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Home › Dad of the Month

Eric Stromer

By Donna Smith

Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a father who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a man and a father. Above all, the Dad of the Month is dedicated to his children. Rich or poor, famous or not, he shines as an example of what fathering is all about.

Tune into The Learning Channel's hot new show, Clean Sweep, and you'll find cluttered rooms being turned into organized and functional spaces. You'll also find Eric Stromer, the California-blonde carpenter with a sense of humor and a way with power tools.

Stromer, 42, has turned America's passion for reality home decorating shows into a rewarding and fun career. Away from the cameras, he and his wife, Amy, fight the typical clutter made by their two boys, Wyatt, 5, and Dusty, 6 months.

iParenting recently caught up with Stromer in Los Angeles, where he talked about some of his passions – and even shared some decorating and organizing tips.

iP: Can you tell me a little about the show?

ES: Clean Sweep is an organizational design show specializing in complete, total transformations of two rooms, going from cutter and chaos to a beautiful finished product. Ultimately, through our wonderful and delightful organizers, Peter and Shelly, they're able to psychologically profile, and at the same time pry away, some of those belongings that people can't seem to get rid of, with a really nice, soft touch as a comedy, as well.

It seems to strike a cord with everyone, including myself, who has a whole bunch of junk sitting in their garages and offices, and teaches you how to provide storage solutions for everybody. And at the end of the day, I think from the responses that we always get in these reveals, they always throw their arms around us and say, "Thank you, thank you," with tears streaming down their cheeks. It's really kind of beautiful.

iP: Are you ever shocked at the amount of clutter most people have in their homes?

ES: I am not because I come from that world. I'm sort of slowly being reformed myself. I have two small kids and know how fast stuff goes out of control because of the attention to the kids that you're raising. A lot of times some of these rooms just become catch-alls because you have so many transitions in the kid's life as they grow up, and their clothes and their toys, and then the next one comes and you have to take care of that one. You don't want to throw stuff out, but you don't want to keep it either. So it's very easy for me to see how it happens. And it's ultimately very educational to see how you can keep it from happening throughout the show.

iP: Any tips for parents on how to get rid of that clutter?

ES: Yes, absolutely. No. 1: Organize and store up from your desktop and in your garage space. There's so much unused space that sort of occurs over desktops and garage workbenches. Sometimes instead of stacking the boxes in the deep, dark places in the garage, there are really ways that you can do shelving systems that go up into the ceiling as high as you can go and gives you the ability to see everything clearly in front of you rather than just these boxes that block you seeing the stuff you have behind them. That's the first and foremost thing that I've noticed. Hunt and check for areas in your home that are sort of disguised storage possibilities, like the backs of doors, up high and in traditional closets – there's always too much wasted space there. That's kind of the genius of our organizers and designers. They find these areas that commonly we all seem to kind of not look in terms of a place to store stuff. Just hunt for those little areas.

iP: It's not really the amount of stuff you have, it's what you do with it?

ES: Exactly. It's almost like living in a boat. You consider each room to be a boat. You have to store stuff up and out of the way so that you have clear passageways. I found that to be sort of a helpful way to look at it in terms of the way things are built too. You get stuff up off the floor in a way and in an area behind closed doors, or if it's a nice system where you can have open storage. At least you see where the hell the stuff's going. That's one tip that I have seen over and over again work well.

And the other thing is to keep toss piles, and we do on the show. Pull everything out of the garage, for example, and take just a hard look at what you have in the back corners of these storage spaces, and between you and your spouse or your friends or your roommates, really take a hard look and say, "Do I really, really need this stuff?" And if you give yourself those two options of keeping and tossing, generally you're going to weed out at least 30 to 50 percent of the stuff.

iP: On the show, do you find it's harder for men or women to get rid of items?

ES: I think it's pretty mutual, and I find that's there's an enormous amount of scapegoating in relationships. As a general contractor I often found that too, where you would walk into a job and the wife would say, "Well, my husband thinks we should do this or that," and then the husband says, "My wife thinks..." and really what they're doing is sort of passing the buck on to each other and not coming to terms with their own involvement in the process of keeping all this stuff. I think it's really mutual and universal.

iP: Can you remodel on a budget?

ES: There's absolutely no question. I think that's another reason why these shows are so popular – the home improvement shows – because we show you generally around $2,000, which is about a thousand bucks a room. The transformations are incredible and there's so many available options to you in terms of taking what you already have, modifying it with a little creativity or a coat of paint, of also just a simple coat of paint on the walls, or some trim can do an enormous amount to just transform the room. And then obviously in an office situation or a toy storage area, if you can get tasteful shelving put up on your walls or build some simple box that you can have store capability with – it makes an enormous difference.

But the [biggest] thing that transforms is when people really see what they already have and use that. We oftentimes don't really get rid of much of anything. We just change it around and create a most useful space in their own room, by slipping a bed to another wall or finding which way the rooms flows the best. That's where the genius of the designers comes in, in my opinion.

iP: People should reuse items they already have before going out and buying new stuff?

ES: Absolutely. We use it or modify it. Like you can create a simple desk by having existing filing cabinets as the legs of that desk, and either buy like a hollow core door at a hardware store or piece of plywood with some 2-inch facing in the front, and it's literally a $45 fix to have a huge desk space for yourself.

iP: Did you always enjoy building?

ES: Yes. My father was very much into design growing up, so that was the way I spent a lot of time with him as a small boy. With my own son, he just loves it when I have a tool belt on and a hammer, and he gets to participate in the same thing. I think men learn from each other by just hanging out with each other. More so than even what you say to your son or your father, it's just the time spent being with them. From a very early age I was always doing projects with my dad, and I think that's why I'm in it now.

iP: How did you get involved with Clean Sweep?

