Color Trends for New Homes

If you have been following my recent articles, you know that I have been writing about what we saw and learned at the International Builders Show. This week we’ll talk about color. Emerald, there I’ve said it. That is the color of the year according to one of the paint companies. Not all agreed. As you probably can imagine, all of the major paint companies were there. PP&G, Sherwin Williams, and others had booths at the show. Instead of placing the focus on a specific set of colors, this year the emphasis was on color palettes. See the links below for more on palettes.

There is a new Dry Erase Paint from Sherwin-Williams. Paint your kids walls, give them dry erase type markers and let them express themselves, It easily wipes off and is ready for the next artistic effort. Dry erase paint could maybe find a place in your office or kitchen for jotting notes. While at the Sherwin Williams web site click on their Color Visualizer and you can paint a house on line to see what a selected color will look like on that house. 

Go to the Color Sense Game on the PPG website to find the color that matches your personality. The game will ask you questions, one of those do you like kitties or puppies type profile, and then tell what colors best works with your personality. Actually it was fun to do, give it a try. Who knows it might point you in the right direction for color selection. PPG also has a Color Visualizer option. It will allow you to import your house picture and then try out different color schemes.

All of the paint companies are rolling out or improving their Low Volatile Compound Paints. Low VOC paints have been around for a while, but now some companies are offering no-VOCs. This puts less harmful vapors and smells in the environment.

Many of the companies offer an APP that will display colors on your tablet or phone. Simply pick the color you would like to check out, display it full screen and hold it up to the wall. 

If you would like more information about this article or any of the articles we have written, just give me a call. Also if you have a topic you would like for me to cover then email or call.

Next week we will talk about a seminar that Suz and I attended called 90 Ideas in 90 minutes. You will get the abridged version.

www.sherwin-williams.com 
http://www.ppgpittsburghpaints.com/ 

For comments about this article contact Ronnie Godfrey at:
Ronnie@RGodfreyHomes.com or call 817 988 0149.

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:43-45 NIV

Design Trends in New Homes

Some of the best attended seminars that were offered at this year’s International Builders Show dealt with design, both interior and exterior. Large class rooms capable of holding more than 200 folks were filled to standing room only. Items covered in these sessions will be influencing builder’s decisions for a while.

Contemporary styles seem to be the target that many designers, builders and architects are moving to. One builder/architect that spoke mentioned that he was building 3 traditional styled homes a year in Florida until someone talked him into trying a contemporary style. Since changing over he now build 30 per year. DR Horton Homes, the nation’s biggest builder, is adding contemporary to their portfolio.

What does contemporary style mean? Here is an excerpt from Better Homes and Gardens’ attempt at defining the style. “Many contemporary homes feature lots of glass, open floor plans, and inventive designs. Void of elaborate ornamentation and unnecessary detail, drama on the flat-face exteriors of contemporary homes often comes from a dynamic mix of contrasting materials and textures, exposed roof beams, and flat or low-pitched roofs.” I’ll add, regarding the lack unnecessary detail that, you won’t see shutters on windows, elaborate columns and balustrades on the porches, and has mostly a clean unfettered look.

Now as far as interiors goes, HGTV had this to say: “Contemporary style encompasses a range of styles developed in the latter half of the 20th century. Pieces feature softened and rounded lines as opposed to the stark lines seen in modern design. Interiors contain neutral elements and bold color, and they focus on the basics of line, shape and form.” Boiled down by me; It has clean lines, anything that is not traditional in appearance.

Herewith are few notes (edited for brevity) that Claire Easley a senior editor at Builder Magazine took at one of the seminars: “The No.1 trend right now is undoubtedly bring sexy back,” said Marc Thee of Marc-Michaels Interior Design. “Put sexy back into every room, every space. One thing you can do to guarantee home sales is to give the buyer reasons to be in the market.”

Fortunately, he and Doug Van Lerberghe, of Denver-based planning and architecture firm KEPHART, used the session to offer specific tips on how to “bring sexy back” to every space in the home, many of which can be utilized in a variety of markets and price points.

Floor Plans

• While formal living and dining rooms have been pronounced dead by much of the industry, Van Lerberghe emphasized that “livability is all about lifestyle choices,” He encouraged builders to offer floor plans that could be easily customized, so buyers can choose how their living space works without having to pay custom home prices.
• For builders looking for a safe bet, according to Van Lerberghe, mid-century modern designs sell faster than any other plan design.

