Debbie Travis' Facelift - Tales From The Set

Letter From Debbie

I have known the very fabulous Donato for many years. Ever since I began filming Debbie Travis' Painted House in 1995, he has come to my home each day I film at the crack of dawn. Snow blizzards or heat waves, he has never let me down.

He blow-dries my naturally wavy hair straight, making me look silkily Glam. Then off he goes to his salon. Over the years we have chatted about our respective families and our homes. Donato is Italian and his passions are cooking and tending his vegetable garden. He's not so hot on DIY.

Last year he began to tell me the ongoing saga of his bedroom. His wife Grace had asked, then begged and finally nagged (his words) for him to finish the paint job and the mouldings in the room. Feeling sorry for Grace, who I had met only a couple of times we decided to give Donato a surprise makeover.

The problem is he never goes away so we had all of 8 hours to fix up the room. Once he'd left the house at 6.30 am to come and do my usual blow dry, the Facelift team went in like a shot and invaded his bedroom...

The most precious moment occurred when his eldest son, Marco, came out of his bedroom room ruffled and sleepy-eyed, and just stared at the commotion around him. He proceeded to do what every teenager would do: glare at his mother, then retreat to his room slamming the door behind him. During this frantic day we laid a new cork floor, painted the wall, made a new fabric headboard for the bed and re-styled their 20-year-old furniture.

Donato called his wife all day long, which is a normal ritual for them. But for the Facelift team it meant stopping working practically every five minutes! The drone of drills and hammers would definitely give the game away.

Our other problem was Grace. When she saw our designs she was horrified .But since I hold the purse strings I begged her to have faith. Of course, it all ended happily; she loved the results and so did Donato. Although if you ask me he seemed more worried about the way his hair looked!

Love Debbie

Letter From Donato

It all begins early one Friday morning: I wake at 6 a.m. to be at Debbie's house to do her hair. Coming out of the shower, I notice my wife Grace is up as well. I ask her: 'What are you doing up so early?' She says something about wanting to get breakfast ready for me. "Wow! Grace," I tell her, "you'll definitely win the 'Wife of the Year' award..."

On my way out I notice she has lipstick on at 7a.m! "What's with the lipstick?" I ask. She shrugs and says because she just feels like it. I give her a kiss and off I go. Little do I know that across the street in my neighbour's drive is the Facelift crew in a van following me as I leave to 'coif' Debbie.

Back at home, Debbie and her crew are having fun ripping apart my bedroom to create a 'masterpiece'... As another long day comes to an end, I prepare to leave the Salon. I later discover that Grace is anxiously awaiting my return, and wondering: 'Will he love it, or will he kill me..?'

The first people I see when I walk into the house are my sons, Marco and Anthony, who usually jump all over me and scream! But this time they greet me like polite young men. What's going on? Then I see a familiar face, but it isn't my wife. It's DEBBIE TRAVIS, with make-up on and a beautiful hairdo. "Oh, Sugar!".

At this point, I'm looking at the camera and all I can think of is, 'I'm on national TV - how's my hair? Debbie is talking to me, but I am in a daze. Then she leads me into the bedroom, and Wow! Tonight's my lucky night; the entire room has been redecorated. I kiss my nervous wife and tell her I love the new bedroom. Debbie asks in that lovely British accent, "So you really, really like it, Donato?" "Yes I dooooo!" "It's perfectÖThe floor, the curtains, the lampshades...everything!"

I've done Debbie's hair practically since the beginning of time, and I never ever thought she would be able to pull one over on me! So, thanks Debbie for the beautiful gift of a new bedroom. What an amazing surprise!

Love, Donato