Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Reveal Day!

The above picture is the before shot of the Hill's house in Suffield, Connecticut. In one week the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew along with Enfield based Pecoy's Construction Company cleared the entire of lot and rebuilt a new mega house. Sunday, June 28, 2009 was reveal day. After hours of setting up it was finally time for those three famous words...

MOVE THAT BUS!!

Ta da... here is the new and improved Hill house! It is fully loaded with 3 separate bedrooms, 7 smaller sleeping alcoves, an over sized laundry room, a stocked media room, workout room, and sprawling kitchen, living room, and sun rooms. Out back is a full basketball court, personalized with the Hill's name, and a beautiful stone patio with built in fireplace. Sorry no pictures were allowed, but trust me it's unbelievable!

I am very happy for the Hill family. Since this began I have met many people that know them very well and think they are the best pick for such a gift. However, I have to wonder if it's just too much. I know it's Hollywood, but wouldn't it make more sense to spread the charity out to more than one family in the community? There has been non stop coverage of the build, for obvious reasons. It isn't everyday that Hollywood parks itself in a small town neighborhood. It is exciting, but there is also a little discussed realty that is not as exciting.

Real people's lives are disrupted, their land and homes used and often abused by the unimaginable amount of crew members, volunteers, and of course the fans who hope to get a glimpse of some Hollywood glitter. The neighbors agree to participate with a good heart and absolutely no idea of how immense the ordeal will become. Community companies donate building materials, water, food, snacks, flowers, entertainment, and countless man/woman hours. When all is said and done the community is drained physically, mentally, and monetarily.

A recent radio program opened their phone lines to discuss the impact an event like this has on the neighborhood and the entire community. It is too soon to know what the outcome and overall impact on Suffield will be, but some very good points were brought up. A major issue was the fact that the Hill house is now worth a considerable higher amount of money than the surrounding houses. So even though no one else added any actual value to their houses, some even sustained damages, their property taxes will go up. Another serious issue was brought up by callers who knew neighbors of past Extreme Makeover families in Connecticut and New York. They said many of the damages and costs are left on the neighbors when the show is finished and the crew moves on. I am hoping, for my friends and their surrounding neighbors, that this is not the case in Suffield. I am all for giving and helping hard working families struggling to get by, but not at the expense and burden of other hard working families.

Let me know what you think. Knowing these factors would you be willing to let Extreme Makeover: Home Edition take over your neighborhood? Do you think the show is perfect the way it is or needs to evolve into a show that not only helps a family in need but also has a more positive impact on the entire community?

Thanks,

Kristin

Extreme Makeover: Demo Day!

Yesterday was Demo day for the Hill Family's house. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been filming their season opening show in Suffield, Connecticut and our friends Amy and Dave live across the street from all of the action.

The following pictures are a quick recap of the day's events. The first is of one of the show's designers, Michael. He is being filmed rallying the volunteers and talking to the Hill family on a small camcorder in his hand. Next is the view from Amy's front porch of the claws open and ready to destroy. The loud engines were hard to hear over all of the screams when the claws first broke through the roof of the Hill's house.

Here's Ty Pennington, standing on the spot where the Hill's house used to be. He is taping his message to the family, who are enjoying their vacation to Disney.

It was an exciting day, but so long. The worst part about being there is the magic of Hollywood is lost when you watch each segment of the show get filmed over and over, and your kids get that glazed over bored I'm going to start complaining look. The bus was pulled up; horns blazing, Ty jumping out yelling, and crowd screaming... about 10 times. We arrived around 8:00 AM, since some crew members said the demo would begin about 8:30 and others thought it would happen around 10:30. After many retakes of the designer's pep talks, Ty's arrival, and the dramatic charging of hammer and crow bar clad volunteers, the house finally came down around 1:00.

The best part of being there was enjoying the behind the scenes Hollywood magic. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the crew had set up an outdoor kitchen in my friend's backyard. When we arrived the Extreme Makeover chef had prepared a huge breakfast buffet complete with eggs, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, fruit and danish. Soon after, the Dunkin Donut truck arrived with endless coffee and tables of doughnuts. Lunch was a bigger buffet of spaghetti, meatballs, sausage, chicken, rice and veggies. Just when we thought we couldn't eat another thing... the Friendly's ice cream truck pulled in. As if the demo excitement and food wasn't enough we were invited to Massage World, the relaxation tent also set up in Amy and Dave's backyard. By the end of the day we felt like stars of the show.

