Workroom Volunteers from left to right: Adriana Smith of By Adriana Custom Interior Decor, Stacey Musial and Jola Balcerzak of Drapery Solutions, Antoinette Kirwan of MAK Designs, Cindy Bluth of Primrose Design, Kirsten Nelson and Karen Barnes of The Elegant Window.

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All of us here at Helser Brothers, Inc. are really excited and honored to have been chosen as a vendor for an upcoming edition of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. In an episode that will air on March 22nd, Helser Brothers drapery hardware will be seen gracing the windows of a made-over home in Tucson.

Through the WCAA, our own Anita Boetsma learned of the local workrooms’ involvement in this project, which was scheduled to film the first week in February. Her inquiry into how we could contribute lead to the EMHE design team choosing us to supply them with a wide array of Isabella, Artigiani and Roman Blind System hardware. All totaled, Helser Brothers donated nearly $7,000 worth of custom drapery hardware to be installed throughout the house, from the master bedroom to the outdoor patio.

We won’t share any spoilers before the episode airs, but we will tell you of the fun that was had by the workroom volunteers who toiled through the night to meet the fast-paced EMHE deadline. Karen Barnes of The Elegant Window in Gilbert, AZ was the Window Treatment Project Manager and she tells us the installation really came down to the wire:

“We had one glitch. The designer didn’t catch that the opening for the center drapery was higher than the two side draperies, so one of the panels was made too short by about 3 feet. We discovered the problem near midnight and the “reveal” was to be the next morning. We called our fellow WCAA member in Tucson, Darlene Caproni, and asked if we could use her workroom to add fabric to the bottom of a pair of panels. She said yes, so Cindy Bluth and I headed over to her home. We had barely enough fabric with only an inch to spare but thankfully there was enough. We worked on them until 4 am, then took them over to the Extreme Home and got back to our hotel at about 4:45.

Later in the morning, after 3 hours of sleep, we went back to the Extreme Home to dress the treatments. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed back in because the home was now on ‘lock down’. We were sad that we didn’t get to see the finished treatments but we hope to catch a glimpse of them when the show airs.”

Karen tells us they were able to enjoy refreshments in the VIP area until the family finally arrived. She said it was really thrilling to see the looks on their faces as they saw their new home and were surrounded by hundreds of people from the community who freely gave many hours of their time.

We are tickled pink to have been a volunteer in this worthy project that is so congruous with our business’s core value of social responsibility. We can’t wait to see the show, the details of which the producers guard with absolute secrecy until the episode airs! We hope you will all tune in with us to ABC on Sunday, March 22nd at 8pm EST (7pm Central) to catch our small part in changing the lives of a deserving family in Tucson!