The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Building 25 years of Dream House history
YMCA fundraiser draws interest from all 50 states and around the world
Twenty-five homes constructed throughout a quarter century have made dreams materialize for thousands of people in countless respects.
The Dream House project was initiated in 1993 by the Lake County YMCA as a means to raise funds for programs and facility enhancements, allowing the organization to engage children, families and seniors in diverse programs at each of its branches.
This year, the endeavor celebrates its 25th anniversary with funds having been used for buses, playground equipment, locker rooms, defibrillators, cardiovascular equipment, water attractions, accessibility
modifications for those with special needs and numerous other projects which have benefited the citizens of Lake County.
The beginnings
The initial idea of the Dream House emerged when a former Lake County Y director learned that his brother, a YMCA staffer in Dade County, Florida, was having success with the project.
After carrying the concept home, Lake County Y administrators approached decorators Karen Hayes, Molly Hill and others, questioning if they’d like to come on board.
“They asked me if I would do the Dream House and I told them I would just think about it,” said Hayes of Karen Hayes Interiors in Mentor. “I had just finished a big house downtown. But for some reason I saw the possible growth with the project. Once (another designer) said yes, everyone else said yes.”
Along with Hayes and Hill, about a dozen designers gathered for the first meeting. Among them were Carol DeMore and Halle Chiappone of Charley’s Loft in Mentor, Karen Krauss of Karen Krauss Designs in Concord Township, Carolyn Rigo of Karen Hayes Interiors and Susan Tierney of the former Tiffany’s Design Studio in Mentor.
The first house was built in 1994 on River Road in Perry Township. As with many first-time projects, not all went smoothly.
Hayes related a story of movers trying to carry furniture up a curved staircase.
After several tries it was determined another approach was necessary. Finally, railings were removed which gave enough space for the pieces to be brought up.
“All kinds of goofy things happened at the beginning,” Hayes said. “But as time went on there were fewer hiccups.”
Tierney noted that by the second year of the project it was decided that tax ramifications could be burdensome for some winners and a cash prize was created as an option to taking the home. Since then the cash option has remained.
The first year net proceeds from ticket sales totaled $125,462. Greg Kuhlman was the first lucky person to turn the key in the front door of a Dream House to make him the winner, andnd he still owns and lives in the home.
“It was very exciting, the next best things to winning the Ohio lottery,” he said of the lucky achievement.
Kuhlman added that over the years changes have been made to the house.
Carpeting has been replaced with hardwood flooring and trees have grown much taller, but he’s happy that he raised his family there and has enjoyed the whole experience.
The Kuhlmans consider themselves part of the Y family and continue to support the organization by purchasing Dream House tickets each year.
Changes Throughout the Years
Though some elements, such as designers working with minimal budgets, have remained unchanged, other areas of the project have evolved and grown.
“The biggest change has been a less thematic approach and more designer control on content,” Chiappone said. “Loosening the reins has allowed more personality throughout and in turn, more ideas the (visitors) can walk away with.”
Kate Weaver of Faux What in Mentor has been with the project for 20 years, and she said that early on all work would start at the beginning of the year and finish in June.
“Now we start the following year project within weeks of the previous year’s house drawing,” she said. “We’ve also added a drawing for a car. Many of the large/expensive components to building are now fully donated which has made the project a lot more successful for the Y.” Hayes agrees. “That’s the way the project has developed,” she said. “Everyone wants to be a little part of it. In the beginning there were so many things we had to do ourselves. We had to sell the ideas to local merchants. Now they come to us. It shows (the project’s) success.”
In terms of design, Chiappone said styles have become simpler and less cluttered.
“Mass appeal has gone to spaces that don’t look like they require much maintenance,” she said. “The basements have come a long way in the Dream Houses. They started out as stamped concrete floors and block walls to fully finished ‘lower level’ living spaces that are every bit as special as the rest of the house.”
Miscellaneous Facts
Though located in Lake County, Dream House ticket buyers have hailed from all 50 states and countries including Canada, England, Ireland and Japan as well as military bases overseas.
