Our HGTV Story: Filming!

About once a week I’ll get an email asking what the heck happened to the HGTV series I started.  I appreciate the interest and the begging/ gentle reminding/ subtle threatening for me to just get on with it.  😉  My only excuse for not doing so sooner is that each time I begin to write, I freeze when I see the photos.  They capture a time of happiness and excitement for things to come, and to see the innocence on our faces breaks my heart.  Even though I may have had an intuition about something being ‘off’ with my pregnancy, there was no way to know what would come next.  Five years later, the outward wounds may be healed but some scars can’t be seen on the outside.  Those stubborn inside scars are much tougher to tackle, but for me it’s only through writing that the process continues.

Now with ALL THAT off my chest, with a deep breath I think I’m finally ready to move forward.  Ready to go with me, even though the photos were taken with a point & shoot and are teeny tiny?  {oh, the things I would have done differently if I’d known about blogs back then!}

Where were we?  Oh yes, the supplies had all arrived and Day One of filming was here.  Here’s an interesting ‘inside scoop’ for you:  we filmed for four days, but the work was spread out over a period of 3 weeks.  The ‘plot’ of the show was to get everything done in four days so the on camera talent did some work, but they also had a carpenter come in over those 3 weeks (off-camera!) to do much of the painting, lumber cuts, touchups, etc.  They also had a few production assistants (PAs) who did everything from help with the camera to painting moulding outside during the days we filmed.  It was an ‘all hands on deck’ effort!

Day One of filming began early.  The camera/sound people attached a special film to all our windows in the sunroom called ‘gel’– no small feat considering the entire room is made of windows!  They also set up lights and a camera that you can see on the upper right hand corner near the ceiling.  That’s to get ‘action shots’ from above or the shots where they move in fast forward as you unload/reload the room.  FANCY.

The PAs arrived with a spread of food, mostly comprised of Dunkin Donuts and coffee.  It’s during this time period I discovered the Chocolate Kreme Filled Donut.  You must have one at least once in your life.  During filming, I think I had four.

The on-air talent arrived from NYC.  They were really fun to be around and James had everyone laughing.  Filming the intro took many, many takes because he was supposed to say something about the co-host’s ‘tips’ but it kept coming out as, well, a word that sounds like ‘tips’ but refers to naughty bits.  He was supposed to say something like, “you’re in for a real treat today with Michele’s amazing… tips.’  Lots and lots of takes for that one.  😉

First injury of the day occurred at 8:30AM.  My husband cut himself on the brick as we unloaded the room.  Let’s pretend it was a power tool accident.  {not really, so sorry honey!}

We did tons of demo on Day One.  And by me, I mean everyone else since I was 8 months pregnant.  I have a very difficult time sitting back and watching, but since my back was killing me and they didn’t want me to lift heavy things I had to sort of ‘supervise’.  And by supervise, I mean stand out of their way.

Another ‘secret’: I needed SIX different changes of clothes.  One for the ‘lifestyle’ shots at the beginning, one for each day of filming, and one for the ‘after’ shots showing us hanging out in the room after the reveal.  Six different camera ready outfits when you’re 8 months pregnant?  Not easy!

Day Two was a frenzy of activity.  We began the day at the tile store.  The tile had already been chosen, ordered of course– but I needed to ‘choose’ the travertine on camera.  Thank goodness I got a manicure because they had to do many closeups of my hands pointing to various things like tile and paint colors, “choosing” them.

I told you there was going to be many inside secrets, y’all.

Also about mid-morning on this day, I realized it was my husband’s birthday.  I.  FELT.  HORRIBLE.  I mean, I knew his birthday was coming but I didn’t actually wish him Happy Birthday until about noon because we were so wrapped up in filming I forgot.  Thank goodness for PAs, one ran out and got him a birthday muffin.

Filming ran late that day, it was a looooong day for an 8 month pregnant lady.  Also, I may have said ‘it’s like a facial!’ when I used the wet tile cutter.  Groan.  Here’s a few shots of Day Two:

Interesting tidbit: a carpenter cut all the pieces for this bookcase on an off day, so putting it together took only about an hour.  They made two of them, they’re HUGE!

This really was a surreal experience.  The lights, cameras, microphones… I found myself kinda in awe at some points that we got to take part in such a unique opportunity!  Since this post is getting long, I share days 3 and 4 soon– VERY VERY soon, I promise!  Plus, of course, THE REVEAL.  You truly won’t believe how different the room looks before, after, and today– five years later.

So, what questions do you have so far?  I promise I’ll answer them in the next HGTV post in the VERY VERY close future.  And if I don’t, feel free to continue to gently remind/ subtly threaten me until I do.