The Harris Sextuplets

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Harris Family
Recap By J. G. Bird

March 7, 2005
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Chris and Diamond Harris are the proud parents of a nine-year-old boy, DeWayne, and a miracle set of sextuplets. Born more than two-and-a-half years ago, in the first week of July of 2002, the six new additions to the Harris household are miraculous due to all surviving and growing vibrantly healthy and strong. According to news files, Kobe, Kalynne, Kiera, Kaleb, Kieran and Kyle were all in their Center Point, Alabama home by the end of October 2002 - The only surviving set of sextuplets born to African American parents in the U.S. The "circus-like" atmosphere in the day-to-day living in a house full of toddlers is clear. It's become a full-time job for mom, Diamond, assisted by hubby, Chris, who continues working on the salary of a third -grade teacher. This sturdy Alabama home did have damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, but it couldn't stop the Harris' in their need to simply patch up and keep living their very busy days with seven children. Of course, Chris Harris has continued to be concerned about providing for all his family's needs.
I'm assuming Ty has to have a cue card to keep those names straight when he calls the family out of their home on the morning of Day One. Each designer gets to pick up a toddler (just to keep them in the shot, I'm sure). The parents seem pretty shell-shocked through the whole makeover process (let's assume they don't get time to sit down and watch TV much)! In the walk through of the original house, the oven is a non-working relic from the 50's and the stovetop stopped working months earlier. Eating together at a family table defers to the demands of the six toddlers at a toddler-size picnic table. Ty has to sidestep some piece of food tossed at him by one of the cranky toddlers (I wanted an instant replay on that one!). The flow of the house is clogged with a maze of safety gates.

In the application video, the designers get a chuckle out of the strategic line up of sextuplets sitting for potty time. As Ty helps buckle up multiple car seats in the airport transportation for the Harris family, we know Disney World is the right destination for the clan. Ty will later be able to call up Chris and Diamond and clue them in on a night to themselves while on their Disney resort vacation. And just for shock value, the sitter that shows up at their door on that specified night is TV-mom, Florence Henderson.

Demolition is assisted by clowns from Ringling Bros. There is the usual looks of disbelief from the crew of designers, thinking, "This is the help? Where's the builders?" Alabama-based Signature Homes is the actual contractor. The transformation is from a modest brick single-story home to a Tudor style home using the existing basement and building off the footprint of the original home with a 3-car garage added to the side and going up to a second story. The designers make a point of demonstrating the effectiveness of specially-treated lumber used for the second story floorboards - effectively silent floors. This seems wise having placed the kids' rooms on the second floor. 16,000 bricks and six days later, we have a home ready for move in. Michael gets help moving items into DeWayne's tree house, but Eduardo and Paul swear off further move-in after that workout. Ty receives an overnight shipment and unwraps Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog. The box marked DANGER! erupts with Muppet, Animal, chanting, "Makeover! Makeover! Makeover!" Miss Piggy, having refused to be shipped overnight, runs up and immediately makes advances on Ty. Fozzie Bear armed with hand tools, carrying a ladder, and helping with the move-in of fragile items are just a few of the site gags we get for a few minutes. Is this filler for those holes created by the portions edited out for How'd They Do That? or just a blatant promo for The Muppets in the World of Oz airing this Fall on ABC? I bet they saved airfare in selecting these particular Muppets too - as, except for Kermit; they're all voiced by the same performer, hah!

Okay, part of the Muppet onslaught was worth it - Kermit mimicking the Ty megaphone madness was absolutely hilarious. It was funniest when you could not even comprehend the words being shouted by the frog.

The moving of the bus seemed like a highlight for the sextuplets, chanting from a three-tiered stroller. Mom and dad begin jumping about like their favorite team just came from behind and scored the game-winning goal. Chris Harris says he's filled with relief. Seeing the interior has them staring for a few moments - the flow of the great room and dining room and kitchen seems to leave plenty of running space for the little ones. An added breakfast nook is something we haven't seen before, but works well for this family's needs.

On the second floor is the nursery, separate bathrooms for the boys and girls, and DeWayne's room. The Pinewood Derby-inspired bed for Webelo Scout, DeWayne, is Paul's handiwork. He built it from pine (with a steel frame) and moving wheels. The car-bed is painted fire engine red. Paul added the family's old stove's brushed chrome door as a hood accent.

The room built especially for the sextuplets has a circus tent theme, carried off by the ceiling being painted in radial stripes of olive green. Lifetime passes to the circus are put into DeWayne's care for him and his siblings, then we are shown the features of the nursery. One end of the suite is set aside for the two girls. Ty reveals that a wall section will unfold from a compartment to eventually separate the boys' side of the suite from the girls'. The lower-half of the walls are wipe-off white board material. Closets are full of clothes for them all.

Chris and Diamond's suite has the finishes we've become accustomed to seeing in the bath section. The bedroom style evokes a love or hate response. This was Ty's secret room. Done completely in black and white - Is it too sterile or, chic. The wallpaper is a paisley pattern done completely in thin-line black on white. There's inkblot art in frames on the walls. White central carpet is framed by a wide band of black, and the bedspread is similar. Probably the best feature is the hidden back stairs that lead up to the second story nursery. Surveillance equipment will help them out too.

Even with all that's provided in improving the Harris' future, it doesn't seem totally lovely until the end. I really liked all that was done with the large backyard. The backyard includes a sitting porch, a grill, a water park, and the guesthouse-sized tree house. Finally, CEO Dwight Sandlin of Signature Homes announces a scholarship fund begun by his employees to get all seven children through college. See a few more surprises in Monday's show, How'd They Do That?