Andrew Dan-Jumbo, the strapping and sometimes quirky carpenter of TV home makeover shows "While You Were Out" and "Trading Spaces," will be in Pittsburgh Friday for a gala kicking off the Junior League of Pittsburgh's 18th Designers' Show House.

	Andrew Dan-Jumbo and Leslie Segrete, from the show "While You Were Out," use the workshop. Dan-Jumbo will be here Friday for the opening of the annual Junior League Designers' Show House. Click photo for larger image.

"Elegance on Beechwood" is the theme of the show house, featuring the former home of Pirate pitcher Bob Friend in Squirrel Hill that is being transformed by 25 of the area's top design professionals. The house will be open for tours through Mother's Day, May 13.

Mr. Dan-Jumbo, honorary chair of the gala, didn't see the house before the rehab. But he will inspect the finished product and mingle with guests Friday. The son of a Nigerian father and English mother, he attributes his talent for fixing things to his mother.

"My mom was always big on doing things herself and fixing things herself, and so I was the kind of kid that had inquisitive hands," he explained.

He loved to take things apart and reassemble them, much like what the Junior League has done to the three-story, 17-room, Italian Renaissance-style home, which has been nearly gutted and reinvented, with a new kitchen, bathrooms and landscaping.

Without a professional remodeling team and a firm deadline, Mr. Dan-Jumbo says the most common mistake rehabbers make is underestimating the budget and the amount of time it will take.

"I know as a builder, when I do a job for somebody, they always get in my face about how long it's taking and why it's costing more," he said. "There are always unforeseen problems in rehabbing a house. It is like one step forward, three steps backward."

Because this is the Junior League's 18th Designers' Show House, they have worked out many of the kinks involved. As for the budget, the designers take on most of the cost themselves because the event is for charity. This year's show house will benefit the league's three-year signature playground project for children in underserved areas of Allegheny County.

Mr. Dan-Jumbo believes interest in home remodeling has been generated by shows like his on TLC as well as the availability of materials.

"They give people the sense that there really is no reason why they shouldn't be tackling some of these projects themselves," he said. "And retail outlets like Home Depot and Lowe's for building materials, combined with the fact that it is quite expensive to get a contractor to do a lovely project -- more people are interested in doing it themselves."

A self-taught carpenter and builder, Mr. Dan-Jumbo went to school in England to study commercial art but eventually ended up following his brother, a construction engineer, to the United States, where they started a construction company.

"I've always scratched my head about the people who go to school for carpentry. It's just a lot of common sense if you are given the basic tools."

He says most things can be picked up by trial and error. Of course, for the two most expensive rooms in the house, the kitchen and bathroom, professional guidance is recommended. New Angle Design did the kitchen and butler's pantry for the show house and Showcase Kitchen and Bath tackled the master bathroom.

"You get the biggest return on your investment with those two rooms. Of course, you never get everything you put into a space back. But usually about 80 to 85 percent is returned," he said.

"Plus those two rooms are the ones most scrutinized when it comes to buying a house."

He likes all the new technology and high-efficiency appliances incorporated into kitchens today.

"Modern evolved kitchens ... are so much easier to keep clean and maintain," he said.

Which brings him to another very important bit of advice for remodelers who are not doing an entire house at once.

"Start with the room furthest from the entrance. Basically, start upstairs and work down," he said.

"Too many people start with the living room or a downstairs room for the remodeling and then they find that those rooms start to get dinged up as workers are going up and down and through those rooms to reach other rooms.

"But whichever way you do it, I guarantee you are going to go over budget by 15 or 20 percent," he said, suggesting that be factored into the budget.

"Glitz, Glamour and Grace," Friday night's gala, begins at 5 p.m. at 1265 Beechwood Blvd., Squirrel Hill. Tickets are $300 for dinner, dessert and a reception with Mr. Dan-Jumbo, $125 for a 7 p.m. dinner and dessert and $60 for a 9 p.m. dessert-only party. Tickets are $20 for tours through May 13. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Gala reservations: 412-394-6767. Information: 412-422-8580 or www.jlpgh.org.