Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Mackey Family: How'd They Do That?
Recap By J. G. Bird
February 8, 2005
Ty's secret project involved more than the usual as we see in this episode of How'd They Do That? A simple home office in the home redesign was anticipated, but so many family members required bedrooms, it couldn't be done. That's when contractor Mark Plaskoff offered to provide commercial office space in a building he owns. Little was explained about the office space gifted for a year to Consuella Mackey's Operation Confidence in the EMHE episode. Luckily, because of How'd They Do That? we get to revisit that space and the whole story of giving inspired by this home makeover.
Throughout the run of How'd They Do That? we occasionally get little questions answered. One Ty admits sometimes crosses his mind as he prepares to wake up a household on Day One at 7am - Are we sure we have the right address?
Meeting the family and doing the walk through to become acquainted with the house arrangements emphasizes the need for many bedrooms, even a separate spare bed for the occasional drop-in guest, which Consuella had always been giving up her own bed to provide in a time of need. In our How'd They Do That? episode, we are shown the hidden location of the Murphey bed placed in Consuella's home. It's right in the center of that space they dubbed Salon de Confidence, in fact it's that "wall" painted with the beauty salon name. If that kind of bed is cool for your situation, here's the info off the ABC website for getting your own hideaway bed - The Original Murphey Bed 1-800-845-2337.
Demolition and Construction - a good portion of the show focuses on Contractor Mark Plaskoff. And why not? He apparently stays up to be on-site everyday, nearly every hour of the build! He speaks of going home and catching a couple hours of sleep, but being too excited to sleep. Mark, himself, seems very capable in leading by example. The energy maintaining the crews that take on these 7-day home makeovers, in this instance certainly, is born out of admiration for the work of Consuella Mackey. Consuella's son, not shown in the EMHE episode (as he's one family member not living in Consuella's home) speaks briefly with the designers on her deserving this makeover.
Then we're down to the nitty-gritty. Asbestos abatement is a small part of what the crews have to handle for this house. We see Michael in a shiny patriotic, American flag emblazoned hard hat during demolition. Oh yeah, remember the hosing down of the design crew at the onset of shooting this demolition? Contractor seems a little peeved over the water hose bit being added by the production company at the last minute right at the beginning of demo; but before they hit 48 hrs, an almost complete house is up - and by Sunday evening, he can provide a house ready to take paint. In a twist on some of the snafus we seen happen with crews, we have the delivery mix-up. In this case, bathroom fixtures are not at the build site when the plumbers are. Paige picks up the Kohler fixtures from the shipper to keep them from being misdirected to the production offices of Extreme
Makeover (the people makeover).
The Hydraulic-bed Bedroom - They start with a steel-tubing frame, and a perplexed Paul DiMeo; he's a carpenter and a nuts and bolts ambassador, but not a build it from scratch metalworker. Paul calls in the assistance of Tom Bientama one of the EMHE's crew gaffers - a division of specialists he terms, "Power & Illumination." Tom brings along his 16 year old son, Brad, who has a welding class under his belt, to introduce Paul to the basics of metalworking. The airbrushed art work on the wall of the bedroom adds the real spark to the boy's room. Figuring the weight and measurement constraints of wedging a hot tub in the room too, you'd wonder if they thought twice about it or not. Under the phrase "extreme boy's bedroom of all time" should be a picture of this DiMeo room!
So, Ty's Project - It wasn't clear before, but now you'll see, that room reveal for Consuella off-site, did not just involve the one office. A whole commercial office space; "a box" was divided up into at least three rooms and a hallway. Now we see the accessible bathroom, the hall entryway accented with a glass block wall; how those olive walls lead to Consuella's private office, boldly painted in blocks of purples, plums and magentas. It wasn't a huge space, and Ty had to build pieces inside the office. He even had to cutdown and reinstall his form-fitting shelving cubes (when they would not fit!) Ty also took time modifying scanned photos from Operation Confidence's historical files to make stand-out artpieces that are framed and hung in her office.
Again we are shown that the families who have received the amazing home makeovers sometimes go out of their way to give back. A family from Redlands (Season One's Powers family, I think, in which young Olivia had just recovered from Leukemia treatment) are shown greeting Ty and helping Ty apply the base coat of painting for Consuella's office space.
The final touches: One Wild Ride - Cinema Vehicles is the location where the discarded truck from the backyard is hauled off to. Paige and Michael work some of the sanding on the truck's quarterpanels, and then also get to suggest rims, sound systems and Operation Confidence logo placement for the truck's final detailing.
Consuella Mackey exclaims upon seeing the newly framed picture of her parents, "oh! Look, mom and dad are looking in on us." Contractor Mark Plaskoff's girls had set up a "lemonade stand" across the street from the build and with the money raised, wanted the designers to buy something for the family. This is used by the designers to get this very special family photo reframed and matted nicely. Another artpiece that picked up on the family's own design tastes was made by simply layering torn pieces of fabric previously used throughout the house to cover walls. These fabric mosaics - even mounted and framed - were still recognized by family members.
A whirlwind reminder of how each of the rooms look just before the family enters, was helpful for me to admire again the Asian-inspired room for Consuella's niece, Valada. Valada's room utilizes a bed style I've seen in local advertising - the brand is Cor - the ABC website product listings say her room has a bed and chair in that design. We know there's usually a BBQ, and maybe a water feature outside, yet for the first time, I heard it noted there is a TV even on the patio.
A little different from their usual, the show closes with Consuella at her new bedroom desk and laptop computer, composing a thank you letter to ABC, Mark Plaskoff, the design team. It is a testament to Ty's prediction that helping redo the home is going to build up all that Consuella Mackey has already shown she can accomplish, and then some! Late this January, Operation Confidence held a Ribbon Cutting event in acknowledgement of all 24 years' worth of supporters and collaborators assisting the non-profit. There was a publicly announced invitation I came across that pin-points the OC office facility as across the street from Commercial Capital Bank on Ventura Blvd. in Tarzana, California.
About J.G. Bird
I have a direct, clear writing style useful in business, but if you wonder what I'm really thinking about, I keep a portfolio of creative writing on Writing.com/authors/walkinbird. My day-to day work is at a great metropolitan newspaper, proofreading ordered advertisements. Keeping an experienced eye to consistency in design elements also makes me an obnoxious, if not valuable, web editor and fact-checker. Due to my straight-laced demeanor, I need the occasional infusion of Reality TV. The home design shows are my only true addiction. I can be contacted at: walkinbird@writing.com
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