Be sure to tune in to HGTV (Home and Garden Television) Monday, June 9th at 5 p.m. and get a peek inside and out of my 200 year old house on If Walls Could Talk. If you miss it, there are always reruns.
During the winter, producers from HGTV spent an entire day with me, my family and my canine archeologists to film footage for If Walls Could Talk, a show that delves into the history of old homes. Of course it rained all day. But that didn’t stop us from filming. So much for all the time I spent trying to make my hair look just right. And we filmed outside first, so I looked totally drowned by time we filmed inside. Argh.
I was honestly surprised that of all of the stunning historic homes in Waterford, our house was chosen for the show. Yes, it’s over 200 years old, and has some very interesting history, especially during the Civil War when our little village was the lone Union town in otherwise Conderate Virginia. There was a gun fight between soldiers just up the hill. But I am convinced that the one thing that made our house’s “story” stand out was my two Border Collies. They like to spend their day digging huge holes all around the backyard. Then they bring their “finds” to the back door. Now, their finds aren’t the usual bones and such you might expect, but rather Civil War era bottles, pottery bits, buckles, etc. In fact, if the dogs brought back a bone, I would really be worried about what sort of bone it was.
The producers told me not to cover the holes before they arrived. Now, mind you, I only had about a little more than week’s notice before I heard we were going to be on the show and that the film crew would be here. My time was going to be spent cleaning the house, not filling in holes in the backyard (which looked more like the surface of the moon than a yard). I thought I was ready when the crew arrived. Even still, once they flipped on those stadium-bright lights I was horrifed. It looked like there was dust everywhere. Yeah, while the house could easily pass the white glove test, no house (well, maybe Martha Stewart’s, but no normal house) can ever pass the spotlight test.
I was promptly warned, when the microphone was clipped to my jacket, that everything I said all day would be recorded, whether I was on camera or not. I made a mental note right then and there not to drink anything all day to avoid any unintended bathroom recordings.
How did it all turn out? I don’t know! Originally I was told that I would get a DVD of the segment a week or so before the show aired. It seems they meant after the show airs. Of course, not seeing the show before it airs across the United States has sent my imagination into overdrive. I have nearly convinced myself after the day’s worth of footage is whittled down minutes, it will resemble a blooper reel.
Anyway, not matter what the camera reveals tomorrow, we still had a blast…and I will have recorded proof that my house was once Home & Garden clean.
