When the Steele family gets together, it's usually at Jevetta's place.
"Our house is party central. Always has been," said singer/actress Jevetta Steele, a solo artist and one-fifth of the Steeles, the Twin Cities siblings who perform everything from gospel to Gershwin.
Steele always loved hosting her big extended family at the 1950s rambler in Golden Valley where she and her husband, Amondo Dickerson, have lived for 10 years and raised their three children. But she didn't love their kitchen, which was closed off from the other rooms on the main level, separating the hostess from her guests.
"I wanted to be part of the parties and events," she said.
Opportunity knocked about two years ago, when a friend with HGTV connections told Steele that DIY Network was seeking a candidate for the 100th episode of one of its home makeover shows. "They wanted to do a celebrity kitchen for 'I Hate My Kitchen' " Steele recalled. "They picked me."
She knew she wouldn't be getting a free kitchen, but the show's work crew and discounts would help make a complete renovation more affordable.
The show's crew initially proposed removing one wall to open the kitchen to the adjacent dining room. "Then they said, 'Let's take down two.' I was a little scared," Steele admitted. Fortunately, she found the home's original 1952 blueprints, rolled up in a tube, to guide the design and demolition.
European influences
She made it clear to the show that she was not interested in being a passive bystander until the final reveal. "I've had this other life in Europe, and I wanted that reflected. This is my home. I want people to feel the personality of the home."