03.10.08

Stepfamily Scores New Home from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Posted in News at 8:35 am by Dawn Miller

If you watched ABC last night, then you saw the Turner family from Fairmont, West Virginia receive a new luxury house from the popular television show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The full episode is posted on the ABC website for viewing if you missed it.

Mom and dad in the family are Angie and Richard Turner, who married in 2003 to form a blended family with a brood of four - including Angie’s daughter Theresa and sons Tyron and Desmond, as well as Richard’s daughter Layton. Richard’s cousin Michael also moved in with the family. The parents work in the commuity with local youth coaching basketball, football and cheerleading. They would like to one day open up their own business to help the mentally challenged. 

In late November 2007, the family was surprised by Ty Pennington and the gang from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Their former home was less than 600 square feet and rotting. With little sleeping space for everyone in their old home, the girls had to share a bed, while the boys slept on the floor. The floors were unstable and the kitchen cabinets were falling off. It was the smallest home ever encountered by the team from ABC Home Makeover.

Reality TV magazine commented: Angie was sweet as she said she was blessed by the size of the home because the family had gotten a chance to become closer as a result of the limited space and that no one in the family ever complained.

A new home was built in a week for the family, with the network broadcast running last night.

Unfortunately, their newfound celebrity has also netted them some unfortunate tongue-wagging and rumor-mongering. The Charleston Daily Mail reported that:

Hosts at three radio stations, without calling the Turners to confirm, announced one morning that their yellow house was for sale.

It was a misunderstanding, the unfortunate result of a promotional ad the builder had placed in a real estate magazine. But outraged callers began to unload, and around 7:30 a.m., the Turners’ phones began to ring.

“Either somebody’s dead or there’s something in the paper,'’ Angie told Richard.

“We laughed at all the other rumors, but this was hurtful,'’ she recalls.

After a quick prayer, she called one of the stations.

“I told them we would never sell the house, that our integrity and character would never allow us to do that. I told them my dad had given me this land and this house, and we planned to hand it down to our kids,'’ she says. “We wouldn’t even sell that little house we had because of the land.'’

Even with all of the hoopla, the Turners are overjoyed to be in their new home. I love this show because it reminds me of the ten years I spent with a Habitat for Humanity affiliate - and the looks on the people’s faces when we dedicated their new home. Granted, a house by Habitat for Humanity is by no means the luxurious McMansion Extreme Makeover: Home Edition provides - but the joy and tears of home ownership are as real.

The State Journal’s look inside their new home. And a peek at the viewing party.

Reality TV magazine’s story on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the Turner Family

Congratulations to the Turner Family. We wish you many years of happiness in your new home.

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