ES: I was a general contractor for many years here in Los Angeles. I needed to do an estimate for an electrical job I was doing, and I called my friend who's a sub-contractor and he told me that they were auditioning for contractors and he could meet me for lunch, but I should come down and audition for this show. And I said no, I'll just meet you and wait and we'll go eat afterwards, after you're finished with your audition. And of course, as fate would have it, I walked in, he hadn't shown up yet, and I got the job.

iP: How did it feel to be named one of People magazine's 50 sexiest men?

ES: First of all, it was incredibly flattering. Second of all, at the time this came out I think I was holding my [baby]. At that time he was a month and a half old. I heard this on the telephone, and I said, "Wow, I'm a really sexy guy," and all of a sudden my son starts to cry and I'm shaking him around trying to get him to stop and I look in the mirror and I'm like, no I'm not.

iP: I read that you have a music CD coming out soon.

ES: I've been a musician for years, and I have a couple of songs on my Web site, EricStromer.com, that are available to download right now. And I have a partner, a guy named Sam Sims, and he's the musical director for Janet Jackson and a whole bunch of different artists. We put together a compilation of about 10 songs on the record and it'll be released through my Web site in about four months.

iP: What type of music?

ES: It's sort of like modern rock that has a soul, R&B flavor to it. It's kind of like Sting and Seal and throw some hip-hop moves under that.

iP: Will it be a full CD one day?

ES: Yes, it absolutely will. At this point it's fun, and I've really been concentrating on the show. My time that's occupied by the show is pretty much 100 percent. I have about a month off coming up and I'll finish up and master the thing then and then I'll put the CD out.

iP: You've also designed your own T-shirts. How did you get involved in that?

ES: I've always been really into drawing and creating stuff, so I just came up with these ideas of some simple hand tools and then telling you what they are on the shirt itself. It's been really fun, and the response has been really positive.

iP: You also have a book coming out.

ES: Yeah, I'm just at this point formulating all the designs on the Web site. I get an enormous amount of interest on how we build some of the stuff on the show. So I'm sort of waiting until our season concludes and then I'm going to get together the most popular designs that I'm asked about on the Web site. This thing will feature how to build all the things and provide organizational and storage solutions and the kind of furniture and shelving systems that are really helpful to that.

iP: You've worked on quite a few stars' homes.

ES: I think that's by nature of living in Los Angeles. When you get to a certain level in your business, you're just sort of ultimately going to run into people who are in media. And that seemed to happen right before I got this job. I've been in a couple different stars' homes. Years ago, I repainted and did some tile work in Mel Gibson's apartment down in Santa Monica, and the guy from [The Lord of the Rings], Elijah Wood, I did his house, which, actually also at one point before I remodeled the same house when it was Dillon McDermott's house. So I actually tore out all the stuff I'd done five years earlier and put in some new tile and a fireplace in Elijah Wood's house.

iP: Was it hard tearing out your own work?

ES: Yes, it's like I've been here before. This is a little too strange. It was interesting. It was hard to get out, so I knew I did it right. That's the good news.

iP: Before Clean Sweep, you did other TV and film work. Can you tell me about that?

ES: Originally, in high school back in Evanston, Ill., I was hired to do a commercial for Kit Kat candy bar, which is sort of how I got into the business in the first place. At the time, I was only about 18 years old and I thought to myself, "Wow, this is a great way to make money." And then I actually tried and didn't get hired for about 100 years.

 

Out of college, I got a job on a soap opera called Santa Barbara, and I was on that for about seven, eight months. And then a couple Young and the Restless shots, and then I produced and starred in a film that I also did the music for that went to Sundance a couple years ago and won the Houston Film Festival. That was sort of my entree into filmmaking and producing, which was a bit of nightmare, but I did enjoy it. And a couple other movies here and there, and lots and lots of commercials and some modeling when I was in college, so I sort of spent my time in all parts of the media.

iP: How do you feel about reality vs. scripted TV shows?

ES: I actually just love the fact that I was able to get onto a show where I'm 100 percent myself and not doing any sort of a role whatsoever. And it's just really fun. The set, the atmosphere of the set, is incredibly funny because there's so much of a time constraint. I think it produces an enormous amount of humor because of all of the pressure. For that reason alone, I just love this job, and I love Clean Sweep and the whole idea behind it. And also you really immediately see how the work that we do impacts people's lives emotionally and psychologically. So that's really positive for me to see that.

iP: Are you ever surprised by their reactions?

ES: Just last week we had a reveal, and all the crew stands around the truck outside of the house and we watch these people walk in and see their new rooms. This is a mother/daughter combination, and the mother was literally so touched and [there were] so many tears, that the whole crew was sniffling watching this thing. I think the thing now that really affects all of us on the show and motivates us is when we do a job and we touch people emotionally, and it makes them start to weep with gratitude, and there's not a dry eye around the truck. It's really kind of sweet actually.

iP: Does Wyatt watch the show?

ES: I have an outtake reel of a lot of the really absurd comedy that comes out of the show – some of the stuff makes the show, some doesn't. But he's a huge fan of the really knucklehead sort of comedy bits that I do. I'll catch him doing one of my little bits while he's poking his brother in the head or something. It's really kind of sweet to see that. But we don't really watch the show as a family at all because it comes on at a time when we're trying to get them down for bed.

iP: What do you enjoy doing as a family?

ES: My 5-year-old just got into rollerblading. So there's a really cool skate park in Malibu and I also love rollerblading too, so we have a real good time falling all over the half pipe and stuff. And it's a nice place where my little infant son can just sit in his stroller and watch his dad and his brother make idiots out of themselves.

Photos by Tali Song Roth.