extreme makeover :: home edition

The extreme home makeover show that I helped out with is going to be on ABC tomorrow night! I doubt I'll be shown anywhere but perhaps very obscurely in the background, hidden among bright blue shirts, but I'm so excited to watch it! It was pretty cool to see the house go up in such a short amount of time and to be part of the volunteer effort behind the scenes.

October was a busy month. I didn't really blog about it then. So I will now: through Starbucks, I signed up to volunteer to serve donated coffee and tea to the volunteers and production staff at the set in Colorado Springs. We signed waivers, got t-shirts, and found our way through a very dusty undeveloped neighborhood of a closed-off set with lots of trailers to the Starbucks booth/tent. It was so dusty! But I must say that while it was dusty and very windy, and at times confusing (who's bringing our next batch of coffee? we ran out of cups!) and we were only serving coffee, iced coffee, and tea, it was very fun. It was even the first time I've really enjoyed iced coffee. I think my tastes have changed in the past year or so and while I'm enjoying americanos more, I have neglected trying iced coffee again. (Terazza blend is so good iced!)

So, being the generally friendly person that I am, I talked to pretty much everyone who came by. At the end of my first shift, I ended up by a large campfire pit with a plate of catered food (because we were volunteers serving the volunteers and thus had access to the volunteer services... massages from clareese, chiropractic adjustments from dr. kurt).

I talked with the general contractor. He looked, and was, tired. I also talked with some rancher guys. And at this point I've forgotten their names, but I believe they were family/business associates of the landscaper. They were probably in their 60s. And I asked them about the brands on the sides of the fire ring they brought to the set. This wasn' t just a bunch of wood in a pile. This was a serious bonfire ring, and it was full of symbols recalling brands used on the ranches and farms of his neighbors and family members. Curvy 7s were really 9s without the enclosed loop, letters stood for names, and there were mountains and other depictions. It was a very interesting discussion in light of my design mindset where branding takes on a different meaning. And while the roots of current logos are traced to cattle branding practices (perhaps I should research this more? I suppose it could also be traced to ancient pictographs and petroglyphs...), applying corporate identity and personal logos has a whole new set of expectations these days. I hope I'm in some corporate boardroom someday and recall that conversation around the fire.

So I served coffee and tea and talked to a lot of people. I went through my usual small talk... translating what I'd say at Starbucks to what applied to the production set. I asked about jobs and progress... oh, yeah, someone told me the drywall team just walked out, how'd that affect your painting schedule? did you seriously just lay the foundation this week?! and then started framing just hours later? And I learned that this nice woman who wanted passion iced tea was visiting her daughter, Jen, a production assistant on the set. Jen, come here. This girl wants to know how you got your job. She then invited me and another partner to join her family on a tour of the set. Do you have any experience with design? -uh, yes- Oh, then come meet the Bin City crew.

Bin City is a magical place where they have trailers full of all the family's possessions, everything that came out of the house, and everything that the designers have shopped for and want to consider putting into the house. At the end of our tour (through the house, peeking inside the construction area), she gave me her card and suggested I be in touch because the Bin City jobs have a high turnover rate. From talking with them later, I learned that one of the guys was only on his second show and seemed ready to be done.

So I emailed her later. Do you think they'd need volunteer help setting up the house tomorrow tonight? Yeah, she said. Call me when you get here and I'll introduce you to the crew. I got there, wandered around like I belonged on set (easy to do, really. just pretend you know where you're going.) and eventually found some security/production people with black coiled radios and asked for Jen. They teased me but located her. She greeted me like we were friends and took me in the house to meet people.

It turned out to be a very interesting, long night. I helped organize products in the garage and corralled trash from opened products, I sorted through the family's schoolroom full of books in the basement and picked ones that might look good on display in the living room. I selected a few personal pictures to have in frames around the living room (hearing the staff's stories of who extra family members were, talking of the girl's disease/condition and the family's history). I dusted, cleaned, mopped, and helped arrange Fiestaware dishes on shelves. At some point after midnight there was a burger run and a short break as we sat in the family's decoration-in-progress kitchen. I recall loud levels of old michael jackson songs and an entire mix tape of really great covers. There was a supply of never-ending snacks and caffeinated beverages in a few different tents nearby. As I got tired I found myself taking a break or walk probably every hour or so. I left at some point after 2am when things slowed down and I remembered I was just volunteering. Some of us left as spectators started lining the street outside. I drove home, tired and somewhat confused. But excited to have been part of something so interesting.