Home makeover gets extreme reaction

Linda Forrester likes to watch those extreme remodel shows on television – the ones where an owner is banished and put up in style while a crew transforms the house – and imagine it happening to her.

She follows the shocked family as they make their way through a house that is suddenly unrecognizable, gaping at new carpets and colors, crying over surprise renovations and unexpected gifts.

Wednesday, it was Forrester who, accompanied by her daughter Hailey, put her face to her hands and cried, “Oh my God,” as she entered her own home.

Forrester, who is a single mother with disabilities and whose child has disabilities as well, was chosen by the employees of Clinkerdagger’s restaurant, an establishment with a long history of community involvement, to receive a home makeover.

The labor was done by members of the restaurant staff, with help from friends and family. Most of the materials were donated by local businesses and merchants.

The makeover team, led by Clinkerdagger’s manager Debi Moon, swept into Forrester’s north Spokane bungalow on Monday morning. By 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, they had redecorated, redesigned and upgraded each room.

Forrester was already in tears as she got out of the van that brought the pair home from three days at The Davenport Hotel.

She stepped onto the new artificial grass and walked up the updated wheelchair ramp leading into the house. She noticed the fresh landscaping mulch spread around the flower beds.

She walked through the front door to discover her living room was freshly painted and carpeted, with new valances on the windows and a coordinating wallpaper border circling the room. It took her a moment to notice the roomy new sofa, with built-in chaise lounge, which was donated by a furniture store.

Next, Moon led Forrester and Hailey into their bathroom, saying, “This is why we’re here.”

The tiny room received the most heavy-duty work. The lavatory was moved and replaced with a corner sink to make the room more accessible to Hailey, who spends much of her time in a wheelchair. Other improvements include a tub seat, which will enable Hailey to be more independent, and a new toilet.

In Hailey’s room, the ceiling has been painted to resemble clouds. She has a new bedspread, curtains and carpet, all in soft purple and lavender. Forrester screamed again when she saw a new computer and printer, with six months of free high-speed Internet service, sitting on Hailey’s desk.

There was a new electric stove in the freshly painted and redecorated kitchen, and a new washer and dryer.

And when she was led into her own room – a room that was not in the makeover plans – Forrester sobbed.

Her bedroom is now ocean blue and one wall features a mural of an underwater scene, with fish, a sea turtle and – Forrester’s favorite creature – dolphins.

Forrester pointed to the new bed – to replace the donated bed Forrester received after a house fire nearly 20 years ago – and to the new matchstick blinds on the windows. “Oh, my God,” she cried. “Oh, my God.”

When she finally got a chance to sit on the new sofa, and Hailey was curled into her side, Forrester stopped crying and began to smile.

“You don’t know what a difference this is going to make for Hailey and me,” she said. “I want to thank all of you.”