Dream Houses have been built in Concord Township, Madison Village, Mentor, Painesville Township, Perry Township, Perry Village, Willoughby and Willoughby Hills.
Approximately $5 million has been raised throughout the Dream House project’s 25 years.
In 1995 a party took place to showcase the home and bring it to the attention of area Realtors and others. It rained so hard that no one showed up.
“We were pretty sure the Dream House wasn’t going to work,” Hayes said.
In 1996 winner Ray Dolfi who lived in Mayfield Heights was so certain of a positive outcome that he brought a case of beer in his car to the grand drawing to celebrate.
Intangible Benefits
Those associated with the Dream House are aware A note from YMCA Dream Project Chairman Dick Fraser “This year’s YMCA Dream House marks the 25th anniversary of the biggest, annual fundraiser the Lake County Y conducts. Annual proceeds from the project enhance the Y with facility and equipment improvements, benefiting over 46,000 members and program participants at all Lake County Y branches.
“It’s important to emphasize that the Dream House is a fundraiser. While we receive many generous donations and discounts on products, services and labor, for which we are sincerely grateful, the out-of- pocket expenses for the Y to do this project are well over a half a million dollars annually. Still, the first 24 years of this project have produced more than $5 million in proceeds after expenses … money that has provided important funding toward strengthening our Y community by bringing meaningful resources that enrich the lives of our fellow neighbors. We hope to continue the momentum with this year’s Dream House.”
of what the project means to so many. Krauss is among them. “Sometimes we get so involved in designing the house, coordinating the rooms and shopping for the perfect piece that we forget just how much the project changes peoples’ lives…not only for the lucky person that wins the house but also all the people whose lives have been helped by different programs that are offered,” she said.
Tierney said she has found the experience to be emotional at times.
“One year brought me to tears as the winner put the key in the lock and the door opened,” she recalled. “She fell to her knees and said ‘Thank you Jesus.’ I realized that we had just changed her life in a major way and it made my heart swell with joy.”
The fruitful benefits the Dream House provides have kept Chiappone working on the project since its inception.
Designers’ favorite spaces
• Halle Chiappone, Charley’s Loft (Mentor): “One of our favorite rooms was the tiniest. It was a sitting room in the Willoughby townhouse. We effectively showed how to design a small space to be useable, comfortable and charming while paying huge respect to the constraints of a 7-feet by 11-feet room. Not everyone enjoys large rooms and this was a perfect example that you don’t have to feel cheated if you are spatially challenged. The other was the dining room from last year’s house. Since so many new homes have large, open kitchens, the entertaining takes place there. We chose to take the dining room, which traditionally would have been the ‘special’ place to entertain, and turn it into a more intimate space.” • Karen Koeth, KSA Design LLC (Concord Township): “The favorite room I decorated was the dining room back in 2015 located in Summerwood Development in Concord Township located off of Girdled Road… I had a lot of pressure on me to make the dining room a WOW room because it was the first room you saw when you entered the house. I guess from the overall response of the room I was successful! (The most fun) room…was in last year’s house. I did a teenage girls Tumblr bedroom. I got to be very creative and just let loose and enjoy myself. I incorporated picture ledges and made them into nail polish holders and I spray painted a hanging rattan outdoor chair white.”
• Deb Metcalf, Metcalf Interiors (Concord Township): “I would have to say my most memorable room and house coincide with one another…I did a navy blue and white nursery and the winner of the house was pregnant at the time. Whey they realized they won the house she kept going back and forth into the nursery and was so excited! But my favorite room even before I was involved with the Dream House was the basement done by Karen Hayes with the disco ball chandelier!”
• Kate Weaver, Faux What (Mentor): “Full-sized birch trees in the 2012 powder room for many reasons. It’s the room that I still get asked about and I am still getting requests for them today.”
“We have been and remain driven by the stories we hear of the great work the Y does and what a void there would be in our community without it,” she said. “To those of us more fortunate it is a place to keep in shape or get our kids involved in a group activity. To others it is truly a life line. It is for those that we dedicate so much time and effort every year and why we are back for the 25th.”
Approximately $5 million has been raised throughout the Dream House project’s 25 years.