The Mackey Family

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Season 2, Episode 5
The Mackey Family
Recap By J.G. Bird
October 24, 2004{b/}

Mark it up to some new editing, or kicked-up a notch production values – I noticed quality changes in our newest episode. Are they all prepared for November sweeps now? The producers seem to be providing better video footage on Ty. You tell me if you felt it.

Operation Confidence is a venture Consuela Mackey took upon herself and her household for the benefit of her community. In the broadest sense, Operation Confidence exists to help people with disabilities gain more respect and move on to greater successes. The Mackey Family consists of Consuela, her sister Sandra, sharing a bed with her own daughter, Georgia (16) and further extended family: Carlotta, a nurse, is Consuela’s niece and, finally, Eric (16).

Never has a family seemed more inclined to bowl Ty down at the first breath into his megaphone when the EMHE coach pulls up to their home in Granada Hills, CA.
The family of five will go to the Playacar, Mexico resort known as Wyndham Maya. Consuela certainly has earned the rest and pampering of a resort, in effecting the goals of her assistance organization over the past twenty-five years. Consuela has often slept in a recliner chair in her/office/bedroom to give her bed up for a guest in need.

The walk-through reveals a cramped mid-century home with a leaky roof. Among other saved items in the backyard, Consuela points out a black truck to redo in the backyard so she might once again deliver food to people in need. It is sent off on a flatbed into the hands of a Hollywood company competent at refurbishing a neglected truck. The team agrees to adding a haircutting space, wheelchair accessibility in and around the house, a room for every person in the family and better than the corner office space Consuela currently uses. Matt Plaskoff’s construction company is the featured contractor. Ty’s project gets extra secrecy by being an off-site surprise helped along by the contractor.

When the design team members next negotiate their contracts, maybe the first negotiations will be over builds in the dead of summer. Ty with a construction site hose! Need I say more? Yeah, it’s a quick cool down, but I don’t think I’d want to go through demolition with my shirt and jeans plastered to my skin. Pink construction hat on Paige Hemmis makes an appearance – cute! Well, this house came down in record time - 1 and a half hour teardown.

They didn’t show one in the reveal, but one of the designers mentioned a Murphy bed. Hides in a wall cabinet during the day, you know? I thought that sounded like a smart accommodation for the frequent guests to the Mackey house.

Shopping at Sears footage was a one-person, quick “I’ll take one of everything!”
While working on Eric’s room, Tracy helped bring in example low-riders for Paul to study for the planned hydraulic bed. This will be quite a change from the teen’s mattress laid atop a low dresser! As a test of how Eric will respond to the truck-inspired bed, the Mackeys huddle around the portable DVD player while on their vacation, and then Paul teases the perplexed Mackeys with a view of the low-riders in hydraulic action.

Michael and the other designers next get to pull a fast one on Ty. Literally, they pull the local Fire Dept. hose on Ty – shirt off “wet look” taken in stride! Actually, everything’s being taken in stride in this episode. The only holdups or conundrums on this build are sliding the hot tub into the mostly complete house by the 4th or 5th day and a large pile of dirt in the street. Maybe these guys are getting to good at this!?

They have so much extra time; Michael drags Paul off for an unexpected makeover of his own. Paul is treated to a haircut, shave – Michael complaining Paul’s not a great “groomer” – and eyebrow waxing (ouch). FrankStudio is the shop, which I’m not familiar with, but must be in “The Valley,” and they also pick up a surplus barber chair.

They bring in a whole truckload of walkers, shower seats and wheelchairs for Consuela to offer future clients, also building a storage shed to hold them out back. Although Eric will probably never want to leave his “tricked out” room, after he sees it, there’s a stylish bike for Eric wheeled about the street. So, we get a leisurely stroll around the new garden with accessible path and then it’s time for furniture in the house. This episode moves along so fast, Ty’s 24 hour alerts over the megaphone are pretty anti-climactic.

When the family returns, the hysterical screaming is provided mostly by frenetic teen, Georgia. Consuela even gets a little weak in the knees at that moment of reveal. The reveal of the interior shows a much more open feel to start. Spring pastels/green and yellow are used throughout on the walls. The red/white upholstered seats and ornate white mantle are very classical, like a Spode china pattern and seem quite appreciated by Consuela. The description I’m giving doesn’t sound like it would at all work together, but it looked so nice.

Eric’s room grabs ya with a straight-on truck face with surrounding flame-motif mural. His hot tub has chains hanging around it from the ceiling like bed curtains! Next, Carlotta’s Asian-inspired low platform bed bedroom is accented with a water sculpture.
Georgia’s is a plain square room, oh, no wait, it also has the razzle-dazzle of a working Disco ball, round platform bed with pink coverlet, and huge Swoop-styled “Georgia” on the wall in pink and sequins. She spent a minute rolling about on the bed and then squealed over every piece of clothing added to her closet. Sandra gets a simple brass bed, a sweetly simple, old fashioned look, accented with wallpaper and a 65” TV. They mentioned Sandra was going blind, but I know there could be technological logic to gifting her with the huge screen TV. Oddly, they didn’t go into it. More important seemed to be the roomy hall-like area decorated for hairstyling: Salon de Confidence.
Consuela proclaims, “A Queens” bed when her bedroom is revealed. She peeks into a drop-leaf desk with complete with laptop computer and flat screen TV above.
Her suite’s bath is the only one shown – A large retro porcelain tub and sink with golden fixtures and shower nozzle plus an enclosed, standing shower. A little of the design creativity is weakening in deference to some of the suppliers, or so it appears to me. Not only does the tile job in the bathroom’s shower area look replicated from another episode, but the exterior treatment with the cedar shake shingles is what we saw used for the Pope family home (ep. 3 this season).

The Mackey’s ohhed and ahhed over their outside grill and Consuela gave Ty an extra heart-felt hug for the contents of the shed in back. The “raggedy ol’ truck” returned refinished after-all – painted a deep red and detailed on the windshield and door panels with the Operation Confidence logo and name.

Ty suggests a drive in Consuela’s new wheels, and shows her to the office space he’s set up, complete with signage. Contractor Plaskoff presents keys to the space (a donation of a year’s lease from building-owner Plaskoff and his employees to benefit Operation Confidence).

Hey, I noticed adorable Preston was not with us on this build, but I’d say Michael, Paul and the ladies got extra camera time this way.

Next week’s Ally family NY, NY looks like something dramatically neglectful happened to the house interior. Guess we’ll all have to tune in, while polishing off Halloween candy, to figure out the mystery.