Local woman designs home for ‘Extreme Makeover’
Written by Duane Ramsey | | news@toledofreepress.comEdit Karakas of Residential Design in Sylvania has been designing homes for 20 years, but none may be as notable as the new home she designed for the local project of the “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” (EMHE) television series.
Karakas had worked on residential designs with Buckeye Real Estate Group for eight years. After the company was chosen as the lead builder for the “Extreme Makeover” project, “they called and asked me to jump on board. Of course, I said yes,” Karakas said.
She attended the briefing with the people from Buckeye and members of the local team with the show’s producers, Conrad Ricketts and Diane Korman, art director Kim Lewis and senior project manager David Bohler.
“With the information we received, I tried to come up with every possible design for creating the house plans,” said Karakas, who could not reveal the final plans.
“We’re in it whole heartedly for the cause knowing that family won’t have to worry anymore,” she said, referring to Aaron and Jackie Frisch and their 11 sons.
“It warms my heart to be involved in a project that will change their lives. I’m blessed to use my knowledge and talent so they can build a house for them and provide them with everything they need.”
Karakas called the project “a nice way to get people involved helping others especially in these tough economic times. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to help and create some excitement.”
Anything that involves helping children appeals to Karakas, who donates her time and services for numerous charities. She has designed homes for the local Habitat for Humanity and also worked to help build those houses.
Karakas passed the house plans on to the builder, leaving it up to Ty Pennington and the EMHE design team to develop the interior while working with Buckeye and hundreds of volunteers to build this dream house for the Frisch family.
The design team for this episode that will air in November includes Pennington, designers Paul DiMeo, Michael Moloney, Rib Hillis and Didiayer Snyder.
“We are more than quadrupling the size of the house for this large family,” said Hillis, a carpenter and handyman in his second season on the EMHE design team. “The Frisch family will have plenty of space in their new home.”
The new home will provide 5,200 square feet including the basement, which is nearly the size of the original 1,000 square-foot house. Michael does the overall design of the house and the rest of the team members have their own projects within the home, Hillis said.
“We interviewed the family and asked them what they wanted in their new home,” Hillis said in an interview on the site this week.
Hillis is working on a room for Mo, Jo and Benson, three of the boys who roomed together in the old house and will be roomies in the new home only with a lot larger room. They are into computers and medicine, so he will focus his design on those interests.
He also will design a game room for the family. Hillis said he is not an interior designer but said he is learning more with each project.
Hillis may be new to EMHE, but he is not new to television. He got his first role on the ABC soap opera, “Port Charles” and has since appeared on “CSI,” “CSI Miami” and “Ugly Betty.”
He also has a starring role in an upcoming film, “Propriedad Ajena,” due in November.
Construction on the home began Tuesday afternoon following the demolition of the family’s existing house at 6044 Edgedale Circle in northwest Toledo. The building process will continue around the clock for about 106 hours with completion set for Sept 13..
“We’re scheduled to turn the keys over to the TV show on Saturday for the formal presentation to the family on Sept. 14,” said Tim Schlachter of Buckeye.
The Frisch family can thank Karakas, EMHE’s design team, Buckeye and thousands of volunteers who helped to build their dream home.
