Tracy’s “Tour” of The St. Jude Dream Home (Oh! And Where It Is, Exactly)

DIRECTIONS: Turn onto Thames Drive (It's actually pronounced "Tims" like the river in England, so forgive my faux pas) from E. Broussard Rd. (Take a right if your coming from Kaliste Saloom. Take a left if you are coming from Johnston Street.) The house is the first one on the right.

This is my 10th year working on a project that is much bigger than me, a TV station, a radio station, a builder, or a house. I can't begin to describe to you the feeling I get when I walk into a home that is completely built and decorated for whomever in Acadiana wants to see it.

Bryan and Sylvia McLain have a vision each year for what they want the house to be, and they will also tell you that they cannot pour all of the passion they have for that hospital and its mission into the walls or the nail it into the wood. It's just not possible to ingrain feelings that deeply into something material.

However, each year, those of us who work on the Acadiana St. Jude Dream Home Project try to translate our plea to anyone who will listen, see, and hopefully buy a ticket that our one goal is to do the only thing we can in support of the mission of that amazing hospital in Memphis.

We believe that no child should die in the dawn of life.

The 2016-17 home is 4,400+ square feet of awesomeness. It's custom-built. The video tour does it little justice. From each plumbing fixture to paint color, from the 800-pound marble ball that sits atop the water feature in the pool to the stunning master bathroom with separate dressing areas for the gentleman and lady of the house, the designers missed no detail. The bonus room/4th bedroom upstairs could be the perfect teen hideaway or a great place for a guest who is visiting for the weekend.

The home is located in the newest addition to Grand Pointe subdivision. You won't find it in Google Maps. The road is even new!

The Dream Home will be open every weekend, Saturday from 10-5 and Sunday from noon-5, until it is given away during the televent on KATC on June 26.

You can purchase tickets during open house hours, at the Lafayette location of Doug Ashy Building Materials, at the Lafayette and New Iberia locations of the UPS Store, by calling 1-800-724-1918, or at the secure link.