Entrances

• …..Oversized doors, in the area of 3 ½ feet by 8 feet, don’t cost much more and are a detail people notice, Van Lerberghe said.

Living Rooms

• When looking for inspiration for artistic features, Thee shared his not-so-secret source for ideas “Thanks to image-heavy sites such as Pinterest and Houzz, ideas for show-stopping details abound.
• For feature walls and fireplaces, Thee touted monolithic details and “clean sweeps of material,” such as inexpensive tile that, when used at a large scale, can make a big impression.
•  “White kitchens will never be passé,” “Thee said,” adding that visual interest can be bumped up by contrasting light cabinets with warm, dark tones in floors.”

Master Bedrooms

• Thee also recommended inserting pendant lighting where nightstands with lamps might typically sit. “It’s a super sexy detail, and remember we’re bringing sexy back.”

Master Baths

• Euro showers are coming into fashion, both presenters agreed, which eliminate barriers between tubs and standing showers by converting floor space next to the tub to an open showering area.
• “Tower cabinets and vessel tubs: If you’re not doing them, you need to be doing them,” Thee said.
• And as always, natural lighting should reign supreme, so Thee suggested using floating mirrors so as not to sacrifice windows for the sake of vanities.

Lat week’s article had a link to a very contemporary home. Here it is again: www.tnah.com.

Next week, I’ll have presentation on color. Get ready for some exciting new color schemes.

What’s New at the International Builder’s Show (IBS)

This is the second in a series of articles to tell you what is new in the Building Business and today specifically what we experienced at the IBS. We will start by telling you what we saw at this year’s New American Home.

Each year since 1984 a new home has been built near where the IBS is held. The purpose is to highlight materials and practices shown on the floor of the convention halls. The 2013 version was built by Blue Heron of Las Vegas, a builder/architect/ interior design firm led by second generation home builder Tyler Jones. His company built a 6721 square foot, 4.5 million dollar home on a 1/3 rd acre lot in the hills of L as Vegas.

The home was built to rigid green building standards and used as its consultant the National Association of Home Builders Research Center. NAHB’s Research Center has been fine tuning the requirements for earning the Green Building Designation for several years and has now had them approved for publication as an industry standard.

The home contains 3 bedrooms, a home office, and a library. There are 5 half baths and 4 full baths. Dominating the views from each room are the water features. There are 2 zero-edge pools, various ponds canals and walls that have a continuous flow of water over them. Additionally the pathway between some of the living areas may be stepping stones across a pond.

Nowhere in the home do you lack the sense of openness. Many of the rooms have disappearing glass walls achieved with motorized glass doors that stack into a wall. Out each of the openings is a living area. It is almost a mistake to try to quantify the size of the home without including in the square footage the many patios, cabanas, the sky deck and the outdoor kitchen. Did I say kitchen? Pardon me, kitchens and bars.

Many of the finishes were new and unusual. Some flooring materials were used on some of the ceilings and some decking material, used on the walls.

The builder had one of his suppliers invent a manmade stone wall material that was found on interior and exterior walls. Then he used another wall finish that was captured loose rocks between a steel mesh.

The home has gas fired condensing units for the HVAC system. There is a gas fireplace in each bedroom, living area and outdoor retreat. Photovoltaic panels can be seen from the highest outdoor area, the sky deck. The home can be operated electronically from a cell phone, Ipad, etc... Lights, thermostat, music, fireplaces, security system, I’m sure I’m missing something, can all be remotely controlled.

As I write this I’m filled with the sense that I’m not doing the home justice. So let me direct you to a web site with both videos and pictures of it under construction and after completion and fully decorated. I have in my office more information about this beauty. If you would like, call me and we’ll set an appointment so that you can see what I have. Also if you can’t afford a $4.5 million home call me, then again if can afford one call me. http://www.tnah.com

The article coming up next week will talk a bit about design of new homes, what are the trends and who says so.  


For comments about this article contact Ronnie Godfrey at Ronnie@RGodfreyHomes.com or call 817 988 0149. 

What’s New in the Building Business?

My lovely wife and I will be compiling our notes this week to come up with what we have found at the annual International Builders Show (IBS). She will have a list and I will have another. Look for hers to bring you information about appliances, colors, decorator items and such. I of course will touch on and for that matter will have touched all of the tools, tractors, trucks and other important stuff.

The IBS, also known as the Builder’s Convention has to be held in one of only 2 or three cities due to its size.  This year it was in Las Vegas; and no we did not gamble and go to shows with show girls dressed in skimpy outfits. Suz wouldn’t let me.  

