Touring Leila Thomson's tidy home, it's hard to imagine that less than six months ago it was a minefield of stuff piled so high no one could eat at the dining room table, get in the front door or maneuver through the hall.
The mother of two daughters is now proud to open up her home.
Earlier this year, Thomson said she would have been too embarrassed to have company over and, on those rare occasions when she couldn't avoid it, her 12-year-old daughter Emma's room became her private landfill.
"I couldn't even see my bed," said Emma. "I had to climb over the clutter to get to my bed."
A year ago, Emma was watching the morning news. The anchor was interviewing one of the producers of HGTV Canada's Consumed - a reality show about families who have too much stuff and desperately need to purge.
"I thought to myself that's exactly what I need," said 51-year-old Thomson.
The producer visited the Thomson family and chose them to take part in the inaugural season - the second season begins filming this month. Their family home was showcased on the 10th episode of Consumed, which aired on Oct. 28.
Thomson took the News for a tour of her de-cluttered home. Prior to the show, she said, the front entrance was completely piled high with tools, coats, purses, scarves and shoes.
"You couldn't get in the front and had to come in the back door," she said, adding she is now mortified by the way she used to live.
"I didn't grow up with clutter, my mother kept an immaculate home - she would have been embarrassed to see what became of my home."
Initially, HGTV Canada came to assess the home and gave them boxes.
The family had to fill the boxes with everything in the home, leaving behind only the bare necessities. The TV crew hauled away 125 boxes in three trucks.
"They took everything except the living room couch and chair, the dining room set, a bed for each of us and Emma's computer," she added. "We didn't even have our dressers and we lived out of boxes."
The lesson, she said, was to see what the family could live without for three weeks.
"Without the four televisions in the house, we spent more time as a family, playing games, reading books and sitting around the table actually eating together," Thomson said, adding before Consumed they ate with plates on their laps in front of the television.
"There was a real nice calm in the house," she added.
Not only is the home now clutter-free, as a reward for allowing cameras in their home two to three times a week for two months (beginning in May until end of June), the family received new furniture, curtains, as well as a fresh coat of paint in most rooms.
"I never dreamed my house could look so good," said a clearly thrilled Thomson. "When the show aired, I thought to myself, how could I have lived like that for so many years? I think people who saw the show probably saw us as hoarders."
So far, Thomson and her daughters, including 26-year-old Annalisa, have kept their space tidy.
"I can't guarantee Brian will though," said Thomson.
One look into her husband's office/work space and one can understand.
Stuff is already creeping its way back in. Boxes cover the exercise equipment and the floor.
Much of what never made its way back into the house was donated to local charities, said Thomson.
Thomson believes her cluttering habits began when her mother passed away 10 years ago.
"I had to clear out my mother's house and it was really hard to part with her things," Thomson said. "Then, Brian's parents moved back to Montreal and they left us stuff. It was like three households in one house."
Thomson admits she became so overwhelmed with the mess that seemed to grow on a daily basis that she gave up.
"I mentally froze, I didn't know where to begin and so I gave up," she said. "Now my house is really a home."
Consumed is starting to shoot season two and is looking for a local family to take part.
For more information, visit www.HGTV. a/consumed or contact Rachel Knudsen at [email protected].
