My Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Experience, Part 2
Besides meeting the fun people involved with the show, one of the best parts of being on site was seeing the process of design from the beginning stages to the end. And it’s amazingly fast! As I told you in yesterday’s post, the rooms we worked on started as a concept on paper, then, with the contribution of many people, materialized into beautiful rooms within a few days.
A lot of the “magic” takes place in an area the crew calls “Art World”, which is a makeshift workshop made up of a group of tents they set up surrounded by a few trailers which house the tools & supplies needed to make everything happen. I got to hang out in this area a few times, meet a few people & watch how things are done.
The barrels behind me in the above picture were transformed into chairs by the talented people in Art World. Look for them in the little boy’s room when the show airs.
A few of the guys constructed this huge table for an outdoor area of the house. At first glance, it looks like it’s painted black & distressed, but as you can see in the picture, they actually burned the surface with a blow torch to get the blackened look. After that, they wiped it down with cloth to remove the black charred dust & then went over it with a coat of poly.
There were all kinds of pieces of furniture & accessories being constructed at any given time in Art World. I saw these old shutters lying around one day, & I knew someone must have a plan for them somewhere, and sure enough, I spotted them hanging in the entryway of the house later when the house was finished.
And although I can’t tell you a lot of specifics about the different rooms, I can tell you that one of the rooms we helped with is for a 7-year-old boy. It’s covered in murals with a kind of “outdoor” theme & has a few interactive graphics we printed that are mounted to the walls as well. (There are several little red circular things that go by the same name as one of our favorite stores we all shop at each week –and no, it’s not Wal-Mart!) So, when you see the show on TV around Thanksgiving, look for the little red “you-know-whats” & you’ll know which room I’m talking about! Don’t you love how I’m wearing a hard hat to paint something in Art World? You can never be too careful!
Inside the VIP tent, we were able to warm up a little & get some coffee & drinks. The tent was beautifully decorated with fresh flower arrangements and gorgeous furniture and accessories from a local home decor store. You would have never guessed this set-up was in the middle of a muddy, chaotic construction site!
I would really love to be able to show you pictures of the house after it was done, but obviously the show producers don’t want to ruin the surprise before the show airs. There are some really beautiful spaces, including the kitchen which has a large window in the front of the house. There’s also a gorgeous & unique playroom which is really more like a kids’ library, complete with a reading loft & built-in bookshelves. I can’t tell you much more about it except that one of the children was adopted from Africa, so you can imagine what the theme might be…
Other than that, there is a lot of color in the house, like many previous Home Makeover houses. The kids’ rooms are the ones we provided some graphics for (the little girls’ room is my favorite). There are some great outdoor spaces as well.
Here’s a sneak peek of the exterior just before the big reveal.
Don’t forget to look for the show to air around Thanksgiving. I’ll remind you when the time gets closer! Thanks for stopping by to read about my experience. It was a great opportunity that I’ll always remember. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that maybe they will bring the show back in the future so more people can share in helping build new homes for deserving families. And maybe some of you could have the opportunity to be involved, too!
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January 28, 2012 @ 12:39 am
How wonderful that you and your family were able to help out on the extreme make-over special. What a umique opportunity for your business too!
January 30, 2012 @ 1:36 am
What a great experience-thanks for sharing!