Yes, you can come and repair our house for free.

Well, I know I haven't posted much lately. There are really two reasons for that. First, I've been a little apathetic about writing posts. I'm already writing ones for our family blog, and by the time I get to this one, I just don't have the steam anymore. And second, we've been a little busy...

A few weeks ago, Bill and I were notified that we'd made it through the final level of approval to be featured on the show Designed to Sell. Our show will be shot in December (exact date TBD), and will probably air in 2009.

We got into this thanks to a friend from my mom's group. Her realtor just started working with the show, and had mentioned that she needed homes in the Atlanta area to submit to the producers. My friend mentioned ours. We've told people of our plans to move in 2009, before Maddie begins school in the Fall, so my friend thought the timing and our house would work out well for the show. She hooked us up with the realtor, to whom I submitted pictures of our family and of the house. The realtor then submitted these to the producers, who eventually called us for an interview. The interview happened in early February. Bill was able to leave work for a few hours so we could sit down and talk to the producer of the show.

After the interview, we were fairly confident we were NOT going to get picked. The producer let us know several times that they were looking for diversity--both in the couples and in the houses. And Bill and I are hardly examples of diversity. We're as white middle class as you can get. Our house isn't all that unique, either. It's a three-bedroom, two-bath ranch with EXACTLY the same exterior and floorplan as almost all of the homes in our neighborhood. Add in the fact that the girls wouldn't leave us (or this poor producer) alone, and I figured we'd never hear from her again. I was wrong.

It's exciting to get chosen for the show, but we're mostly excited because the timing will work out so well. At first, Bill wasn't so happy that I'd submitted us. He thought we'd be obligated to sell as soon as they did the makeover, and that it would probably happen this Spring. And we just aren't ready to sell (or buy a new house) right now. But we can be much more ready by December. We also found out there's no obligation, just opportunity. Homes are obviously made more sellable by the makeover, and also by the fact that they have an open house as part of the show. This open house will get more walk-throughs thanks to the fact that these people (and the house) will be on TV. But if it doesn't sell, even after all of that, it's no problem. The producers shoot two different endings while they have us. One states that the homeowners quickly sold the house, while the other optimistically states that it's still on the market, but with renewed interest. So their bases are covered, either way. And our obligation to them ends as soon as the show's in the can.

The way the show works is that they'll choose three rooms to renovate, with an eye on doing the most work for the least money and raising the value of the house as much as possible. They've hinted that they may do our master bedroom, a bathroom and our sun porch, but that may all change once the designers visit. All of the work they do will be free to us, but we will be responsible to pay taxes on the total value of the job. They usually end up claiming the work to be worth $5000-$6000, which is what we'd owe taxes on, but the actual value is worth much more since they get all supplies at cost and don't charge for labor at all. And even paying taxes on that won't be such a big deal. After all, we were already planning to use our 2009 tax check almost exclusively for home repairs. So if we get those same repairs cheaper and better, and pay from the same source, it all works out.

Here's how the timeline for the shoot will work: The crew will pay us a visit on a Monday, a week before the shoot begins. At that time, the designers will take pictures and measurements and will decide exactly which spaces they can help. They'll then get the rest of that week to plan, purchase and make arrangements, while we're given some homework to do. The homework may involve moving furniture, taking things off walls, cleaning, etc. Basically getting ready for the work and camera crews to come in. Then, on the next Tuesday, the team returns to the house and begins working/filming. We were told that we won't be very involved with the actual work because while the pros are doing their thing, we'll be shooting our interviews and the B-roll footage that will be used throughout the show. On Friday, the open house will take place, and the whole thing will be over. One week for a three-room makeover and a full episode of the show.

We've been told that we can go ahead and sleep at the house every night during the production, even if they do our bedroom. But we've also been told that we'd need to put the dog somewhere else and also find a sitter for the kids for every day after they shoot the initial intro. So we're hoping my mom and sister can take both the kids and dog for the week. Bill will probably still work much of the week--they only need us in short bursts every now and then--and I'll probably end up hanging out at Barnes & Noble quite a bit. But we want to make sure that when they do need us, we're not frantically trying to find someone to watch Maddie and Josie.

Anyway, that's just a little bit of what's been keeping me busy. I'll post more information once we have a time and date (they said they'll probably contact us again in September.) Until then, feel free to check out HGTV's site for the show, and to watch a few episodes.