An 'Extreme' celebration

KIRKLAND -- Months after the glare of Hollywood lights dimmed and the frenzy of an artificially frenetic construction schedule mellowed, Connie Chapin took the limelight again Sunday night to offer renewed thanks to the hundreds who gave her family a new home.

"I am honored to be in the presence of the people who actually built my home," Chapin told a crowd of dozens at a party in a Bellevue hotel, hosted by the local design and architecture firms that planned the house.

The project was paid for by the television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

		P-I File
	Connie Chapin, left, is the latest "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" story.

"It's amazing to be in a home that was built with so much caring and love -- and intensity," she said

Without the help, Chapin would have had to sell her home, take another job and move her four children away from their schools, friends and activities, she said.

"I shudder to think of the stress my family and I would have had to go through. I spent many sleepless nights those days, contemplating all those issues while continuing to pray for a miracle," she said. "Boy, did God answer my prayers."

The Bellevue party marked the Sunday night airing of Chapin's story on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which gave the Chapin family its new 3,500- square-foot Craftsman and swimming pool in October.

Not far away in Kirkland, a second event also toasted the broadcast -- and the social service agency that had previously seen the family through tough times.

It was there Chapin watched the program, at an event that was part party, part fundraiser for Hopelink. Proceeds from about 300 tickets sold will go to Hopelink.

In late September, hundreds of volunteers from the community, Hopelink and a statewide building industry association constructed the home.

The house it replaced was structurally unsound and had lead paint, asbestos tiles and rotting floor joists, volunteer builders said.

Also, the pool Chapin used to make her living failed to meet city regulations. After a difficult divorce, Chapin pulled her family from poverty with help from Hopelink and by building her own business teaching swimming to children.

"Now, whenever possible, she gives back to Hopelink," said Denise Stephens, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The gimmick behind the show is that a small design team and an army of local volunteers renovate or construct a home within a week, often working around the clock. Chapin's house was completed a day late because rain delayed painting, show producers said.

The show also provides new decor, furnishings and appliances for the families, most of whom have suffered hard times or personal tragedy.

"We've been settling in -- bringing in all our little favorite things from our old house and meshing them into our new stuff," Chapin said. "It's really making it into our home. When we first got here, it felt like living in a magazine."

Chapin, 44, and her children, ages 9 through 16, are working to re-establish their routine, she said. "There's a lot of loose ends. We still have crews coming and going and doing little things -- but nothing major," Chapin said.

Also, Chapin is not working yet because a planned enclosure for the pool is not expected to be ready until early next year, she said. In the meantime, the ABC network that produces the show is helping her get by financially, she said.

"I'm looking forward to the months to come where I can get some kind of normalcy going," she said.