America's Most Desperate Kitchen: Part One

Are you ready to hear a crazy story? (Written 13 days before the Kitchen Cousins showed up at our house).

Back in September I was discouraged about how expensive a kitchen renovation was going to be. We were talking about not only new cabinets, flooring, etc, but blowing out walls and tearing down a fireplace. It was overwhelming thinking not only about the cost, but also the design. We've done plenty of renovations in both our homes, but this kitchen was in a whole different league. What did I decide was a good solution to this kitchen renovation discouragement? Sweepstakes. Yep, sweepstakes. Good idea, right?

I got online one evening and starting putting our names into every kitchen and home makeover money sweepstakes I could find. Which led me to google "kitchen sweepstakes," which led me to a little show on HGTV called "American's Most Desperate Kitchen." This was not just blindly winning money, but it was an actual audition where you submitted pictures and a video. So, after telling several friends and family members about our idea to audition, and their encouragement to do so, we sent in a video. We didn't spend much time at all on the video. In fact, we waited until the evening of the due date, threw together a little piece and submitted it just in the nick of time. That was September 31st.

October 30: Ben is out of town hunting and I'm checking emails after putting the kids to bed. I see an email with the subject, "American's Most Desperate Kitchen Follow-up." This is what it said:

Hello Ben and Jamie, 

The show is currently in our preliminary phases of casting.  We have some follow-up information we would like you to review before we can proceed to the next step.  We will be selecting three candidates in your area, all candidates will be given the below information:

- Must agree to be responsible for paying taxes.

- Must be okay with relinquishing all control on the design of the kitchen.  If you are particular about your style and what you want - we need to know.  The design would keep to the general style of your home and would be tasteful.  

- Must be able to take time off from work some time in mid January.  We will have exact dates shortly.   During that time you will need to be prepared to vacate your home during the project and also find pet care (if applicable).  

- Must be available to meet producers Nov. 21st, both homeowners need to be available.  Exact time is TBD.

Once you have agreed to the preliminary terms listed above, we will send you another follow-up email requesting additional information about your house.  

No way! Ben wasn't home to share it with, but I call my sister freaking out! They actually got back to us!! We replied with a, "Yes to all," and the next couple weeks were filled with completing their "Fact Sheet", answering questions about our home, and submitting about 50 pictures of not only our kitchen, but the front and back exterior of the house, the rooms the kitchen could be opened to, the electrical panel, etc. We even had to sketch a floor plan of our house for them. We were thorough and prompt, but honestly never expected it to go past that.

November 6: my dad is here and we're working out in the flower beds together. I'm so happy he was there to share this email from the producers with:

Here's the plan.  We would like to meet you and Ben at your home on Friday, Nov. 20th.  It would be in the evening (after 4pm) because we fly in around that time.  We MAY need access again on Saturday, Nov. 21st.  You both don't have to be there, but if one person can be there in case we have questions about the house - great!!   We will let you know on Friday what time we would need to access the space on Saturday. 

I had a complete freak out moment. I couldn't stop smiling. Ben didn't believe me when I called him at work to tell him. I couldn't believe it! The directors were actually visiting our house!? From there we had two weeks of intense and steady work on our house. TV people were coming, we wanted our houes to be perfect (well, as perfect as a house with one of American's most desperate kitchens could be). We had a mile-long to do list including things like: clean out garage, paint the ugly green front door, hire someone to make a trap door for our crawl space so that it was accessible, paint the guest room (because clearly that had an impact on whether or not our kitchen would be chosen). We worked our tails off, so when the producers, Rachel and Tiana, arrived on the evening of November 20, we were ready with an immaculate house. 