We will discuss the findings of the seminars that we attended. Usually we go to 5-7 of those. Again this year was no exception.

Stay tuned.

Psalms 34: 7-9

7 The angel of the Lord stands guard
      around those who have respect for him.
      And he saves them.
 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
      Blessed is the man who goes to him for safety.
 9 You people of God, have respect for the Lord.
      Those who respect him have everything they need.

 

A New Street in Glen Rose, Texas

This new street is in our new subdivision, Bluebird Park. Our new street is concrete instead of asphalt. The concrete is thick and well laced with steel. The concrete men were there at 5:00 am and I was there to oversee the construction. We were placing concrete until the evening. The name of the street is Birdsong Court. To see a video of our new street, click here! Now we are doing mowing brush and tree trimming.

We will be building 10 homes there nestled near large Native Pecan Trees. There is a giant pecan tree at the end of the court, under which there will be a neighborhood park. In addition to this park there is about an acre and half that will not be developed and can be used for gardens or orchards.

We’ve added some more floor plans. Our original thinking was to build homes from 1050 square feet to 1400. Now I have plans for a little bigger, up to 1750 square feet. Also I’ve added a 2 story plan with the master bedroom downstairs, a computer nook and plenty of storage.

All of our homes will be built to be energy efficient. We’ve won awards for our energy smart homes and these homes will be built to the same standard as our award winning homes.

Our Model of our Model Home

Ronnie at R Godfrey Homes

We thought we might make a model home and we did. Normally when I say a Model home I mean something you can walk into. This time however, we made a gerbil sized model. It is 1/2"= 1 Foot. The idea behind this was to give folks a chance to see something instead of a sheet of paper, to give the floor plan a little more life.

We will display this dollhouse at Bill Vineyard's office at Paluxy Realty in Glen Rose. Give him a call if you wish to stop by to see it. 254 396 5580

Overlooked Fire Hazard!

Recently a neighbor of ours had a fire in their home. That is what prompted me to write this article. An often overlooked fire hazard is the build-up of lint in a dryer vent or exhaust. The dryer vent in most homes is a 4” tube, usually made of flexible material for the part between the dryer and the wall and rigid material inside the wall and up in the attic. As your clothes rotate in the heated dryer, small pieces of lint are blown into this tube. These can adhere to the sides of the tube and build up in thickness slowing down the drying process as well as creating a fire hazard.

 According to the U.S. Fire Administration for every 1,000 fires caused by lint build-up 1.8 lives are lost, over 30 people are injured and damages to the home average over $9,600 (see URL below for more information).

Not to be missed is the fact that the dryer will not work at its peak performance when the vent is clogged and will cause it to take longer to dry your clothes and drive up your utility bills. This was happening in our home with Suz telling me that something was wrong with our dryer. Our home is 6 years old and cleaning the vent didn’t occur to me until our neighbor’s fire. I bought a lint cleaning device, ran the powered brush up the vent and vacuumed out a bucket full of lint. Now we can dry clothes in half the time.

As a service to our community, I’m offering to clean vents of widows and single women at no cost. When I do this, for your comfort, I will bring another person with me, probably someone from our church. This takes about 30 minutes and as soon as I’m finished we will leave. There are no strings attached no cost, no sales pitch, and no obligation, just allow us to show God’s love to do this and expect nothing in return. You can contact me at 817 988 0149, email me at ronnie@RGodfreyHomes.com or call First Baptist at 254 897 2351.

The equipment that I use: http://www.linteater.com/ and the URL mentioned above.

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v13i7.pdf

How to Water Your Foundation the Right Way

This is the second in series of videos created by R Michael Gray, a Texas Professional Structural Engineer whose specialty is slab-on-ground foundations for single family houses. While Mr. Gray talks about slab foundations in Houston, the same fundamentals apply to the DFW area. In this video, Mr. Gray demonstration how to construct an automatic foundation watering system with pieces of hardware found at your local home improvement center like Home Depot or Lowes for $50 or less. The video is a little over 10 minutes so watch it when you have the time. 

Automatic Foundation Watering System

Water and Your Foundation

Greeting!

With the hot dry summer upon us, taking care of your home's foundation should be one of your top priorities.  After all, for most people, their home is their biggest investment.  And not taking care of your foundation can cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

With that said, I am going to post a series of videos created by R Michael Gray, a Texas Professional Structural Engineer whose specialty is slab-on-ground foundations for single family houses. While Mr. Gray talks about slab foundations in Houston, the same fundamentals apply to the DFW area.

