Dream Home 2006 Winner

The outdoor living area, aka "dogtrot," at HGTV's Dream Home 2006.

Robrt Pela: I did the virtual tour of your HGTV Dream Home, and it's pretty amazing.
Donald P. Cook: You've probably seen more of it than I have! All I've seen is what's online, because the night of the show the house was crowded with lights and other equipment. Basically, I saw the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, and the dog trot.

RP: There's a dog trot?
DPC: The outdoor living room or whatever they call it. You know — there are chairs and little tables out there.

RP: Oh, right. I think they call that a porch. But there was a Doggy Dream Home donated by Purina. Do you have a dog?
DPC: Yeah, but I don't think he'd stay in a little house like that. He prefers the inside of our house, where it's warm and cozy.

Donald P. Cook with his family (standing from left) Joy Amstead, Myrna Cook and Valorie Miller. Image © 2006, WeddingDay-Photo.com

RP: Tell me about the house you live in now.
DPC: It's a rental, a small, three-bedroom, stone house. There's not much of a yard or anything; it's just your basic house. It would fit inside the garage of the Dream Home.

RP: Do you plan to keep the Dream Home? Because as pretty as it is, I'm afraid I'd be tempted to sell it and buy some cracker box somewhere, then spend the rest of my life lying on the sofa, watching HGTV.
DPC: I don't think there's any possibility I could afford to live there. What we plan to do is live in the Dream Home for about three weeks, then sell it.

RP: Three whole weeks?
DPC: Well, it would be almost impossible to work in West Virginia and have a house in North Carolina. I'm hoping to retire in October, and we'll probably use the money [from selling the Dream Home] to buy us a larger place up here in West Virginia. It's a dream that anyone would love to have — owning a house like the Dream Home. But then reality sets in.

RP: I think that's why they call it a "Dream Home."
DPC: Yes, but I don't think anyone who's won the house has actually kept it. I heard that one gentleman tried to for a year, but he wasn't able to keep it up. A house that big is hard to maintain; the electricity bill alone is more than 10 times what mine is.

RP: How jealous are your friends and family of your win?
DPC: You know, you hear horror stories about how when you win a prize this big, people start coming around nagging for money. I haven't had that. Not so far, at least. Everyone has called to congratulate me, and the most I've had is people wanting to come down and visit us in our new home.

RP: That house is very nicely appointed. Do you plan to keep any of the decor?
DPC: My wife will probably want one or two of the knickknacks. If the buyer wants to make an offer for the furnishings, I'd consider selling it all. Except for that signed painting.

RP: You mean Ann Dergara's painting of a wolf. Why that particular item?
DPC: It's very personal, because she signed it to me. And it's a gorgeous picture and a good memento of the whole experience.

Melissa Kreidler, owner of Cakes by Jane of Asheville, N.C., and the vanilla pound cake version of HGTV Dream Home 2006. Image © 2006, WeddingDay-Photo.com

RP: Another memento was a little scarier: that miniature Dream Home made entirely out of cake. There was even a little family in the yard made from sugar.
DPC: Well, yes, that was interesting. And I thought we were going to eat that cake, but we never did. The lady who made it for the show spent five or six days putting it together; it was really a work of art. (HGTV host) Joan Steffend kept talking about how we were going to eat the cake. Maybe the crew ate it after we left.

RP: You realize that now that you've won this house, your life will never be the same.
DPC: Oh, I know. After we sell the Dream Home, I plan to travel a little bit — relax, go fishing every once in a while. There's lots of places in the US I've always wanted to visit but was never able to. And General Motors swapped out the Yukon I won from HGTV for a van, which is going to make travel a whole lot easier.

RP: I understand that your hobby is doing other people's tax returns.
DPC: Oh, yes. I'll do them for whoever asks me. I'm really looking forward, in my retirement, to volunteering with the IRS. They offer space for people to come in and assist other people in doing their returns.

RP: That does sound like fun. Hey, I want to win the Dream Home next year. What do I need to do?
DPC: You should do what I did: I went online to the HGTV website and entered the contest every day. That's it. The rest is pure luck. And I sure had some!

Find out more about Donald in Dream Home Central.