RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
John Cox, top left, with Lori McCarney, Geoff Cox, 8, and Jake Cox, 15, played Monopoly on their lanai for footage for HGTV's "Designers' Challenge." Filming at left is Bill Paris, of Pacific Focus.
"Designers’ Challenge" comes
to Oahu to update a Kahala
couple’s lanai
SOMETIMES it pays to listen to radio banter. It could change your life, or at least your lanai, which is what's transpiring for Oahu residents Lori McCarney and husband John Cox.
The couple will be featured on HGTV's "Designers' Challenge," a show in which three interior designers or design teams, armed with presentation boards and swatches, vie to win over a homeowner with a renovation proposal. Taping for the show, scheduled to air in the fall, started this week with takes of the family playing Monopoly and splashing in the pool.
It all started on the drive to work one day when McCarney, owner of McCarney, Sacks and Santilly Advertising, caught a radio announcement that HGTV's "Designers' Challenge" would be coming to Hawaii. She fired off an e-mail note expressing her interest, and weeks later, she was in.
Several e-mails and phone calls where exchanged, but perhaps what sealed the deal was the videotape of her home that she was required to send immediately.
"They said, 'Just have one of the kids follow you around the house'" with a camera, she said. Instead, Dreammaker Video, a company the couple hired last year to film Cox when he was trying to be a contestant on CBS's "Survivor," was again called upon to help.
Knowing from that experience how these things can go (he didn't make it), McCarney said, "I thought my chances were just zero."
She was wrong, and now the lanai of their four-bedroom, four-bath Kahala home is the diamond in the rough that will undergo transformation before millions of television viewers.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Cox and McCarney on the set.
"It's the first time we're filming in Hawaii," said show producer Laura Patterson on the set early Tuesday morning. "Sometimes the network decides to do travel segments, which they did for this show, and wanted to target tourist destinations."
She added: "Hawaii, of course, was one of the first places that came to mind. Plus, the locale is architecturally interesting; we like to choose homes that are unique to its city and felt that (the McCarney-Cox) home would serve well."
That's just fine with McCarney, who wants to upgrade what was originally the home's porch. The family spends 80 percent of their time in that space.
"It really is the main room in the house. It's our sitting area, where we watch TV, where we eat sometimes, and it opens out to pool and the whole back yard."
She sums up why the successful Kahala family of five -- the couple has three sons: 15-year-old twins and an 8-year old -- would want to be featured on the show: "We haven't used professional design services and this is an important room, so it seemed like a good opportunity."
In "Designers' Challenge," the homeowner pays for all the renovation except designer fees, provided at no cost in exchange for visibility. Typically, fees vary depending on the scope of the project, said Patterson, but can run in the thousands of dollars, especially when the designers are as involved as those on the show.
Designers up for the challenge selected by the network include Lynnsey Doles, Lisa Kotero, and Joseph Marshall and Charles Black.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
John Cox, left, and Lori McCarney prepare for shooting a segment on their lanai, which will undergo renovations for the television show "Designers' Challenge."
CAMERAS ARE ALSO rolling this week for another isle couple, Michelle and Jack Schneider, of Honolulu, who are working with a separate set of designers including Sandi Quildon, Peter Vincent and Max Suiter, and Cindi White.
Show gives roomies makeover powers
Roomies can also get into the makeover act. "Nice Package," a new show on the Oxygen network, is coming to Oahu to tape two episodes from May 26 to June 3.Producers for the design program are looking for hip housemates between the ages of 25 and 40, with interesting stories and who live in quirky homes or neighborhoods, giving contestants the opportunity to have the room of their dreams.
A designer will come up with a plan to revamp a common room (minimum of 300 square feet), and a crate filled with all the materials from paint to furniture to accessories will be dropped at the front door, along with two hot handymen: Ryan Burnham and Jeff Mark. From that moment the housemates and handymen will have 24 hours to completely redecorate the chosen room for a chance to win a grand prize tailored for the group.
Even if your group doesn't win the grand prize, you still get to keep the home furnishings and decor valued at about $20,000.
Applicants must be available for three to four consecutive days of shooting. Interested candidates can call the show hot line at 215-928-8912 or visit www.banyantv.com/ oxygen/niceapp.html to apply.
Producers plan to film 13 episodes, featuring roomies in Miami; Santa Fe and Taos, N.M.; Seattle; Puerto Rico; Philadelphia; and the Hamptons and Brooklyn, N.Y. "Nice Package" premieres in July.
Honolulu Interior Architecture and Design
Star-Bulletin staff
The designers for the Kahala segment will pitch their concepts to the couple in presentations at their home tomorrow.
McCarney has given each her requirements and admits she only recently became a regular "Designers' Challenge" viewer. "We don't watch much TV, and before this I only caught it a few times, but of course now I watch it more," she said, laughing. "I'm trying to not play favorites (or ask leading questions because) it's exciting to hear about all the different ideas they might bring to us."
Cox, a residential loan specialist for Hawaii HomeLoans, and McCarney moved to Hawaii from San Francisco five years ago and purchased their 50-year-old home, which sits on a 12,000-square-foot lot, after she was recruited to work for a local bank.
McCarney has been preparing for an upcoming triathlon--her first. The family loves the outdoors, she said, making their transition to Hawaii smooth. Since moving, they've taken up paddling and motorcycle riding.
"We had vacationed but never thought we'd ever be lucky enough to live here," McCarney said. "Coming from the Bay area (where the real estate market rivals that of Honolulu), home prices here at that time weren't such a sticker shock." What won their hearts during house hunting was the Kahala home's kamaaina feel -- something pointed out by their Realtor -- and its integration of outdoors and indoor ambience.
"When you're in the house, you don't pay attention to 'Am I in the house or outside the house?'" she said.
"We noticed the homes in Kahala were in different states of being original, or torn down completely" and replaced with mansion-style homes, McCarney said. "When we saw this place, we knew we were going to try to keep the original feeling" and maintain its architectural integrity.
The home needed work, and with the help of McGee Homes contractor, they've made significant upgrades to the kitchen and bathrooms. The lanai was saved for last "because it's such an important room in the house; it was our cap project," said McCarney, so timing for the show was perfect.
The renovation is expected to be completed in the summer.
Although only one designer's plan will be executed, "it's a win situation for everyone," she said. "We get to talk to three professionals, and the designers get exposure."
Another plus, and what she hopes will be conveyed in the nationally televised show, is that "people will learn how cool Hawaii is as a place to live."
HGTV's "Designers' Challenge" airs on Oceanic Time Warner Cable's digital 323, analog 59.
Click for online
calendars and events.
