When they're applied just right, the wares on display at the Texas Home and Garden Show in Las Colinas can rebuild not just a home, but the lives of the people who occupy it too.
Jeff and Tina Patterson came to the home expo to talk with the contractors who are making a bunch of changes to their house.
"It's great distraction," Tina said. "We've been dealing with a lot of stuff the last six or seven months."
The stuff she refers to has been serious. Tina has been battling colon cancer. Jeff, a Dallas firefighter, came back from the brink of death and has struggled to recover from third degree burns over nearly half his body after he was trapped in a burning house last May.
"I am doing okay. I am still doing my rehab and therapy three days a week," he said.
Things are looking up for Jeff and Tina and their two little kids. Texas Home Improvement and a whole host of businesses are stepping forward to update their house, with just about everything around them at the home show.
They will get a new air conditioning system, new rooms added on, old rooms remodeled, foundation repair, and new windows and shutters. It's about $122,000 in upgrades for free.
"I was excited. It was thrilling," Tina gushed. "We almost were in disbelief because we didn't think it was true."
The Pattersons have certainly been through a lot, but Jeff says they are reminded that they haven't gone through it alone.
"There are a lot of good people and you forget that sometimes," he said.
