Theresa: I am so excited because I am sitting here … while you are throwing papers at me. I am sitting here with Kayleen McCabe from Rescue Renovation on DIY Network and I kind of have a girl crush on you.
Kayleen: Thank you. I have a construction crush on you guys. You guys are living the dream too, so it’s mutual.
Theresa: You’ve been here for … you were here yesterday and a little bit this morning. I want to know what is totally rocking your world right now.
Kayleen: Oh my gosh! The list is so big. There are actually a few things that I’m really digging on how they’ve changed, how they’re going to install things like decking. I saw a screw you could attach and then with that comes the composite decking that matches so you can do the perfect plughole and face nail your boards without seeing any fasteners like, “Whoa! That’s cool.” I just saw some other countertops that are new in style, it’s not the same old stuff anymore. They’re really starting to update and ‘hipify’ the countertops.
Mark: Hold on. Writing that down.
Theresa: Hipify; he’s going to be using that.
Mark: Hipify. Do we have a spelling on that?
Kayleen: Phonetically?
Mark: Don’t, really. I’m going to use the ‘p-h.’
Theresa: Are these things that you’re thinking about using like in-projects that you’re doing or projects for the show or everything?
Kayleen: Every time I’m doing something for the show it’s because I really want to do it anyway. It’s both. When I come out here, it’s like, “Yes! I want to see that in the show. I want to do that in real life.” I still have a list actually. I started writing stuff down, but it’s pretty big now.
Theresa: That’s pretty amazing.
Mark: I like it.
Theresa: I know what you want to ask her.
Mark: I have a fix it up folly from the show floor. When you sat down, your press badge moved to the side and your belt buckle is a circular saw.
Kayleen: A seven-inch circular saw.
Theresa: Seven and a quarter.
Kayleen: It’s not actually to scale. It doesn’t work which is really unhandy.
Mark: I’m sitting here and it catches my eye. I’m thinking that’s my report from the show floor. I do not have to go anywhere.
Theresa: Mark has a new belt buckle tool that is with a hammer and a hand saw. Right?
Mark: Yes, and a couple of things.
Theresa: If only he had worn it today, you guys would be …
Kayleen: Belt buckle buddies. I think I have that one too actually and I’m always disappointed that you can’t detach them and to do very dainty work.
Mark: Me too, Kayleen.
Kayleen: I know, right. Go, go gadget belt. When is it going to happen? Maybe next years, yes.
Mark: What are you working on? What are the big plans you got coming up for Rescue Renovation on DIY Network?
Kayleen: We are waiting to premiere. We have two seasons waiting to show folks. That should be happening in the next few months. Beyond that, I’m working on my own projects. I’m tinkering on a kitchen and helping my dad out with his bathroom, which is, I love my dad very much, he’s getting a kitchen and a bathroom. It’s nice being able to still work on my own stuff and then also find, “Oh! I want to do this for Rescue and do this and incorporate this item.” I’m building my storage bunker now.
Mark: Nice.
Theresa: Is there ever a day that you aren’t building anything?
Kayleen: I would say probably yes, but then no because I go home, I bake too and I knit. I constantly have to do something with my hands. Probably not.
Theresa: You’re constantly making something.
Mark: Are you knitting me a sweater by any chance?
Kayleen: Oh, yes. It’s a delightful pair of socks. Give me a few years because I’m really slow.
Mark: You’re slow? I am cold.
Kayleen: Yes, exactly. You may have to wait until, you know, it’s permanently warm before you get socks. That’s pretty good.
Theresa: You have done how many seasons of Rescue Renovation?
Kayleen: Five seasons.
Theresa: It’s unbelievable. After winning stud finder and then doing their show for five seasons, it’s just, “What a huge run on DIY Network.” Not a lot of people can say that.
Kayleen: I pinch myself every day. I was all bored for five episodes. That’s my one with stud finder. Then the fact that we’ve done almost 70, every day I get out of town. I can’t believe it lasted this long. I love it so much. A few blast to be able to wake up every day and something like, “Yes!”
Mark: Besides your dad’s house which you did for the show, do you have a favorite one that sticks with you that says, “You know what? I want to go back and feel that way again.”
