With the demise of Changing Rooms, life is on the move for Handy Andy - but he's got a whole range of new tricks up his sleeve that will guarantee his place in the public eye.

Q: The death knell has sounded on Changing Rooms and you've been with the show since it started nine years ago. Are you going to miss it?

A: All good things come to an end but I'm quite sad because the crew were so lovely and we got on really well. We were like a big family. On the other hand I was doing it for nearly nine years and I don't miss the travelling, up and down the country, day after day. Even so, Changing Rooms was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed my time. It has put me in a great position and I have had lots of fun, but nothing lasts forever. There are still a couple of specials to be filmed this year, but then that's it.

What's your best memory from all those episodes of Changing Rooms?

There are so many but one of the best shows we ever did was the very last one. We were on the river in Stratford-Upon-Avon and we had to do up a bowls club and a canoe club. Everyone was very relaxed, it was a beautiful setting and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Of all the weird and wacky creations Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Anna Ryder Richardson, Linda Barker and the other designers came up with over the years, what's the most memorable thing you have ever had to make?

Now you're asking! We've done about 170 shows which is about 340 rooms and they all rather merge into one. I have made some very odd things but what stands out the most are the plinths. I dread to think just how many plinths I have had to create for Graham Wynne. He likes to stand things on plinths - a pot, a vase, a statue. He really is the plinth queen - but he's still my favourite out of all the designers.

Have you enjoyed your time as the nation's favourite chippie?

I was always behind the scenes really. I was always in scruffy jeans and my T-shirt was covered in rubbish. I was never up front presenting or designing like the others, I was just the one making things and doing the moaning and complaining in the background - but yes, I've had a wonderful time for the last nine years.

You're very modest. Do you want to stay in television long term?

I'm not sure I want to go on making programmes forever but we'll see what happens. At the moment I think I'd rather buy a little house to do up and sell on, and just get up in the morning and get on with it.

So what's next for you in the immediate future?

I have loads of things coming up in the next year or so. For me, the most exciting is my new range of tools, which will be sold in independent retailers - around 20,000 hardware stores around the country, as opposed to the big DIY chains.

The market I'm aiming for is the DIYer who has been doing it for a little while and wants to jump up a league but is not in the professional range. It's the middle area between the Black & Decker and the Bosch markets, and it's a big area, too.

The tools will be very woman-friendly, because so many more women are doing DIY nowadays. Things like hefty hammers and screwdrivers are great if you're a bloke with a big grip but they can be difficult for smaller hands to hold onto. I’m also the face of WD40.

Are you filming any more TV shows?

I've done a pilot for a new series called Increase Your House by 10K for UK Living. It's a makeover show with a twist. The owner of the house gives us £1,000 and we have to put the value of the house up by £10,000 by revamping the kitchen, putting down decking, repainting and generally jazzing things up. If we don't make the grade then we forfeit our wages!

On the pilot, we managed to increase the value of the house by £8,000 but we each lost £400 because we were £2,000 short. It was three days of very hard work.

What other TV shows have you been on in the past year?

There was a spooky one called Famous And Frightened last autumn when we had to stay in a castle in Aberdeen for three nights. The scarey part was when I took my turn as night watchman and had to walk about this huge, deserted castle at three in the morning checking all the doors and windows.

I also filmed a one-off with Cilla Black for UK Living, where we did up the main living area at Centrepoint, the shelter for homeless youngsters in central London. We had just three hours to turn it into a really nice space for them to watch TV and chat in. That was hard work, too!

Has anything else come to an end this year?

I've filmed the last two series of Garden Rivals and Room Rivals for UK Style, but then I've recently filmed another series for them called Street Combers. It's based on the Australian way of putting unwanted furniture in the front garden for anyone to take, but we did it in and around Norfolk.

I'm not worried about the future, though. I can always do up houses and sell them but the tool range is my main project for this year.

How are things at home?

It's going to be good to spend a bit more time at home, and to see more of my wife Geraldine, and our four kids. My youngest, Louis, was two in November. I'm sure Geraldine is pleased to have me back but now I'm at home more I'm like a taxi service for the kids. They all go to different schools and nurseries and you're here, there and everywhere with them! I wouldn't change it for the world, though.