Yesterday was a day like no other here at Old Town Home. Why? A television crew from the DIY Network popped over to film us (and a few friends) for the show I Want That! Here's a run down of the day's exhausting and very fun and exciting events.

Update: Now that the episode has aired, here's the video proof of our horrible television personas. Enjoy and be kind.

Well, maybe I should back up for a second because I say the crew "popped over," as if their visit was unannounced. It was a little more formal than that. Last month I received an email from Amy Rutherford, owner of Old Town's Red Barn Mercantile, with information on a local casting call for DIYers. When reading it, she thought Alex and I would be perfect for it, and was kind enough to send it my way. We quickly jumped at the chance and sent in an application, which included a short write up on our projects and mad skeells, as well as several before, during and after photos of our home. Well, wouldn't you know it, but a mere two days later we heard back from the show only to learn that they loved our house and were interested in featuring us. Woo hoo!

If you're not familiar with the show, I Want That is a show that used to air on HGTV, and was recently picked up by the DIY Network. Each episode features several new/innovative home products, and features homeowners and DIYers installing them, trying them out, and providing an on camera review. 

Unfortunately we can't discuss the products reviewed at our house until the show airs in late fall (November/December), but they were indoor and outdoor items, and had a good broad appeal to just about anyone.

After two nights of manic cleaning, frantic grocery shopping, and the obligatory "stash-n-hide" technique of throwing all of our excess clutter and dog paraphernalia in the basement, we had whipped our house into shape and finished up all of the cleaning before anyone arrived.

A crew of four arrived bright and early yesterday morning to start identifying locations in the house to shoot. They settled on the backyard (looking at the house) for the first segment, the office and guest bedroom for the second segment, and finally the backyard (looking away from the house) for the third party segment.

Since this show is very much about the home tech and cool/new products that will be featured on the show, and the fact that the products are often great for the DIYer of any level, the house becomes a backdrop to the products. Our house fit the bill as one worthy of these home tech items, so the interesting "behind the scenes" technique the crew employed is that they shot our house and the various segments to look like it was filmed in three separate houses, populating each segment with a different portion of the house and different people in it. So, even though all of it was filmed in our house, it won't look that way on TV, and may even be spread across a couple episodes of the show. The house nerd in me is excited at the far-fetched prospect of turning on the tube, flipping through the channels (yes, in this day and age of technology I still turn on the tube and flip channels), and coming across one of the shows that featured today's footage. I picture myself squealing with delight at catching glimpses of my dining room table or the desk in our office, that we spent countless hours building and staining, on national TV.

The day kicked off with getting the two of us mic'd up and rearranging the backyard a bit for the shoot.