Heartwarming housewarming
A beautiful person gets a beautiful wish come true

Mike Chouinard, The Times
Published: Friday, November 09, 2007

From the outside, a person would never guess Glenda and Rick Standeven's home has undergone a dramatic renovation, all in a matter of days. The only thing that might tip someone off is a tiny bit of sawdust on the front lawn.

The inside though is a different story--one that made for a truly heartwarming housewarming party Tuesday afternoon. Glenda Standeven was nominated by friend Bonnie Holmes to be on HGTV's Makeover Wish, hosted by Global TV personality Erin Cebula. She is a cancer survivor who has taken part in events such as the Relay for Life, and it was pretty clear she was an easy choice. During the shoot, a woman walking down Candow Street stopped to tell one of the camera operators, "You made a good choice. . . . They're just the most generous-hearted people."

For three days, Standeven got to stay in a hotel while Cebula, designer Keith Chalmers and a crew of about 20 went to work on the Standeven residence.

Chalmers gave not only the living room a dramatic, $25,000 makeover but also the dining room and another room that will now function as a home office. The project included a new fireplace with a slate wall behind, new furniture, flooring and artwork, among other things.

For Chalmers as a designer, these projects mean tight timeframes, which break down into getting the rooms cleared and getting the "Befores" filmed for the first day, most of the "hard-core" work for day two, and fixing the details, cleaning up and filming the "Afters" for day three.

"It's a different approach to design. I have to take into account factors I don't in my 9-to-5 job," he said.

Still, making a TV show at the same time as a fast-paced home renovation brings the constant reminder that the shoot is in the real world, not on a closed set.

"It's not a set by any stretch of the imagination. It's a home," Chalmers said.

As evidence, director and producer Dave Berenbaum can only wave his hand in frustration when, first, a noisy city street cleaner rumbles by on a nearby street, followed moments later by a garbage truck.

Still, by Tuesday, the crew was finishing up the details, putting frames on some artwork and polishing up vases and candlesticks, all to get ready for that afternoon's reveal.

A crowd of more than 30 of Standeven's friends and family waited out front of her house to greet her as she arrived home.

"From now on, you're going to have the party place," host Cebula told her. "Everybody's going to want to come over."

When Standeven saw the work inside, she could hardly contain her emotion.

"Oh my gosh . . . I said I wasn't going to say that again," she said.

As Cebula and Chalmers led her through her new-look home, she was truly mesmerized by its transformation.

"It's perfect. I couldn't ask for anything better," Standeven told them. "It looks so grown up. It's so not the '80s."

The episode shot at Standeven's home is scheduled to air Dec. 31. In the meantime, HGTV is airing two others episodes also shot in Chilliwack this month: On Nov. 19, the home makeover for Big Sister mentor Laurie Docherty premieres, and on Nov. 26, the makeover of Calum and Macaulay Mowbray's rec room premieres. The two boys were nominated after saving their grandfather from drowning.