Kayleen: I do. It was an outdoor space that we did and homeowners had originally dug this huge pit to put a trampoline on. The only thing is there were rocks and stuffs. If you fell at the trampoline, you’d fall into a concrete block. I took that and turned it into an outdoor patio and cut in stairs into this area and then built a pergola. That is where my love for this episode comes in because the pergola was 30-feet across. We had to build it in the driveway with a boom truck, picked it up and then placed it on the post that we set. Everything fit perfectly. When we picked that up, it didn’t creak at all. That for me was just precision construction and creating something that was just so powerful.
Theresa: Did the clouds open up and the sun come down?
Mark: It did, it did.
Kayleen: It was raining.
Theresa: Then you floated over through it.
Kayleen: I planked it a few times, yes.
Theresa: Oh, I want to ask you about planking. You’re planking on everything. I swear. I think I’ve seen you on a car and a hole.
Kayleen: I’m going to plank this chair in any moment.
Theresa: Seriously, you plank like constantly in the photos that you post on Facebook. Hilarious.
Mark: Planking for the uninitiated. It just … Kayleen, could you please explain the planking it’s not throwing boards around on the floor.
Kayleen: The construction term of planking is doing that, but I actually, you just lay on things. You do like a straight pose like a stiff washboard and just lay on stuff. It’s out of date but it makes me laugh really hard. I do this to humor myself. I’m happy that other people can find some humor in it. This is so silly. Now that T-bow is gone from Denver, I can’t Tebow things anymore.
Mark: You’re Tebowing things?
Kayleen: In Colorado, yes. I got to support, show love for T-bow.
Mark: He’s in New York now which is close to us and nobody is T-bowing anything.
Kayleen: You guys just aren’t hip enough yet.
Mark: Oh, that’s it.
Theresa: You aren’t that hip?
Mark: Yes, I noticed.
Kayleen: You guys are pretty hip.
Mark: Oh, thank you. Now, I’m sorry to keep asking you about your accessories but …
Theresa: Seriously, he never asks anyone about anything.
Mark: Your lunchbox is like from the city lunch picture at the top of 30 Rockefeller Center in the 1920s. I’m sure you probably have a flask in there and you wear an old boots and stuff, sitting on an I-beam 40 stories above Manhattan. Look at that thing.
Kayleen: The skull and crossbones really deter people too from stealing my lunch.
Mark: Oh, is that my exact way in mind?
Theresa: Is that really your lunch in there?
Kayleen: Oh, in my purse. In my lunch sometimes.
Theresa: Okay, so that’s why I thought it was.
Kayleen: Yes. I mean it depends on the day.
Mark: We got to show, we got to put this out there. Show it a little love. The thing is absolutely mangled too.
Kayleen: Oh yes. It’s protected everything.
Mark: I hope you didn’t have your box of diamonds in there.
Kayleen: My crystal was in here.
Theresa: Don’t get in the habit of banging people’s purses on your forehead.
Mark: She looks like she dragged that behind her jeep on the way down here.
Kayleen: It has happened a few times. It’s rolled a few times. If it’s survived this long, I think I’m good.
Theresa: I think she’s now your accessories consultant.
Mark: Actually Kayleen, I’ve got an opening at MyFixitUpLife. We’re looking for Mark’s accessories consultants.
Kayleen: Fabulous. It’s tough being a female in the construction world, it’s always fun to bring a little bit of fashion and fun with this because guys are not going to rock this cool lunch box, this awesome belt buckle.
Theresa: Or this gorgeous necklace.
Mark: Oh, what?! What?!
Kayleen: Yes. It’s amazing.
Theresa: It was given to me with love.
Mark: By?
Theresa: Someone, Ms. Kayleen McCabe.
Mark: Is made of?
Kayleen: Washers and nail polish.
Theresa: It’s actually gorgeous and amazing.
Mark: Can I bump my head on that?
Theresa: No! You can’t bump …
Kayleen: I think he’s may be accessory jealous.
Theresa: Yes, I think he is.
