all wrong.
Theresa: That is so wrong.
Mark: That is just wrong.
Theresa: We love dolphins and grizzly bears.
Mark: No, but you just blinged this place out with a major Mega Den. What inspired you to get you going on this whole project? Can you spill anything about it?
Anitra: The Blog Cabin team members, there is a whole crew of amazing people to get involved in this and this starts a year before and they got a mood, a vibe, a mojo that they’re trying to kick around and this year, we were going for a cottage cabin so that’s a different type of Blog Cabin for us because it’s just a different vibe altogether and we’re actually on the ocean.
The colors are much lighter and brighter and airy this year but the projects are just as wicked. I mean, I’d say a good 50 to 75% of that room was up cycled or made from something that came from the original house, whether it was being, whatever. So we did a bit … We did a major redo out of a lot of rehab materials and it was absolutely sick. I don’t know how much of the details you’ve got of it, man, but we did a custom art project where I actually dressed Grundy up and had him be a moving target with a canvas for the art project. We were launching, like I’m talking old school giant catapult launching paint at Grundy.
Theresa: I don’t even know what to say. I love that so much that I want to do that with my husband at home. Can we do that? Is that a good DIY weekend project? Everybody listening, this is how you spend time and bond with your spouse.
Mark: You can enter to win Blog Cabin through September 13th and we’re out of here.
We’re going to take a break. We’ll be back with more MyFixitUpLife.
Check out more DIY inspiration from Anitra on DIY Network’s Mega Dens.
[…] Anitra Mecadon from DIY Network’s Mega Dens is showing us how to make holiday ornaments out of plastic champagne […]
[…] Anitra Mecadon, the bubbly and fiercely fun host and designer from DIY Network’s ‘Mega Dens’ is sharing repurposing ideas for everything from old doors to fishing rods. She’s contributed to HGTV’s All American Handyman, Esquire Magazine’s Ultimate Bachelor Pad, HGTV’s Behind the Build Dream House, HGTV’s Behind the Build Smart Home, HGTV’s Raise the Roof College Challenge and more. Whether she’s dangling from a scaffold or breaking down a concrete wall, Anitra’s rock ‘n’ roll approach gives her an edge not usually found in most designers. […]