theinterview
Meet D.I.Y. Designer Anitra Mecadon Host of popular show ‘Mega Dens’ calls Johns Creek home By KATIE VanBRACKLE
katie@northsidewoman.com
A
NORTHSIDE WOMAN: You own an interior design firm in Johns Creek--Plum Avocado. Are you still working with local clients or focusing full time on “Mega Dens”? MECADON: We just started filming the fifth season of Mega Dens and have been hitting it hard since day one with only a month off in-between seasons. So I have no time for outside projects at this point. I have given mind, body and soul to DIY and “Mega Dens.” I do the design, I shop the show, I help build the show and I host the show. It’s an all-encompassing job and we are very hands-on. You have to remember that for each show, the Scialabba brothers--my contractors--and I are tearing down walls, building furniture and doing these crazy designs in only four and a half days. That’s pretty intense! How do you find the homeowners who appear on “Mega Dens”? About 75 percent of our shows are filmed here in the Atlanta area and we are always casting. You can go to www.diynetwork.com to find casting information and apply online. We include homeowners in the remodeling process, so you have to be willing to get your hands dirty! As the spokesperson for Purple Drywall Products, you are obviously not afraid to get your hands dirty by tearing down walls or refinishing furniture. When were you bitten by the DIY bug? I come from a long line of DIY-ers. My grandfather developed property up in the Poconos and I grew up hanging around construction sites, watching homes rise from the ground up. Since I was 15 I wanted to do nothing but home improvement television. I used to watch Christopher Lowell and all those older shows and I knew that’s what I was going to do. I didn’t get my first show until I was 33 so at some point my family thought I was a little crazy and maybe I should go back to school to become a doctor 6 | northsidewoman.com | august2013
KIM HUMMEL PHOTOGRAPHY
nitra Mecadon is ready to rock your world. As the host of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Network television’s hit show “Mega Dens,” filmed mostly in Atlanta, Mecadon helps transform ordinary living spaces into overthe-top rec-room sanctuaries. Mecadon recently took time out from her busy filming schedule to chat with Northside Woman about her DIY roots, her sources of inspiration and the “curse of the creative person.”
like they intended me to do, but I followed my heart and it actually all worked out in my favor. When I started college I was pre-med, but then I took a theater set design class and just fell in love with tools. That was the greatest thing I ever learned--how to use tools. It changed my life. The irony is that I am a kind of doctor today, or at least a therapist (laughs). I fix people’s problems by making their home environment and their lives more functional and beautiful. I help them figure out who they are. Is it true that DIY Network developed the “Mega Dens” concept just for you? I tried out for other shows on four different networks, but I was “too this or too that” for each role. There was a time when I had purple hair---I’m a rock ‘n’ roll chick! And I could have just been too much for television at that point in time. When a friend of mine arranged a meeting at DIY, I was very lucky to have a whole lot of people sitting around the table who got me. They liked that I’m a little crazy
► See DIY, Page 8
My goal for each and every show is to inspire people to tackle some home projects, to get their hands dirty and do something they normally wouldn’t do. Even if it’s just grabbing a can of spray paint and adding a fun, bright color to an old piece of furniture. Each step you take in the DIY world sets you on the path of doing more.” Anitra Mecadon, DIY "Mega Dens" host