Mark: I wear the same. My pants are sewn together. That’s about all I got. Thanks I got the script.
Kayleen: The watch, the beat up watch.
Mark: Mine is about the break. You want mine?
Kayleen: Oh, sure. Yes, maybe. Yes.
Mark: You are obviously a female in a construction site.
Theresa: Good observation.
Mark: Do you get hit from people who are just goofballs and don’t get that you know what you’re doing?
Kayleen: I think it’s a little bit disbelief going in the homes. People like, “Really? Is she really coming and actually do stuff?” Once they see me work, it’s like, “Okay.” I have a ton of respect from my guys. I’m very lucky with that. The crew that I work with knows that I’m really cool and we’re all the same team so it doesn’t matter. I’m prettier than they are.
Theresa: I definitely imagine.
Mark: I can’t disagree with that. You’ve got respect on the job site. Now, when you’re getting in there and you’re blowing stuff to pieces and you’re getting ready to bring in new cabinets and you put down a new deck or whatever, do you have people helping drag all stuff in? Are you like the ringleader? Is it a little bit of both?
Kayleen: It’s kind of everything. We have such a small crew that is hands-on. I cannot sit around and just watch people do stuff. I’m going to carry my own weight. In fact, I’m really competitive so probably try to carry more than everybody else. It’s exciting and then everybody is energized. It’s everybody has their fair share. Nobody is slacking.
Mark: So, a lot of lift with your back?
Kayleen: Yes, it’s a bench press. I lift with my back, bend with my knees.
Theresa: Maybe that’s why the longevity of your show is just going so well because it comes across. It really does come across how enthusiastic you are, how engaged you are, and how much you know about what you are doing too. I find that to be empowering and refreshing from a girl perspective. I feel like there aren’t a lot of women out there doing it.
Kayleen: No. What I really enjoy too is just showing people, taking the mystery out of it. I think sometimes that’s easier to see that when it’s a woman using a chop saw like, “Well heck! She can do it. So can I?” Anybody can do it. It’s really great being able to check up, and so it’s like, “Oh come on! Anybody can do this.”
Theresa: You don’t have to wait for your father, your boyfriend, your husband or whoever to come and help you.
Kayleen: No, not all. Yes.
Mark: Here’s a question for you. New person, boy or girl, it doesn’t matter, trying to buy tools and they want to get a miter saw. What would you give them three tips for buying a miter saw or using it?
Kayleen: Think about of how much you are going to use it. Don’t go too big because if you’re just doing simple trim work, you don’t need a 12-inch, double miter compound slider saw.
Mark: Yes, you do.
Kayleen: I know you do. Actually I agree with that, but I’m trying to give reasonable advice to everybody else.
Mark: Okay. Sorry.
Theresa: If it’s just not absolutely necessary.
Mark: It’s not.
Kayleen: No, it’s not necessary. Then, think of the price range. If it’s something you’re going to be using every day, buy a tool that’s going to handle that and withstand it. If you’re a weekend warrior then invest in something a little bit less expensive. Pick one that’s your favorite color. I’m not quite sure what my three tips would be. It’s just buying for what you need is really. People will tend to overbuy or underbuy and get that little, tiny like this, and then try to do the framing. Exactly.
Mark: It’s just too small.
Kayleen: Yes.
Theresa: That’s like the story your mom used to say about that – her neighbors that will cut the grass with scissors.
Mark: True story.
Theresa: Yes, true.
Mark: It took him a while to do it but they would not ask for help.
Kayleen: Really?
Mark: That, they did it with scissors.
Kayleen: Eventually, I would just put all rocks in.
Theresa: Yes. It’s like one of those Zen gardens that people have at their desks.
Mark: It is all rock.
Kayleen: Yes. I could rip it out, over cutting it all the time.
Theresa: It’s funny what people do to make do.
Mark: You have got to check out Kayleen McCabe on DIY Network. Follow her on Twitter.
Theresa: You have to follow her on Twitter.
Mark: Like her on Facebook because she’s peppy and fun.
Kayleen: Thank you.
Mark: Check us out. We’ll be back with more of the International Builders’ Show and more MyFixitUpLife.
