The Grinnan Family

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Season 2, Episode 4
The Grinnan Family
Recap By J.G. Bird
October 17, 2004

The newest family to receive the enrichment of an Extreme Makeover lives in Redlands, CA, but still remembers a happy life in Arizona. Cathy and Bill Grinnan gave up the home they had in AZ to safeguard the health of their youngest daughter Hannah by moving as close as possible to a premier heart patient facility, Loma Linda. Hannah is just six years old. Mary, 22, Bill Jr., 20, Catie, 17, Gabe, 11, Sara, eight, and seven-year-old Clare believe their parents have sacrificed greatly to provide for all of them, especially for Hanna. The adult children express this belief a few times, noting how mom and dad go without so the kids’ needs are met.

Doctors indicated at Hannah’s birth that she had an inoperable heart defect. Her only saving grace could be a new heart. That is what she got. At just 11 days old, Hannah received a heart transplant. But transplants give a tenuous survival. On medications and needing the best care close at hand, the Grinnan family met the challenge. The most house they could afford in California is smaller than their number really needs. Three of the children grouped together in the garage. Even the oldest boy, with plans to marry the girl down the street, still has overriding ties to his family.

There’s nothing disastrously wrong with the Grinnan’s home. It is not, however the ideal environment for Hannah’s health issues. The design team vows to make a germ-free house. They will rely on a newer central air system, individually stationed Hepa air filters, wall insulation, and easily cleanable surfaces throughout the interior to accomplish the task.

The producers and cast may not realize it, but it seems they are getting more and more persistent about saying on more than one occasion: “And the family has no idea we are coming!” I’d love some opinion on this one, because I do not buy it. Now, when Ty bends down to the youngest and says, “Are you surprised?” of course she’s going to nod her head emphatically. Surely her loving family never woke her up with a megaphone after scrambling out of a tour bus! I don’t see a reason always to play it this way.

Right away, this family is told they are being sent to a resort in San Diego. And there’s minimal contact with the family there. One cell phone call to the limo, computer uplink to the demolition, and a little extra footage of sisters Clare and Sara doing cheer routines in the grass at the resort, where everyone tries their hand at a little golf, that’s the extent of the offsite footage.

Hannah is so sweetly approachable and articulate, she describes her room design wish with Ty as this: “There’s a little door, that you push open, and it’s a living room; that what I want.” The designers are additionally inspired by anime posters on the walls of one of the bedrooms.

This leads us later to a pretty humorous exchange, mid-show, when Ty calls the family up and says he’s told a man to tell them all about how the remodel is going. The man he puts on the phone then speaks completely in Japanese. But the sub-titles that come up say, “Ty has put me in charge of painting your whole house. I am totally color blind….You may not want to come back!” The man is actually there to provide an anime mural in the pre-teen boy’s room.

While they know they want to provide more room for this family who’s had three kids living in the garage, local zoning laws won’t allow them to build a second-story. They will drain, demolish and fill in the existing pool and set a new foundation for the expansion areas. Even with this, they won’t be able to provide individual rooms for all. Mary, the oldest sibling, is emphatic that she doesn’t mind, while talking on the phone with Ty.

Clare and Hannah have shared a room already, now Designers Constance and Michael work on giving Clare and Sara a shared cheerleader room. Hannah will get the big surprise reveal on the work done by Ty for her room. Hacienda-style façade with a bell tower will be incorporated to highlight and bring height to the home’s entry. Paul explains the Arizona-inspired landscape design and how they will incorporate the theme of a country hoedown with a raised deck for dancing.

Filling in the pool for space to expand will be a problem if they can’t get the foundation poured on schedule. The three concrete mixer trucks are police escorted. While I had the impression the pool was getting removed, and that was that, I should’ve known better. Although the former pool’s chlorine was an issue for Hannah, they introduced a smaller pool. Somehow they maximized this space, because when all was said and done, the backyard - previously filled with pool - was replaced with waterfall, spa, and a pool with mineral filtration system, plus iron sculpture cactus-shaped misters, an outdoor grill and dance platform!

They were sure to mention that it was about 120 degrees while this rebuild was going on. Ty does some dramatics in the piles of foundation sand (Water! Water!) plus dives into the dirt area where the family’s pool once was, which leads, inevitably(?) to stealing a dip (not a skinny dip, but a skivvy-dip, men and women alike) in a neighbor’s poodle-guarded backyard pool. The coolest cats on the team were those off shopping at Sears. They’re shopping for hypo-allergenic mattresses, pillows, bedding.

By Day Four, we are being shown the spray-and-expand insulation inside the wall framing. Ty notes it’s made from soy-bean. (Yeah, and some postal packaging is made from popped corn, Ty – but I don’t take a mouthful to demonstrate!) Another, don’t do this at home kids! Then Paul shows us the Hepa filtration unit installed in the attic, while Ty goes on the internet for closet installers.

Something’s stressing lovable Paul 36 hrs to deadline. Paul develops some serious pain and next thing you know, Paul’s taken to the hospital for an examination. Turns out he’s experiencing a kidney stone. He returns to the house site (in a hospital gown – and I think Paul’s the only one that can pull that fashion statement off decently), and toughs it out with careful attention to staying hydrated.

The Grinnan’s have a fairly large turnout of supporters for the appointed reveal hour. The house is revealed at dusk, it is said, due to the oppressive temperature, but I think they wanted to highlight the yard lighting in front and back. They enter into autumnal colors boldly defining a king-size great room. It flows from family room to dining room to kitchen at the back where stainless steel appliances and easily cleanable counter surfaces abound.

The two youngest girls delight in their cheerleader haven. And Hannah’s room is like a Shangri-La Princess’ temple. Ty did a double I heard you by making the door entering into the room a Dutch door, so Hannah just gets in by opening up the bottom half of the door. Then, the bed, which is enclosed on three sides, has cabinet doors detailed with a heart-shaped cutout and those doors swing open to access the bed on that side. Her closet also has shuttered doors and like any Princess, they filled it with dresses, accessories and a bike. Gabe is wowed with a room painted in a bold red and very detailed anime art covering one wall of his Samurai room.

All the adult bedrooms get wall-mounted televisions and are designed as suites. Mary and her sister get a shared suite. They have a double sink vanity bathroom countertop (the clear glass bowls of the sinks fitted into dark speckled marble is really beautiful) and backed by a whole wall of closet/shelving. Bill, Jr. and his fiancé are given privacy by the all-inclusive room built for them as well.

The parents get all the usual upgrades we’ve seen on the show before, stall shower plus bathtub with water jets, walk-in closet. Their joy at any improvement is proof enough they never expected so much. This is probably why it’s mayhem when Ty presents the family with a new Ford F250 truck. Then they open up the garage door to reveal in the driveway a 2005 Ford Mustang for oldest daughter, Mary.

Finally, in presenting the backyard renovation, which I’ve described already, the design team rejoins them. Country singer Leanne Womack – appears to kick off the Grinnan’s first backyard party. She sings the lovely, “I Hope You Dance.”

One of the interesting items, although it was barely touched upon, was showing some architectural recycling. Not everything is simply trashed for dramatic effect in the demolition. Some items are carted out for use by Habitat for Humanity (cabinets, mantle, sinks, fixtures). I say, Bravo!