I promise I will eventually post photos of the "final" product, the house with furniture, but first, we pause for a brief description of how I spent my Saturday.
For the past six months, as we have renovated the house, CPM and I have spent our free "tv time" watching either HGTV or DIYNetwork. I don't know why I pay for Starz. It was thanks to numerous episodes of House Hunters that I successfully staged the old house--we had two offers in two days, were under contract in three, and closed in thirty. In this market. Bam. (Oh, did I forget to blog about that...I'll get to it, eventually, I promise.) Lately, we've been more DIY focused, as we've looked for inspiration, or just wanted random background noise while we played a game of Scrabble on Facebook. We've been saying for months that we need our own show.
So, Saturday, one week post final move in, I woke with a mission...to find some sort of shelving solution for the office closet. The new house is short of storage space. CPM lost his personal closet in our bedroom, thus his belongings have moved to the office closet. As he is a man with a t-shirt problem, I sought something upon which to stack the multitudes. Originally intending to head to Home Depot to return some merchandise, plans changed when the return became unnecessary. I went to Lowe's, since it's a touch closer, and has more to offer in the "home decor" area.
Upon entering the store, I notice there is a release posted on the doors...you know, "if you enter here, we can film you, record your voice, blah blah blah." I immediately got suspicious. I've watched a lot of House Crashers. I know that they prowl the home improvement store in search of willing participants. Just as I'm having that thought, Josh Temple and his camera crew pass before my very eyes.
I immediately began panicking. This was it! This was our chance! And CPM was at home! I called him to inform him that House Crashers was IN THE BUILDING and that he was missing our chance at getting a fabulous finished basement. He pep talked me. He told me that I had to go right over to the crew and tell them to crash our house. After hanging up, taking various deep breaths, I actually decided to skip the whole thing, shop for my shelves and leave. Un/fortunately, fate put the crew right in front of my cart as I turned around. And that's how I found myself trying to convince Josh Temple to crash my unfinished dungeon of a basement.
I don't know how much of the selection portion of the show is legit and how much of it is staged. Josh actually listened to my plea (possibly because I looked like a nutcase, and he just wanted to humor the crazy lady until she wandered away), asked me to describe what I wanted and finally asked why my project would be fun. Really? Have you not met my husband? Luckily I have this video of CPM from day one of demolition on our house.
He and the crew watched the video, laughed, then he agreed to look at the project!
I abandoned my empty cart right there (in Fashion Bath--Josh had been interviewing me while perched upon a toilet), and we proceeded to walk out of the store to my car, being filmed the entire way. I was shaking and nervous. I don't even remember what I was talking about...the weather? would they follow me in my car? Then we reached my car, and the next thing I know, Josh is walking back into Lowe's, and I'm meeting a PA, signing a release, giving her my contact information, and being told that they would be filming at the Lowe's store all day, and if I didn't hear from them by 4:00 pm, they had picked someone else. So, they give themselves options, obviously. I get it now.
Needless to say, we didn't get picked. It would have been nice to have been a fly on the wall of the production meeting when they went over their options. Was I the loony lady with the crazy husband? Did I come off as a "plant" since I just walked up to them and demanded that they crash my basement, then abandoned my cart without buying what I came in for when they agreed to check it out? Did I say the wrong thing? Were we eliminated because we live in the suburbs, not the city proper? What? Why? Arg.
All in all, it was a great experience and I love having the story to tell! I'll never watch the show the same way again!
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