Etreme Makeover {uh... the rest of the days}

Ok I'm a slacker. But after such an eventful week I was just plain tired and not in the mood to blog. (Am I the only one that has to be in the mood to blog?)

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! To my sister, Andrea, who came over Monday night for a few hours and stayed until WED MORNING watching our kids! The nights were late and the drive was long so she happily watched the kids so I could just stay in Poky with Klay and enjoy the experience instead of driving 2 hours every day (one of those hours being from 1:30-2:30 am each day!). And my mom who had them pretty much all day, every day from Wednesday to Saturday! I love my family!

Hmmm... where did I leave off? The next few days were full of madness everywhere and construction going like crazy. It was absolutely amazing to see the community come together like they did to help this one family that nobody even knew. Saturday night the moral was a little low and I think people were starting to get really tired. A radio station set up and blasted music for a few hours and it was so fun! Here are a few of my sis-in-laws busting out their sweet moves to the YMCA.

Sunday night I took the kids down because Klay was really missing them. We didn't stay very long since it was a little rainy and by the time Klay woke up for the night shift and we got down there it was pretty much bed time!

And since this post is supposed to be about the makeover, not our family, this is what the house had turned into by Sunday night. I'm still blown away.

Monday was lots of finish work on the inside and Rockwell had to turn over the keys to the design team to decorate inside. Monday and Tuesday were my favorite days because I actually got to help instead of just stand around. Monday afternoon the furniture and all decorations were hauled in by a huge line of volunteers. By this point we weren't allowed to have cameras in the house so I'm picture-less.

Tuesday morning I think I ran up and down 2 flights of stairs at least 30 times. This is how it works... the design team* buys all the stuff for the interior of the house locally (I saw a lot of Downeast furniture and tons of decorations from Target, in case you were wondering) . And boy do they BUY! They're not 100% sure what they need and what they'll use so they pretty much buy everything they like. There were at least 25 lamps, 40 throw pillows, 60-70 frames, vases, basically any decoration you can imagine in the basement just waiting for a spot in the home in case they were needed. Plus all the rooms were FULL of decorations. I was helping in the "rock room" (there's a room with a rock-looking sculpture with the bed on top of it, probably 6 feet high) and we were unpacking boxes like crazy trying to decide if the decorations and clothes belonged in our room, another room, or in the basement for back up. So I would carry as much stuff as I could down the 2 flights that didn't belong up there. Then Someone would say they needed another pillow for the bed. I would take an arm full down and bring the pillow back up. Then they would need a bed spread that matched the other bed in the room so I would take an arm full down and come back up with and make the bed. I'm sure you get the picture. Hours of this... but it was so fun! This was the room Ed designed* and he actually did some filming in there while my sis-in-law, Kerri, and I were painting a desk, so watch for me on tv! By the way, there were a bunch of Rockwell guys (including Klay) in the room that pretended to start painting when he started filming so there will be like 7 people painting the desk. Then as soon as the cameras were off they left us to finish the desk on our own. Typical. :)

Ok, the reason I had to * the designers is because the designers you see on tv are NOT the real designers. There is one head designer, Heather (that I really regret not getting a picture with), that oversees the design of the whole house. Then a designer is assigned to each room but it's not the designer you see on tv. The tv designer will come in and film like they are working on the room when the person who really designed it waits in the hall until filming is done. A little cheap if you ask me! So the real designer works their butt off all week to get the room done and the tv star comes in on the last day to act like they did the whole thing. Gotta love Hollywood.

(A random pic. Too many words, not enough pictures.)

The thing that definitely made it all worth it was seeing the family come home. They were so excited about it and the mom was so grateful. When the bus pulled away she said, "I know that house is my neighbor, and that house is my neighbor, but I can't believe that is my new house!" She is such an amazing, sweet lady. The mom, Jane, was also so grateful when the president of ISU gave full-ride scholarships to all of her kids in the future. Rockwell held fundraisers so they will be paying the property taxes on the house for 20 years and gave the family $25,000 to pay for utilities and other bills. Huntsman Cancer Center has also offered her free cancer treatment for the rest of her life. It was so awesome to see this family's lives change right before their eyes. 

After the family went in to see their house, Kylie Minogue performed right in front of their hosue. I didn't really know who she was but I'm a fan now. She was an excellent live performer.

 Something else interesting is that the family doesn't get to see their rooms when they first walk in the house. They only get to see the main living area because the designers are still finishing up their rooms. So they go look at the main area and then have to wait, sometimes a few days, to see their rooms. I think this family got to see their rooms later that night because Rockwell is so awesome and actually finished on time when a lot of other builders don't. But they still stay in a hotel for a night or two so the crew can finish taping and get all the shots of the house they need.

Later that night we had an after party with all the subs who worked on the house and the crew from the show. To be completely honest, by this time I was totally over the big stars! We still got a pic with Jillian however. :)

Here are the real stars of the show. Andy (right in the middle) and Todd (on the right side) were the two construction head honchos and Klay got to know them both really well. What nice guys!

 THE END! Aren't you so glad it's over so you can quit reading my novels?! It really was a once in a lifetime experience that I'll never forget and am so thankful I got to be a part of it. But I'm also glad to have my husband back again.