I can't wait to see the show when it airs this September. My kids, niece and nephew are excited too. They are hoping to catch a glimpse of themselves. The cameras were filming Ty shaking hands and talking with onlookers and they all got to shake his hand. They also met and took a picture with Xhibit (the rapper & MTV's Pimp My Ride host).

I made another slide show on Flickr of all the extra pictures. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcbooks/sets/72157620322182089/show/

Thanks for stopping by,

Kristin : )

Extreme Home Makeover 2009

In my brief post yesterday I said that I was going over to a friend's house, where Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was expected to announce the next family to receive a complete home rebuild. I say expected because it is very hush hush which family is chosen until Announcement Day. Once the camera crews and crowds started gathering there was little doubt left that the Hills from Suffield, Connecticut were the next family to be featured.

This is the before picture of William and Catherine Hill's house, taken from my friend's driveway.

Beyond the eagerly waiting head of my son is the bus carrying Ty Pennington, the designers Michael and Dee Dee, and rap singer Xhibit. Xhibit is also the host for MTV's Pimp My Ride. I have asked crew members to put in a good word to help me get my 1997 minivan 'pimped'. Why not, right? : )

Ty and crew jumped out of the bus around 10:00 AM and with megaphone in hand woke the Hill family with the famous line, "Good Morning Hill Family!" If he said anything else it could not be heard above the family's screams of excitement. The above picture is of the designers and Xhibit being interviewed while the family embraces and no doubt absorbs the enormity of what is to come. Sorry no Ty pictures yet. When he was out of the bus he was completely surrounded by family members or cameras. I am hoping to get a good picture some time during the week. A fact I did not know about the show is they tape 2 at the same time and Ty has to fly back and forth across the country to film his part in both shows in the same week. So, while I am hoping to get a picture I know that we were lucky to get the quick glimpses we did.



The limo arrives to wisk the family away, but as you can see by this picture it has a hard time manuevering around the chaos of cameras, news reporters, crew members, and volunteers. Another big event happened right before the Limo left with the family. They call it the "Braveheart". It's when the army of volunteers donning their blue shirts and hard hats take over the entire street in their dramatic march to the house. We, unfortunately missed this(hoping that someone got some great shots that I can share later). We had to leave at some point to celebrate Father's Day with all of the awesome fathers in our family. By the way, hope all dads and grandfathers had a great day!

After the family left different construction, or should I say destruction crews came in. First a fence company arrived and tore out all of the surrounding fencing. Then came the big boys; the tree removal company. The equipment was massive and unbelievably powerful. One machine was able to grab an entire tree, slice it at ground level (above picture), hand it off to the large crane claw of the next machine, which fed it directly into the biggest grinder I have ever seen (picture below). In seconds a 40 foot pine tree was reduced to wood chips.

It was a crazy first day. I'm not sure I will get over to the site today, but I imagine that they will be still removing trees and getting everything ready for Demo Day tomorrow. I am definetly going to that. My kids and neice and nephew won't let me miss it. They are so excited to see the bull dozer plow down a house.

Hope you have enjoyed the little behind the scenes peek at a true Hollywood sized production and stop by for more updates as the week goes on. I think the thing that amazes me most is that a house will be torn down, trees removed, and then rebuilt and landscaped in 7 days. I can't even get the front bushes trimmed in that time. I am handing my To Do list over to a Hollywood producer. Well, a girl can dream.

If there is something you want to know about the show let me know and will do my best to find out. The crew and security are very friendly and happy to answer any questions.

Thanks,

Kristin : )

** I turned all of the extra pictures into a slide show on Flickr. Check it out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcbooks/sets/72157620233616564/show/

It's An Extreme Father's Day!

Just a quick post today to wish all fathers out there a happy and relaxing day! Today is expected to be a very extreme Father's Day. No one can say for sure, but it is looking like my friend's neighbor is going to be the next family to be on Extreme Home Makeover. This side of the state is buzzing with excitement; newspapers running stories and people lining the roadways with signs welcoming the show producers and waiting eagerly for a glimpse at Ty Penington. I am hoping to get some great pictures and stories to share with everyone.

Ty is expected to make the announcement to the family this morning and my kids are excited to be going. As fun as it will be for us, we get to leave. I am feeling sympathy for my friends. This is going to be a huge undertaking. Not only will they be listening to construction sounds night and day but they are also bracing for the media and onlooker frenzy. The producers said that there will be roped off walk ways, bleachers, and a shuttle bus bringing droves of people through. They are looking forward to seeing how the house turns out, but a little nervous of the week to come. I will keep everyone posted.

Hope all you dads and grandfathers have a...

!!!!HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Thanks,

Kristin : )