Serious tools for the do-it-herselfer

ast fall, Girlgear Industries debuted a pink suede, heavy-duty toolbelt made to fit women with 30-inch hips.

In May, the National Hardware Show, arguably the trade exhibit for all things tool-related, featured Lynda Lyday and her new line of red-and-cream tools, designed with a woman's smaller hand in mind.

On a Monday evening two weeks ago, a group of women gathered in South Seattle to talk grout float and trowel. For two years, Tomboy Tools, a women-founded home-improvement company, has been selling its women-friendly tools directly to customers through these "tool parties."

So on this evening, Tomboy consultant Pamela Eaton-Ford, in her "Just Fix It" T-shirt, was showing off a mini-hacksaw, a ratchet screwdriver and ergonomically designed paint brushes.

"If you want something done, you have to do it yourself," said Tamara Flesher, who marveled at a magnetic head hammer with a rubber grip.

"I was looking for something like this yesterday. Where were you, baby?" said Cothron McMillian, admiring a quick-change utility knife.

Gone are the days when women regarded tools as fashion accessories à la Heidi, "The Tool Time girl," in her denim mini. The TV landscape now teems with women strapping on safety glasses and ripping out vanities. Who doesn't applaud Amy Wynn Pastor and the way she maneuvers a cordless drill?

Industry shifting gears

The real world of home improvement can't help but respond to women who want to be "Weekend Warriors" or "Toolbelt Divas," or who know that Ryobi isn't a vegetable.

There are women-authored home-repair books ("Dare to Repair," "Room for Improvement," Lyday's "Do It Yourself" and Pastor's "Yes, You Can!: Home Repairs Made Easy"), blogs and Web sites (see box at right), women-friendly tool lines (Tomboy, barbara k!), Do-It-Herself workshops at The Home Depot, even a new line of coveralls dubbed Rosies after that exemplar of self-sufficiency, Rosie The Riveter.

Black & Decker doesn't design with gender in mind, but company spokesman David Olsen acknowledges its GelMax comfort grip tools — jigsaws, sanders, drills — are attractive to women.

"We know women are out there taking on serious projects, like remodeling basements," Olsen says. "And in that regard, we know that they want serious tools."

It makes economic sense

Such forays into home repair, beyond general upkeep or redecorating, are as much a cost issue as about feeling empowered and independent, women say.

"I knew I couldn't afford to buy a house and pay someone to do the maintenance," says Eaton-Ford, who was newly divorced when she became a first-time homeowner in Rainier Valley two years ago.

Since then, she's stripped wallpaper, painted walls and replaced 50-year-old faucets.

"It just never occurred to me that I shouldn't be doing these things," says Eaton-Ford, adding that every bonus at work, every tax return, now goes toward purchasing tools. Eaton-Ford works for a nearby medical firm and just recently, to supplement her income, started selling Tomboy tools.

Statistics point to how women's interest in home repair is more like a lifestyle than just a passing trend.

More women are marrying later or not at all, and they're more apt than previous generations of single women to own homes, noted a 2004 study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

From that same report: Households headed by unmarried women with or without children have accounted for nearly a third of the growth in homeowners since 1994.

According to Fannie Mae, women-headed households are expected to skyrocket to nearly 31 million by 2010.

The Home Depot reports that the spending power of women in the home-improvement area is now more than $11 billion a year.

And according to a survey commissioned by Sears last year, three out of five female homeowners said they'd rather receive an hour of advice from Bob Vila than from Dr. Phil.

Sized and styled for her

Kellie Reamer had been remodeling houses for three years. But when she tired of finding an appropriately-sized toolbelt — too heavy, too bulky — she opted to design one herself.

"I wanted to make something practical but also something that would stand out," she says about the impetus behind her pink toolbelt. Additional pink suede tool accessories are scheduled for sale online in the fall.

Heidi Baker was equally resourceful after purchasing a condo that left her "house rich but cash poor." The only "power tool" she had ever operated, she jokes, was a garbage disposal. But the condo had popcorn ceilings, mirrored walls and a hideous carpet.

So she decided to do the remodeling herself: resurfacing cabinets and installing crown molding and a bathroom vanity.

"I'm a girl. I wanted a walk-in closet, so I built one," she says.

Baker and two colleagues have since turned their home-repair experiences into an online community called Be-Jane.com. "Be a 'Jane of all trades,' " they say.

The Be-Jane.com Web site is full of tricks, tips and how-tos. (Want to cut paint smell? Add some vanilla extract). Coming up: The Janes plan to release a DVD in the fall and a book next spring.

Lyday, co-host of "Talk2DIY Home Improvement" and a carpenter since the 1980s, hopes to have her tools on the market this winter. And in the works is Lyday Workwear.

"No more unisex," she says. "This will fit our bodies, our waist and our hips."

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com