Extreme Home Makeover: Roxiticus Desperate Housewives Edition

Before those other Desperate Housewives come on television every Sunday night, my daughters love to watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I don't know what it is about the show that grabs the two of them, as their mom doesn't have a decorating bone in her body. I remember when Rex and I were looking for homes in Bernardsville and Mendham, New Jersey. Rex would encourage our realtor, Ann Tannen, to show us homes in a wide price range, from "fixer-uppers" to dream homes that we won't be able to afford until Roxiticus Desperate Housewives creates enough enterprise value to sell out to Google...or at least takes on a nice venture capital investor. I always said "NO!" to the fixer-uppers, wondering where we might live while the dream took the shape of reality. Yet my girls are mesmerized each week by the transformation from horrible wreckage caused by domestic tragedy to happily ever after.

Now Renuzit® TriScents™ (Scented Oil Air Freshener) is running a contest where lots of would-be home makeover families submitted their stories by uploading a video or photo and essay demonstrating three ways they’ve incorporated Renuzit® TriScents™ products into their homes. Now ten semi-finalists are competing online for our votes. The winner with the most votes by June 7th will receive a $20,000 home makeover with Tayna Memme, host of the A&E Emmy-nominated show, Sell This House!

While some of the submissions were more in keeping with the down-and-out-I-need-a-makeover-so-bad-my-story-will-make-you-cry theme that you're accustomed to seeing on Sunday night network television, I liked the "Suburban Renewal" video the best. Tom, Judy and Ed Silver created an original hip-hop soundtrack ("So rotten, rotten, so rotten here...It was like, the nasty before trash day, Our place was gettin' kinda nasty...") to go along with Before and After Renuzit action scenes.

You can laugh at these videos and vote on which one of the ten semi-finalist submissions is your favorite, too. Just click on the image below of the "Suburban Renewal" video I voted for from the semi-finalist gallery:

You can vote for your favorite submission multiple times, with up to one vote per day through June 7. Let me know with a comment here whether you agreed with me and voted for "Suburban Renewal," or which of the ten semi-finalists you chose and why.