The first video speaks to the fundamentals of slab-on ground foundations. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me!


Now enjoy this 7 minute video: How Texas Slab Foundations Work

Bluebird Park - Final Plat Approved

Greetings!

Well, we have some good news, Glen Rose City Council approved the final plat for Bluebird Park on July 9th. This means that we can finally get down to developing the land and building houses. If this seemed like a long drawn out process, it was! It involved 2 reviews and approval by Planning and Zoning and 2 reviews and approval by City Council. This amounted to about 4 month's time!

So as my wife Suz always asks, what now? We are going to bring in fill dirt to the fill in the low spots, bring in the utilities, pay the surveyor to mark off & survey the land, and build the road. It will still be a while but we are getting closer.

Why Does It Cost So Much?!

Hi!
This is Suz Godfrey writing the blog today. I thought that I would write the blog since I am new in the land development business (Ronnie’s been doing it for years & years). I was simply amazed at the costs and studies involved to develop land and get approval from the City of Glen Rose. So here goes - hold onto your hats and calculators!

In an earlier blog, Ronnie wrote about getting the Preliminary Platt approved through Planning & Zoning (P&Z). Here is what we needed for the first of the four approvals (P&Z, City Council, P&Z, and City Council):

   1.      Engineering – this has to be done by a licensed engineer and costs about $2,500

 We asked a professional to design the following – he priced it at $8,000

   2.     A Streetscape
   3.     Conceptual Floor Plans -  gives a concept or idea of what the floor plans will be like

   4.    Plat with rooftops, trees, parks, etc
   5.     Deed Restrictions

 As a result Ronnie spent many, many hours learning how to create the streetscape and plat with rooftops. Ronnie already draws his own floor plans so that was not a big hurdle. And he has experience writing deed restrictions. I contributed by coloring in the plat with rooftops using Photoshop. This was also a learning experience for me since I needed to make it transparent enough to be able to see the rooftop lines on the plat.

 Then there was the $125 fee each time we had to appear before Planning & Zoning.

 Ok, so we got approved through P&Z and City Hall. Then we went back to P&Z on June 18th for their second approval (which we got – but don’t forget the $125 P&Z notification fee). On July 9th we are scheduled to go to City Council for their second and final approval. That will make 4 approvals in all!

For the July 9th City Council meeting we will need the following studies done by a licensed engineer for about $12,000.

 1.  Drainage Study - determines where the rainfall will go
 2.  Utility Layout – determines where the sewer line & water line need to be installed
 3.  Road Cross-section – specs on the road

 Let’s not forget the surveyor who initially surveyed the land and will do some of the preliminary work for the engineer reports at a cost of $3,000.

 So as of our final approval, we will have spent $15,250 and we haven’t even done any physical work to the land – like putting in the street! Don’t forget this number could have been $23,250 had we hired the professional to do our streetscape and floor plans!

 Ok, so once we actually put in the street, here is the breakdown of those costs:

 1.  Road work - $50,000 to put in the actual road which will only be about 200 feet long with a 100 foot long cul-de-sac
 2.  Dirt work - $2,000 to fill in some uneven spots in the land
 3.  Utilities –$20,000 to bring the water and sewer lines to each lot

 Putting in the road and utilities will cost about $72,000. So altogether the cost to develop the land that will have only 10 lots will cost $87,250! This does NOT include the price of the land or putting in sidewalks (which is done at the time the house is built). So maybe now you can understand why the price of lots costs and housing is so high! I know it was an enlightening experience for me!

Bluebird Park Update

Slowly but surely we have made progress getting approval for our new community - Bluebird Park.  The process to get a zoning change and community development approved in Glen Rose is a bit lengthy. First you need approval from the Planning & Zoning (P&Z) Committee, then City Council then back to P&Z and finally back to City Council.   So far we have gotten the first approval from P&Z and City Council. We are scheduled to go back to P & Z on June 18^th. . Each time we go to P&Z there is a $125 processing charge.

The property is getting cleared of tree branches and other unwanted articles left on the property by the previous owner.  Once we have final approval from the city of Glen Rose, hopefully on July 9^th, we will put in the utilities and the road.  We plan to start construction on houses in mid July. If you know anyone that might be interested in purchasing our energy efficient cottages, please tell them about our new community Bluebird Park.

Thank you for visiting!

Ronnie G.

Energy Star Builder

Bluebird Park

It has always been my fondest hope to put in an extremely affordable housing community in the city of Glen Rose. At last it looks like this may become a reality.

