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By Shirley Brady
The do-it-yourself craze is so hot that InStyle magazine named it one of the top trends for 2004. That's no surprise to the Scripps-owned DIY Network, which dishes up ideas, inspiration and how-to tips on a multitude of pastimes and projects 24/7, all year long.
As the network's president Bob Baskerville noted at Scripps Networks' press conference in New York last month, DIY is no longer just about home improvement or gardening, "it's about everything, because it's about self-expression."
With more than 70% of adults in the U.S. falling into the DIY category, the network's goal is to motivate and empower them to explore their passions for everything from scrapbooking (one of its hottest categories) and wine cellars to car detailing and model building. There's even a show-DIY to the Rescue-for "overdo-it-yourselfers" who get so carried away they wreck their projects and need help undoing the damage.
That series may come in handy for viewers of another new show starting on the network this month, Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean, which features best-selling author Linda Cobb (a.k.a. the "Queen of Clean") and a simple concept: She dishes the dirt on how viewers can keep their homes (even pets) sparkling clean, using everyday products such as Tang (to make toilets sing) and ketchup (a copper pot's best friend) to tackle an array of cleaning dilemmas. But she's no finger-wagging Martha Stewart. Cobb is funny and irreverent, tackling demos with guests and audience members to keep things lively.
The network claims it's the first DIY show to be taped before a live audience, and has signed Georgia-Pacific's Sparkle Paper Towels to sponsor the 65-episode series and its first ever "House to Palace Sweepstakes." Running April 18 to May 31, it offers a grand prize of a home visit from Cobb and a $10,000 check. That's a whole lot of paper towels-or Tang, depending on your particular cleaning needs.
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