Debbie Travis' Facelift - Tales From The Set

Letter From Debbie

The hardest Facelifts are the ones where we are dealing with the 'Control Freak'... These are the homeowners, who must know everything that is going on in their lives and the lives of friends, work mates and family. It is so difficult to pull one over on these bright people.

When we started to work with Charles about the secret Facelift for his partner Cathy, we struck problems immediately. First off, was trying to stay in contact with Charles as we made arrangements for the show. Charles advised us not to call the house as Cathy always checked the call waiting. We gave him a secret cell phone on the proviso he would hide it and keep the ringer off in case Cathy heard it.

Finally, we had to work through his best friend Paul, who would contact Charles, who in turn would contact us from around the corner and we are talking several conversations a day -nightmare! Next, we had to get Cathy to stay overnight in the city instead of commuting home to the suburbs. The upscale Metropolitan hotel agreed to fool Cathy into believing she had won a fabulous evening of wining and dining and a night in their fanciest suite. This got Cathy out of the house for 2 days so we could go to town on her home.

Of course, Charles would be sharing a romantic evening with her in the city but he had been painting all day with us so we had to get him showered and scrubbed so that Cathy would not be suspicious. All this on top of a huge decoration job in 48 hours; but is was well worth the effort. Cathy's face was a picture when she finally came home. First: absolute shock, followed by thrills and screams when she saw her new home. Then, her great surprise that Charles could pull this off without her suspecting a thing.

Gotcha Cathy!

Love Debbie Travis

Letter From Cathy

The day the Facelift team came to my house will always be a day to remember. After all, It's not often you come home to find three television cameras in your face and your living and dining room totally redecorated! One day I'm surrounded by white walls and two days later I come home to a gorgeous Moroccan oasis! When I walked into my home after a long day of work, all I could think of was Thank-God I had reapplied my lipstick!

Being a bit of a control freak, it absolutely blew my mind to think that Debbie and Charles had planned this covert makeover for almost five months. When I discovered all that went into planning this surprise for me I was, as Debbie would say, 'gob-smacked!' The lies to get me out of the house, the secret visits to my home (my God was it clean?), filming me without my knowledge, organizing my friends and family who were in on the planÖI just can't believe it. And how did I not know that something was going on? I still can't believe that I was totally in the dark.

It took a few days for the shock to wear off and once my emotions were back to normal I wondered how Charles and his friend Paul, my friends Kathy and Nikki, and my mom and dad were able to keep this secret. Oh the stress! Either my friends really love me or they couldn't resist 30-minutes of fame.

All I can say is that I LOVE my sexy new living and dining room!

Thank-you Debbie.