Many months ago we were able to purchase a small parcel land on Gunshot Road. This is the road right off of Highway 67. A Texaco station is on the corner. We are in the process of getting the property re-zoned to a planned development (PD) and readying the land to build new homes.

I am drawing the floor plans. The new houses will be from about 1000 square feet to 1400 square feet. We are hoping that the new houses will cost under $150,000 so that they will be affordable for firemen, police officers, and teachers and other people that serve our community. Naturally they will be energy efficient! Thereby keeping the utility bills low.

Below is the site plan. You can see that we plan to plant an orchard. Right now we are considering Pear trees, Pomegranate trees, and fig bushes. Nothing is definite or planted as yet. But there are about 13 native pecan trees in the open community area.

We invite you to go to our website to learn more. We will be posting the progress of the development both on here and on Facebook.

Here is a link to Bluebird Park.

And here is a link to our Bluebird Park Homes  Homes:

Thanks for visiting! Come again soon!

Housing Design trends

Updated Ideas in New Home Design

By Ronnie Godfrey

Multi-generational Homes is a new term I’m hearing more often these days. It is driven by the need to combine different generations of a family into one home. This happens as adult sons and daughters provide housing for aging parents or where they have bounce-back children. Children whose careers have stalled or just not gotten started after their schooling has finished.

Some of the design trends in Multi-generational Homes are:

·        First floor master suites and dual master suites.

·        Living space above the garage or in an extra garage bay.

·        Separate entrances.

·        Second kitchens.

·        Private spaces for each generation.

·        Rental apartments either within the home or detached but on the same lot.

The current economic conditions are driving this as the retirement funds of many of the elderly have dwindled. Also, this happens as freshly graduated young folks are not finding work or have returned home for other reasons. Using home health care instead of nursing home care for the elderly is another. Additionally, we have more immigration from cultures where this is a common practice.

A similar occurrence is seen in many towns but for a different reason. Austin, Texas is one, where the city allows home owners to build, either attached or detached rental units on the same lot as their home. The benefit to the city is increased tax base, using existing infrastructure (no new sewer or water lines and no new streets). And it generates rental income for the property owners. I wonder if we could do that here.

Right sizing your home is another term getting a lot of play now. This doesn’t mean building a smaller home although you may after going through this process. It means thinking strategically about how you use each room and how big it needs to be.

Many homes today are being built without a seldom used formal living room or a formal dining room. The trade-off is a slightly smaller home with a larger family room and breakfast/dining area. If you pare 2-3% off the size of a new home it may save thousands on the purchase and continue to save on utility bills.

This process will help you to eliminate wasted square footage and make small spaces feel larger. As mentioned in a previous article, we have software to generate a floor plan and then digitally place your furniture in each room to see how well it fits. This will help you to decide just what size a room needs to be.

You can email or call me if you would like for me to go into more detail on the things we covered here. Reach me at 817 988 0149 or ronnie@rgodfreyhomes.com.

What’s New in Housing 4

What’s New in Housing 4

Mixed topic

By Ronnie Godfrey

While attending this year’s Builders Convention, we took in several seminars and visited every booth. This is part of the training we go through every year to try to stay on top of latest trends, construction methods, codes, and products. Herewith are some notes generated from that trip.

Paint Colors:

I wished that I could say that the new colors for the coming years will be red or blue or some well defined palette. Not so easy. Did you know that there is someone who makes a study of this and tells all of the designers what they should be using. This person’s name is Jackie Jordon, CMG. She works for the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company and is the Director of Color marketing.

During her presentation she gave us a brochure labeled COLORMIX two-thousand-eleven. I have it sitting here on my desk. There are four palettes on this, with the primary color of each palette and their supporting players. I’m not going to attempt to name them are tell you what emotions each is supposed to elicit, (really?) but recommend that you go to www.swcolorsamples.com and see for yourself.  Some look like the pastels of the 50’, while others look like the Mod colors of the 60’s, still others have an industrial look.

I’d hate to have the job of naming all the colors those folks sale. I can tell they have problems with that too as one of the blue paints #SW6800 is called Something Blue.

Energy Efficiency:

I will hit this topic again, maybe several times in fact, but for now let me tell you about the Solar Decathlon. This is a competition between universities to try to build extremely energy efficient homes. Better yet let me put it in U.S. Department of Energy’s words: “The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.”

