About the Show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

The show features a new family every week that has often encountered great tragedy and personal loss. With the help of hundreds of retailers and volunteers, the show will reconstruct and refurnish their entire home. Numerous other gifts, often as large as a car or boat, are also given to help the family get a fresh start.

The Farina Family

With the countless lives that cancer has effected worldwide, the Farina family is no exception. Shawna Farina, wife and mother of three, grew up watching her mother fight breast cancer. Determined to make a difference, she organized numerous Relay for Life walks in honor of her mother, raising awareness and over $449,000 in the past five years. At the young age of 25, her fears were confirmed, as she too would be diagnosed with the disease.

Through ongoing chemo-treatments and surgeries (including a full hysterectomy), her increasing medical bills have put the Farina's dream of fixing their old Indiana farmhouse far from reach. As she continues her role as mother and wife, and her work with Relay for Life and the American Cancer society, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition felt it only fitting that this inspirational woman and her family have the home they deserve.

The show asked Rocky Top for numerous custom pieces for the Farina's new, contemporary designed home. Highlights include sofa, end, and coffee tables for the living room, the family's dining room table, cedar entrance columns, and a massive countertop for Ty's bathroom design. Rocky Top would also furnish the entire back patio and a swing in the back yard.

"This is our third Extreme Makeover, and it's gotten more challenging each time," said Tommy Mitchell, owner and designer. "It's great to be able to be on such a popular TV show, but the true joy comes from knowing we've been a positive and permanent impact on a deserving family."

The Novak Family

The Novaks are another example of a family faced with unexpected tragedy. As teachers in Boardman, Ohio and parents to three daughters, Jeff and his wife Jackie were just beginning to raise a family. One night while asleep, Jackie (only 28) would pass away from a pulmonary embolism.

As if the loss of Jackie wasn't enough, their home was continually deteriorating from leaks and sewage. Even further, the home had no air conditioning and only one bathroom for Jeff and his three growing daughters.

The show decided to rebuild and renovate their entire home to a modern masterpiece. Decorated in the latest contemporary styles, the home was transformed in just one week to the "talk of the town" in their quiet suburban neighborhood.

This time Rocky Top would feature outdoor furniture in the back patio area, and chairs and tables on the porch. Instead of using the natural cedar tones, the furniture would this time be stained to match the more contemporary theme.

The Novak project proved to be another great experience. "Being apart of the Goodale home, and now the Novaks', has been been unforgettable", said Rocky Top co-owner Gwen Mitchell, "This has been a wonderful experience to help two families who were in desperate need, and to see our furniture be apart of that first hand has been very special for us."

The Goodale Family

The story is of the Goodale family in Wells, Maine, in particular the father Doug. Having been a lobster fisherman for many years, Doug's life would be changed forever one day in a tragic accident. While fishing at sea, his arm became entangled in the boat's winch. The only way for him to survive was to manually cut it off. In order to keep supporting his family Goodale would have to learn to fish with one arm.

The show decided to give the Goodale family a new start on life by building them a new cedar log home (the first log home ever built by the show). Professionally designed and fully furnished, Rocky Top was honored to have products included in the home. Products featured included a bed in one of the daughter's rooms, outdoor furniture on the deck and lawn, and a custom 8' nutcracker doll for a ballet room.

Rocky Top's owners also got a first hand experience in working with the hundreds of volunteers to reconstruct the home in just one week. Pitching in wherever needed and working long days, Rocky Top's co-owner Gwen Mitchell said, "We were all very tired by the end of the week, but just to see the look on the family's face when they saw their new home made it all worth it."