It was on the wings of hot-pink ducks that the daring, tattoo-plastered Antonio Ballatore soared high above the competition to take last year's "HGTV Design Star" title.

Now the 41-year-old star of the new HGTV series "The Antonio Treatment" is trying to cultivate a signature style with even more flights of fancy - from blanketing the ceiling of a home with Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" to charging a hot-pink rhinoceros through a hotel room's wall.

"I just want to be crazy and inspire people," he says.

If that means transferring any of the design sensibility found in his Eagle Rock home to television, the new show promises to be a hair-raiser to remember.

Low rider car culture, rock 'n' roll memorabilia and fine art loom large in Ballatore's suburban fixer-upper: an 1,800-square-foot ranch-style house he shares with his constant companion and co-star, Chewie, a 4-year-old Old English bulldog that's appropriately named.

While Chewie noisily gnaws on a bone, his doting pal takes a bench seat at the large reclaimed wood table in the great room, comprised of the kitchen, wet bar and dining area with a pebble-faced fireplace.

The windows are covered in bamboo shades and rock music quietly plays in the background as Ballatore talks about the home he bought two years ago to fix and flip.

Of course, he was living with his girlfriend in Mount Washington at the time. When they split, he had no choice but to move into the construction zone even as he competed on "Design Star."

A lot of work has gone into the house thanks to his friends, who also join Ballatore on the show as his crew.

The caved-in roof was rebuilt, 1,000 square feet of living space was added at the back, and the front end was gutted to create the great room where today a mishmash of grotesque decor - a human skull under glass, plated beetles and vintage deer leg table lamps - shares the space with electric guitars and several gifts from his artist father: a painted portrait of a drunken family friend clutching a bottle of booze and a hand-carved, leather-upholstered throne from late-17th century Spain that's been in his family for decades.

"Originally it had a family crest on it but because the guy was assassinated in the chair, nobody wanted to buy it, so my dad bought it," Ballatore says of the chair parked at the table.

High above it hangs a Pepto-Bismol-pink duck - a trophy from the "Design Star" days.

Some of Ballatore's teammates may have ridiculed his suggestion to fly a flock of hot-pink ducks across the gleaming walls of an all-white living room, but it made him a favorite with judges from the get-go.

"He's not just a designer, he's an artist that designs, which is an interesting differentiator from a lot of the designers you see out there," says Freddy James, senior vice president of program development and production at HGTV. "He creates unusual, one-of-a-kind pieces and then ties them together in an overall space in remarkable ways."

Home sweet home

One certainly gets that sense walking through Ballatore's house, whose remodel was featured in the pilot that eventually became "The Antonio Treatment."

The bedroom is red and white with black rays shooting out from behind the airbrushed, clear-coated and metal-flaked "Sombrero Girl" headboard, with its smoking gun and bed of roses.

"This is a tattoo I've been wanting to get on my back for a long time," says Ballatore, who's been tattooing his body since age 18, starting with a skull Medusa now faded on his left shoulder.

On the closet door is a giant cockroach decal.

In the TV room, the New York Dolls documentary "All Dolled Up" plays on mute while Ballatore points out the framed rock photographs by photographer friends, animal skeleton busts, a shotgun and a vintage leather couch he had a car guy in Yonkers, N.Y., stitch flames into.

The Native American-inspired wall sculpture created by his father is now a memorial to Ballatore's past, including his grandfather, ex-girlfriend and dogs.

The room also houses a collection of vinyl records from his childhood - all of which Ballatore has been buying back on eBay over the years.

He's a bit of a fanatic when it comes to music.

He's the youngest of two boys raised by artist parents. He has worked designing and building sets for photographer David LaChapelle, who is known for his surreal portraits.