The competition will take place Friday, September 23 at 8:00am - October 2 at 6:00pm and will likely be on the Mall in Washington D.C... The various schools, including some from other countries, will build full-sized, operating houses on the grounds of the nation’s capital and will be opened to the public. You can preview these on the Decathlon’s web site: http://www.solardecathlon.gov/index.html

This competition drives technology, and educates both the participants and all who attend. Some of the ideas brought forth during this will be what we will be doing in our home building soon.

Floor plan designs will be discussed in my next article.

I mentioned in a previous week’s newspaper article that I would have a URL for you to see our pictures from the Extreme Makeover Home Edition tour and in another article I talked about the walk-through feature of our floor plan software and how you could look at your home before it is even built. Go to:

rgodfreyhomes.blogspot.com/

And on the lower right hand side you will find a small picture of a floor plan. Just below that there is a link to click to view the short walk-through video. Then in the left hand, you will find the link to the Extreme Makeover tour under “links to our videos”. While at our blog you might want to look at some of our other videos as well.

Extreme Makeover Tour

by Ronnie Godfrey

I was like a kid in the candy store with a pocket full of change when I found out that the Redhead and I were going to get a VIP tour of an Extreme Makeover Home Edition jobsite. Wow! It was fantastic. We’ve met some of the celebrity designers before but never thought we would be getting a tour and watch them do what they do.

We’ve just returned from Florida and the International Builders’ Show (IBS), formerly known as the Builders’ Convention. We had a full slate of exhibits that we planned to see and seminars to attend. It would be a grueling 3 ½ days. However it didn’t open until the morning of January 12 and we were in Orlando on the 11^th because of the invitation we received.

We were told it was going to happen and when, but not where as they had not told the lucky folks who would be receiving the makeover. Late Monday the invitation confirmation email came through. The Jobsite was just a few miles east of Orlando. We drove to our designated starting point, signed releases, given official T-shirts, name tags, and then bused to the location.

They woke the lucky family Friday morning and tore down the old home on Saturday. By the time we arrived on Tuesday they had placed the foundation, framed the structure and were roofing and dry-walling. Like ants crawling oven a dropped jelly sandwich, workers covered the construction. There must have been at least a hundred workers at any one time on the site. And half that many eating lunch or building items to haul over to the home later. 

They worked 24 hours a day, rain or shine. Lights on extendable poles were set up to allow the workers to see and for the cameras to capture the progress. Several cameras were mounted in semi permanent locations to shoot time lapse, and then there were folks carrying cameras everywhere. I talked with Brady Connell, one of the producers, and was told that they would video 200 hours and then boil that down to 41 minutes for the TV show. I got to see inside the command center and saw the 14 monitors with live action being recorded constantly.

As we walked around the job site in our hard hats I noticed that there were a fair amount of folks who were helpers, toting boards and picking up trash, and then about as many skilled craftsmen. They had all sorts of heavy equipment, trailers, and trucks moving about no-stop. I guess it was to be expected as they were collapsing 4 or 5 months of normal construction activity into a week. The logistics to pull this off were phenomenal.

They have an advance man, Johnny Piccioni, who also served as our tour guide since he was more or less caught up with part that he plays. He hits the ground running a couple of weeks prior to the actual construction and works through getting the neighbors on board with what is about to happen, about how they are going to be invaded with an army of workers, security, show production staff, celebrities, and invitees like us.

We didn’t get to meet Ty Pennington, the team leader, as he was starting another makeover at another location. They overlap the makeovers so that they have 2 going at the same time. They split the celebrity designers between job sites. The site we toured had Eduardo Xol, Paige Hemmis and Michael Moloney adding their special touch. We did get to see Ed Sanders at the IBS. We’ve met him on a couple of occasions. He gave Suz a kiss on the cheek.

Celebrity designers get to express their style preferences as well as take on special projects. The special projects which might include exotic, one-of-a-kind furniture pieces or decorator items, are built in a tent dubbed Art World. This was set up in the celebrity motor home parking area in some neighbor’s backyard.

The show is produced by Endemol USA; and is a 2 time Emmy Award winner. They film 22-25 shows each year with an estimated USA TV audience of 16 million viewers. The shows are dubbed in various foreign languages and shown around the world with a total audience is about 1 billion.

I wish that I could pass on to you the atmosphere of the place and the attitude of the folks there. All of the staff that I met was friendly and eager to answer questions and show us their piece of the activity. Our guide said “they create the spark and the community does it. What happens is a mini miracle; it affects everyone who works with it.”

We have posted a short slide presentation to show a little of what we took in. Take a look at the link in the side bar: labeled Extreme Makeover Home Edition.