Lucky Kirkland family picked for "Extreme Makeover" TV show

When Connie Chapin, 44, learned the Kirkland home where she had grown up and was raising her children would be knocked down, she was shocked — and relieved.

The single mother and her four children stepped out of their 100-year old house Wednesday morning to hear the voice of Ty Pennington, lead designer for the popular reality television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" booming from a megaphone. TV-production vans, security guards and neighbors filled the street. The show's producers had chosen the Chapin family's Highlands neighborhood home to be torn down and rebuilt.

"It was an answer to a dream, an answer to a prayer, an answer to a lot of problems that I couldn't solve myself," Chapin said.

A fan of the show since its debut five years ago, Chapin created her own nomination tape after an independent structural engineer determined that her house was on the brink of collapse.

The house serves as a work space for Chapin, a swim instructor who runs her business out of her backyard pool.

The show's producers selected her from some 15,000 applications they receive each week. Using a team of local volunteers, they will rebuild her home in the next seven days while Chapin and her family vacation at a Disney resort in Vero Beach, Fla., courtesy of ABC-TV.

The episode is expected to air in January.

"Hearing the story of the family, it looked like an opportunity to give back to the community," said Daimon Doyle, president of the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) and owner of the architectural firm building the new house.

ABC-TV contacted Doyle to ask if he or other builders from the organization would be interested in helping with the project.

Hopelink, an Eastside social-services agency, helped to temporarily reinforce beams in the ceilings about a year and a half ago, but the home remained unsafe, Doyle said. Engineers told Chapin the family-room ceiling would surely cave in in the event of an earthquake.

Chapin is known by neighbors for her dedication to the neighborhood, often hosting potlucks, block parties and other community functions. Many of her students are children of local families; some have disabilities, including autism and cerebral palsy.

"I consider Connie and her family the glue to this neighborhood," said neighbor Sarah Evans. "They don't have a whole lot, but they'd just give you the shirts off their backs."

Chapin and her family received food, school supplies and other financial help from Hopelink in 2001-02. When friends helped buy the family a new furnace, Hopelink paid for natural-gas hookups.

Now Chapin does as much as she can for the agency in gratitude for the help she received in the past, said Denise Stephens, a Hopelink spokeswoman.

Because of lead paint and asbestos, the builders and designers plan to devote an entire day to ridding the home of dangerous and outdated building materials before demolition.

"You go to bed at night not knowing if your kids are safe," one of the show's designers, Paul DiMeo, said, referring to the condition of the house.

DiMeo will work on 9-year-old Daniel's bedroom. The only boy in the family, Daniel requested an outdoor theme.

The home will be built to the highest level of green building standards. A salvage team will save reusable items from the old house, while all other materials will be recycled.

As all services will be donated, a project value has not been determined.

"I couldn't even begin to guess how much it costs," Doyle said.

Meghan Peters: 206-464-8305 or mpeters@seattletimes.com

Ashley Bach contributed to this report.