Team Yellow - Highlights from Episode 6 – The Dining Room & Laundry Room

Episode 6, the dining room & laundry room episode, was a fun one for team yellow. In addition to our regular cast, we had the privilege of having my younger brother Josh come and help us with the project. Though our friends don’t, typically, get a lot of air-time on the show, behind the scenes, Josh did an outstanding job with the tile work in the laundry room and the mudroom. For Josh, though, the highlight of his My RONA Home experience was meeting the host of the show, Elissa Lansdell. A big CMT fan, Josh was a little star struck when I brought Elissa down to meet him while he was working in the laundry room. Working with Elissa every day, and given that she was so amazing and down to earth, we easily, and most unintentionally, overlooked Elissa’s fame & extensive television resume. Not Josh. He didn’t leave without getting Elissa’s autograph on his new, team yellow, My RONA home ball cap; a souvenir his hunting buddies will surely envy.

Thanks Josh for your hard work and enthusiasm. We loved having you on the show.

Other highlights from the show:

1. The fake spider. Nicola has a serious fear of spiders. For a practical joke, Kari Clark (our sister-in-law who appeared on the bedroom episode & the basement episode) left a fake spider with Greg to play a joke on Nicola. Greg thought it would be funny but wouldn’t do the deed himself… nor would anyone else so I had to be the “bad-guy”. Having had a real encounter with a spider in the trailer just that morning, Nicola had her spider radar on high alert. I quietly placed the fake spider on her shoulder and then told her to be very still. Not knowing what was up she didn’t move until I flicked it off her shoulder and onto the floor in front of her. It was a good thing I was behind her because she reared up like a spooked horse and had I not caught her, she would have flown straight back into a stack of bamboo. She was a good sport and laughed it off. Watch out Kari… Nicola doesn’t forget.

2. The weigh-in. Having just come off a great weigh in during Episode 5 where I had lost 7 pounds in 7 days, I actually found myself up 2 pounds in Episode 6. In real time, this weigh-in came 3 days later. Though the catering for the show was usually healthy and well balanced, the supper we had after Day 1 of filming for Episode 6 was Pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and pop. So yummy but soooo bad. Don’t worry… I get back on track.

Nicola & I absolutely love the finished product from Episode 6. Like the rest of the house thus far, the dining room, the mudroom and the laundry room were more wonderful than we could have ever expected.

The mudroom, just off the dining room, is a sizable entrance at the back of the house featuring a huge closet, tiled floors and a bench. As we intend to have a detached garage behind the house, this will be our primary entrance. It will be delightful not to have all of our coats and shoes at the front door which is quite an eyesore in our current home.

We are excited about the laundry room too because of its practical functionality. Not only did Nicola get her gorgeous, RED, front load, high efficiency washer and drier but Mike & Greg built as a huge folding table above them, a must for the perfect laundry room. No more folding my huge shirts on the bed or ottoman.

Last, but not least, the dining room. The dining room, in the house we currently rent, is small and isolated from the rest of the house. We don' t like eating in there so we end up eating the majority of our meals together on the ottoman in the living room. We absolutely love the dining room we put together for the show. With the table set in front of the huge west-facing window and an extension of our kitchen space in the open floor plan, we really look forward to eating all our meals as a family together at the table.

Thank-you, once again, Greg, Aly, Dean & Mike for another perfectly completed project. This truly is becoming the house of our dreams.

If you think the kitchen and the dining room were beautiful, wait until you see the completed living room on episode 7, Sunday, November 15th. It truly is the icing on the cake for our beautiful, main floor, open concept floor plan.

JRM