'Spaces' champs win by design

By Jean Patteson
Knight Ridder News Service

Jon Laymon took a gamble late last year and won.

And won. And won.

First, he and his wife, Stacy Laymon, won the chance to appear on four episodes of "Trading Spaces: Home Free," the popular TLC cable-TV series.

By the season's end in April, the Laymons had beaten out seven other couples in a series of redecorating competitions to win the popular vote — and enough prize money to pay off the mortgage on a new, four-bedroom, $250,000 home in Ocoee, Fla.

Then Laymon, an artist and sculptor, went up against three professional interior designers on the show's fall-season opener, "Trading Spaces: Pick the Next Designer." Again, the telegenic Laymon garnered the most viewer votes — and an offer, instantly accepted, to continue as a paid designer on the original "Trading Spaces" (on cable TV at various times throughout the week; check daily listings).

"I love it," says Laymon, 31. "I'm an artist playing a designer on TV." He's not an actor, he says. He is simply "doing what I do" on camera.

What he does — or rather, what he did before being discovered by "Trading Spaces" — is animatronics, or animated sculpture. He was the art director at an Orlando company that designs, builds and installs giant jungle creatures that decorate Rainforest Cafe restaurants worldwide.

Early this year, after winning the first leg of "Home Free," Laymon told his supervisors he needed time off to compete in additional episodes. He was told to choose: the game show or his job.

"I called Stacy," he says. "She said, 'If you don't do this, you'll regret it. You'll always wonder what might have happened. Go for it.' "

So he took the gamble. He quit his job of 11 years for a shot at winning a reality TV show.

Laymon is a natural when the cameras are rolling. Happy-go-lucky by nature, he thrives on the adrenaline rush of racing the clock to redecorate a room on a tight budget. And it doesn't hurt that he looks like a long-haired version of actor Brad Pitt.

Laymon is "dedicated, inspired and brings an incredible energy to everything he does," says Kathy Davidov, TLC executive producer of "Trading Spaces."

"His background as a sculptor and an art director shines through in unique, imaginative designs," she says. "He has an approachability that our viewers seem to really appreciate and identify with."

Stacy, 29, a hairdresser, is chic and vivacious. Their son, Dylan, was born in July 2003 — six months before his parents became TV celebrities.

A native of Ohio, Laymon graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh before moving to Orlando.

When he and a friend moved into their first apartment in Orlando, "our landlady felt so sorry for us when she saw our two bags of dirty laundry, she gave us a wicker chair and a coffee table — oh, and a clock radio, so we'd have music."

Today, he has a state-of-the-art sound system and a TV about the size of a double bed.

It was late last year when the Laymons' neighbors, Jay Stanley and Melanie Lefler, suggested the two couples enter the "Home Free" contest, in which neighbors redecorate spaces in each other's homes in the hopes of winning enough cash to pay off their mortgage.

The four friends made a videotape, introducing themselves and their makeover ideas, and shipped it off to TLC. A few weeks later, they were selected to be on the show.

Each couple was given $2,000 to rework the other's bedroom. Stanley and Lefler's Asian-themed design was striking. But the Laymons' interpretation of a "royal suite" theme for their neighbors — complete with fabric on the ceiling and a textured wall finish made from a mix of coffee grounds, berries and plaster — captivated more viewers.

The public's continuing votes of confidence propelled the Laymons into the final episode — and won them the grand prize.

"Basically, Melanie's idea paid for this house. It was her idea to do the show," says Laymon.

But there are no hard feelings, says Stanley. "We've actually become closer friends because of the show."

Laymon loves his newfound celebrity status.

"I'm recognized everywhere I go," he says. "Stacy has had people come from Fort Lauderdale and Tampa to have her do their hair."