That was a stressful night, but Tiana and Rachel were very nice. They looked around our kitchen, took pictures, asked us questions about what we would want in the kitchen, and answered questions. We were able to really "play up" the food allergy card, and we could see that it piqued their interest. They also seemed very pleased by the access from the gate in the back lot straight up to the deck. We were able to show them our newly renovated master bathroom to demonstrate to them our style. They stayed for around 45 minutes and then texted later that night that they would be returning the following day with two different teams of contractors and designers. So we prayed over the house that morning and left again as strangers analyzed our home for a kitchen show. Pretty crazy! Later that day Tiana texted me to ask if Scappoose had a town hall they could drive by (maybe for filming purposes?) and then one of our neighbors, Cheryl, texted me to say that the crew was all parked up at the top the road looking down the canyon at the old house in the field. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day and that view is spectacular. I really felt like God made our house an enticing story that day.

After that, we really starting praying and hoping. Family and friends started praying. On November 29, we were all in the car together when I received this email:

Congratulations,

You have been selected as a finalist for "AMERICA'S MOST DESPERATE KITCHENS!" As previously discussed, you will not know if you have been selected until the hosts of the show John Colaneri and Anthony Carrino show up at your door and we start the makeover. Below is a list of details you will need:

The prospective dates we would remodel your kitchen are: Jan 27-30. 
You will need to be totally available on the day we arrive and be on-call during the final day, as we will call you for the reveal. You will not be allowed at the house on the days in between and will be responsible for having a place to stay over the course of the remodel. 
​This includes pets as well.​
Because we are still deciding on finalists for the show 
we will occasionally need to send contractors and designers to your property to get eyes on the kitchen space as we make our final decision. This will often happen last minute and requires some degree of flexibility. The Producer and Associate Producer assigned to this episode will set these visits up with you.


You have NO SAY in the design of the kitchen. While we make every attempt to please each and every homeowner, we are responsible for the design. 

What a great day that was! It was so fun to all be together when we got the news! Two days later, Rachel the producer called me to answer any questions. We talked for close to half and hour. I asked all the things racing through my mind like, "What would happen to our stuff? Are the kids with us when we answer the door? What do we wear?" It was a good conversation where I felt like I got hints that we were actually the winner. Rachel's comments like, "We really like to pick the design last minute," just didn't seem to add up. She also said things like, "You probably don't want to do any big grocery shopping trips before that date," and "I better get going...before I say too much." It gave us hope.

After that, we heard a few things here and there. We received a pamphlet in the mail from a snazzy cabinet company that we didn't request. We speculated a lot. They have to be ordering all the cabinets, tiling, flooring, etc.:Wouldn't they have called to tell us if they didn't select us? Tiana called to switch the dates to January 25-28. Why would they switch the dates if they hadn't chosen our kitchen? 

Then Tiana called to schedule another walk through with the chosen contractors and designers on December 29. Part of me thought this meant we had won, but then another part was super stressed. The designer whom we met told us that they were bringing in the electricians and contractors to all the homes to see which design was most feasible. What if they couldn't do what they designed? But all along the Lord had placed this prayer in my heart, "Lord, don't let there be anything about our house that disqualifies us!" So we prayed and held on to that prayer!

Another prayer that God placed on my heart was for little morsels of hope along the way. And he totally provided that. The way that the various emails and phone calls were spaced out was just enough to help us hope.

Our next morsel of hope came on January 5, when Rachel emailed me to ask for 8-10 family photos. I sent those and Tiana emailed to ask for 5 more. Then, Tiana asked for all our neighbors' phone numbers. And then we hit the two weeks until "go time," mark. The mark that we said all along, "If they haven't cancelled by this time, we're in." And they haven't--they haven't cancelled! Are we really going to win a kitchen make-over through the Kitchen Cousins on HGTV? I cannot even fathom what it will be like if this happens! It's like winning the lottery. We laugh a lot about it. We nervously giggle a lot. We have watched season one episodes and analyzed. What should we wear? What should our reactions be like? What will we say? Will this really happen? Are you kidding me?

So, here we are, 13 days out. Vacation to Great Wolf Lodge and Mt. Hood planned. Hopes placed. 

Please, please Lord, let this crazy miracle happen!