FORT WORTH, Texas — What if your dining room were so lovely, so inspiring as a model of decor, that someone wanted to put it on TV? Meet Eric and Stacy Luecker, who live in a 1918 arts-and-crafts-style bungalow in the Fairmount neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas.
Their dining room was chosen as an "inspiration" room for another couple's room makeover on HGTV's "Rate My Space."
The episode aired over the Memorial Day weekend.
The show, hosted by designer Angelo Surmelis, helps owners of design-challenged rooms get the overhaul of their dreams. The show is an offshoot of HGTV's Rate My Space Web site, on which people can show off either their decor skills or their spaces that cry out for help. By posting their room photos, they solicit ratings and feedback from other users.
On the show, the owners of the design-challenged room can find up to three "inspiration" rooms — the inspiration can be anything from a piece of furniture to a paint color to the whole room.
Last October, the Lueckers finished painting their dining room a yellowy green (Green Fig), and they had taken photos of their handiwork. The room is a gorgeous representation of arts and crafts style, with its craftsman ceiling beams, dark warm woods, natural colors and a large, sturdy table, which they bought from Leigh-Boyd Antiques in Fort Worth.
The room's biggest eye-catchers, though, are the copper-colored words that greet you when you enter: Fences Are Only For Those Who Can Not Fly.
Stacy Luecker had the room pictures on her computer, so she thought, "Why not post them on Rate My Space?"
In January, she got an e-mail that their room was chosen as an "inspiration" room for Amy and Al, a California couple whose crammed-with-books dining room in their 1929 Spanish-style home was not as inviting as it could be.
"It's amazing," she says. "I still can't believe they picked us. I saw an e-mail on my phone (telling her their room had been selected). I didn't know what to think."
The Lueckers got to show off their labor of love in February, when their room was shot for the episode.
Because it's an inspiration and not the show's focal point, they don't shoot with a whole crew, so it was just field producer Dan Coffey and his equipment.
Still, Coffey stayed for six hours, shooting the room, interviewing the couple, then shooting a computer video conference with Amy and Al and host Surmelis.
So, after Coffey's six-hour visit and all the editing, how much screen time did the room get? A total of about 54 seconds.
Still, the Lueckers are thrilled with being picked. On the episode, Amy and Al explained why they were inspired by the Lueckers' dining room.
"(It) has a beautiful warmth to it," Amy says. "It has a soft, glowing color on the walls, beautiful lighting. I think that if we could capture that same kind of feeling in our dining room, it would make it so much more inviting."
Surmelis called it "gorgeous," and, though some of his comments were edited out of the final episode, he told the Lueckers that arts and crafts is one of his favorite styles and added: "You guys nailed it."
As for what stayed in the episode, there was the moment where the Lueckers talk about that eye-catching quotation — which, Eric quickly points out, was actually hand-painted by his wife.
"That is a copper paint," Stacy Luecker said, "and I was on a ladder for a lot of days, with very sore feet but was really happy when it was finished."
She was also glad that a house in Fort Worth's Fairmount district got some recognition — coincidentally, just on the heels of the Fairmount Tour of Homes.
In case you were wondering, the Rate My Space renovations generally take two weeks to complete. The family gets the renovation for free but must pay taxes on it, according to Coffey. Amy and Al's renovation cost just under $11,000.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.