Leslie Family

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Leslie Family
Recap By J.G. Bird
4-3-05

Robin Leslie and her 3 young sons live in an idyllic setting, on a plain of green that seems to stretch out all around. The home dates back to the 1870’s, and the Leslie’s had looked forward to restoring and putting their own designer touches on the 1900 sq. ft. plantation-era home which they had purchased several years earlier. Just over a year ago, however, Robin received the news that her husband, Doug, along with their oldest son, Merlin, had died instantly in a car accident.

A stone’s throw from the Mississippi River, this home in Braithwaite, Louisiana is the slim piece of hope that Robin holds onto. Everything in the home’s renovation has been on-hold. Realistically, its renovation needs are more than one person can manage. And Robin, although finding it difficult to ask for help, knows that life must continue for her surviving family. The work of expanding the upstairs for multiple bedrooms had begun, but not completed, so the three-year old twins, Brandon and Brent, and six-year old, Spencer share one bed in the downstairs dining room.

The home’s exterior looks sound, but weathered. Inside, it’s in quite a state. Some areas show swaths of carpeting pulled up, and a drop ceiling of faux-tin is both somewhat out-of-place and is missing ceiling tiles, here and there. The interior of the home looks more like a vintage double-wide mobile home. There’s 1970’s shag carpeting and wall paneling running the length of the downstairs.

Cast and crew have to ferry across the Mississippi to reach the home site. The ferry courtesy of Plaquemines Parish. Eduardo Xol is a member of the design team on this outing, and he’ll have plenty of space to work with, transforming the grounds. Preston Sharp will provide a solid knowledge for maintaining the historical features as the home is renovated. Paul and Paige will have to provide a great deal of refurbishing as well as carpentry. It’s Paige and Ty who look particularly emotional viewing Robin Leslie’s application video. Ty works to comfort in almost all his interactions with the family members, in view of this young family’s grief.

Ty and cast emerge from the bus to call out the Leslie family. There’s the dichotomy of shock and remaining grief, particularly in Robin, mixed with the pure boy-energy as the young ones run about at this exciting time. Ty, of course, doesn’t shy away from the rambunctious three – he joins the party! Checking out inside the house includes jumping on the downstairs bed of the three boys. The corner that Ty is jumping on, ultimately, collapses. One of the boys quickly points out that it’s Ty’s fault their bed is now broken

The family is sent on their way, and this time, it’s not the expected Disneyland/Disney World trip. Maybe the mom wanted a getaway that could be a truly unique experience to share with her boys. Handling three boys in their age range at an amusement park would be quite difficult for one parent. The next time we see the family they are skiing, yet nothing in the dialogue of the show is highlighting where they are vacationing. I recognize, however, the image of the Fairmont Hotel nestled in the Rocky Mountains where they stretch into Alberta, Canada. Now, that’s a nice hotel stay.

The team reassures that this will be a careful restoration. First, however, let’s have a parade. A mini New Orleans’s Mardi Gras procession to carry in the volunteer crew with General Contractor, Pete Vicari, and to sufficiently pelt the design team with Mardi Gras beads. Paul finds it particularly easy to rack up the beads by flashing his belly.

The house is taken down to its bones. A giant tarp is laid over the entire expanse of the home’s roofline, preparing for the removal and replacement of the home’s roof. Its movement in the wind makes it look more like a parachute. Whatever material it is, the contraption only holds up for about two days. The crews remove it when it rips apart, but do not repair or replace it. Sure enough, the rain comes hard on Day Four.

Despite the rain, Pete Vicari General Contractors, Inc. is certainly proud of their participation. It’s worth a look at their website, www.petevicari.com, where exterior construction shots and aerial shots really show the scope of the project. Not only are there hundreds of people on the project, this company took hundreds of pictures - people shots are plentiful, as are the smiles!

By Day Six, much has been done, but much is incomplete as well. The family is being holed up at a local hotel on Day Seven, and although Ty cannot promise, he hopes the design team can meet the ultimate Day Seven deadline, midnight, and then bring them home. We see a lot of activity going into the landscaping outside at this point: pavers being laid, sod being quickly tossed and laid. It does go down to the last minute, but for the sake of the young boys, they wait for daylight for a “Christmas morning” feel to the reveal. When the family arrives by limo there’s not a lot of chit-chat. Mom is anxious to have Ty “move that bus,” and he quickly complies.

Spencer, the six year old, breaks down in tears upon seeing the new house, you really only catch sight of it in a commercial break teaser. I get the sense that all these boys are too young to absorb this makeover concept well. Intuition tells me that if he’d been mic’ed, we might have heard him break up and question where their house is. From the front, it looks much like it did before. The two gables in the roofline are set a bit deeper, and the wonderful wraparound porch is still there. Now there’s a carport built off the east side of the house and the addition out the back end appears to extend the house to about twice its original size.

Historically appointed windows and solid, wide-set doors and hardware help bring back some of the period luster to the great room area. Gas light style lighting continues the period look, but like all the other modern conveniences worked into the living areas, they’re all efficiently modern. Ty points out a few of the reused materials in the décor. The dining table is made from 300 year old wood planks from the area. Paige uncovered multiple layers of wallpaper from one of the home’s removed panels. Now the assorted pieces are arranged nicely and framed. The house seemed big before the renovation, so there’s little in this edited reveal on the first floor that seems expanded.

On the second floor the bedrooms await. Ty spends some time with Spencer in the fishing room designed by Paul and Preston. The bed in encased in a small boat shape and, as its set a bit higher than your standard bed, there’s a rustic plank dock alongside. Even in this room there is antique wood utilized. Another fabulous Hadley mural sets the mood for the room. This one is calming, peaceful and will likely allow for many memories of the Dad and son fishing trips he remembers. He has his own room separate from his brothers, and a few tropical fish to care for in a large tank.

The best room is the farm-themed room for the twins. Lots of books, stuffed animals and John Deere tractor toys come out of the half-pint barn storage unit that Paige had a hand in making. Cartoon-like sheep and other farm life are decorative silhouettes about the two bed room as well.

Robin’s room, as the parental suite usually is, Ty designed. It has a nice gable sitting area and plenty of the family pictures on the walls throughout. The bedding as well as the bed is likely from the mind of Ty. He made a point of pointing out in the Leomiti episode that he created the bedding design too. Robin’s is a white comforter with a small tree silhouette in black. That element is duplicated at the head of the bed. Everything else in the room has a nostalgic tint to it, matching up with some nice “period dress” photos of her boys.

Ty reveals that the University of Louisiana is providing Robin a scholarship to study for her doctorate in counseling. Where’s she going to find the time? The backyard will be keeping those boys busy well into their teens, but still. The backyard has the full size “Backyard Adventures” swing set set up, in a separately fenced yard, a pool, and beyond that – something X-treme! Mat “The Condor” Hoffman, multiple champion at the ESPN X-Games has provided at least three bicycles along with personalized leather jackets for each boy. A half-pipe platform is the feature built out back – (please get the three year olds off training wheels first?!)

Would you rather read about spoils from How’d They Do That? today, or wait another day? As if their outdoor activities aren’t plentiful enough, with that great backyard of theirs, expect to see the family receive an RV and a fishing boat.