Raytown Tribune – 4/05

Love at First Site
Johnson family stunned by new home

Stephen Johnson hit the pavement on all fours at the first glimpse of his new home.

Fresh back from a vacation at Disney World, Johnson and his five children emerged from a limousine Wednesday, April 6, in front of a crowd of spectators estimated between 8,000 and 15,000 people.

While they were gone, their humble abode at 8211 E. 79th St., was demolished and another home built courtesy of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The episode is expected to air in about a month. The replacement structure shocked the whole family. Instead of one story, two. Instead of 1,200 square feet, 4,300. Instead of red breaks, moss green siding. Instead of a plain white garage door, two carriage style wooden doors.

The Johnson family was awed.

“They said ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’ about 10 million times,” said Parkville contractor Kevin Green, owner of Kevin Green Homes. Green was solicited by the show’s producers to raise the house in less than a week.

The Johnsons’ reaction made him choke up.

“I’m so happy, you cannot imagine it,” Green said.

Metropolitan Ambulance Service Trust paramedic Mary Seymour nominated the Johnson family for the home makeover and spent the past week visiting the job site. She and a team of emergency personnel made sure they had a good vantage point to observe the Johnsons’ shock.

“It’s just great to finally see them see the house,” Seymour said. “Their reaction was great…I would have fainted.”

Some audience members did. The hot spring sun beat down on the crowd, many of whom arrived early in the morning to claim a piece of the lawn to stand on. Medics were summoned to the crowd three times during the “reveal” and at least one woman was driven away from the scene, reportedly suffering from dehydration.

But most audience members stayed on their feet and cheered as the morning turned to afternoon. They waved signs declaring their love for the show, its star Ty Pennington and the Johnson family.

Mia Conley and Talisa Boswell, both 14, go to school with three of the Johnson children wand were some of the loudest observers when the home was revealed to its residents.

“It’s exciting,” Conley said.

“Yeah, we are going to come over,” said Boswell, who said she noticed the Johnsons weren’t in school on Wednesday, March 30. That was the day that were surprised by the “Extreme” crew with the news their home had been selected for the show.

Architect Rob Marshall designed the home in just one week and exercised his own creativity to determine the characteristics of the house.

“I wanted something that matched Kansas City and the surrounding neighborhoods,” Marshall said. “I didn’t want to do anything contemporary that would stand out like a sore thumb.”

Seeing his house go up – with few modifications from ABC and the show’s design team – thrilled him.

“I think this will change my life an change the lives of everyone who worked on this project,” Marshall said.