Mural, mural on the wall

Mike Sciacca

Nancy Hadley lives in a fantasy world.

One week, she might be on a beach at some pristine, remote island

off the coast. The next, she’s at an NFL stadium. Still another week,

she’s in some prehistoric time warp.

But for all those imaginative trips she takes, her fantasy world

is based in reality.

The Huntington Beach resident is a muralist and does sculpture on

the ABC’s Emmy-nominated reality show, “Extreme Makeover: Home

Edition”.

Creating beach scenes, football fields and dinosaurs are all part

of her job.

“Really, I can’t believe I’m doing what I’m doing,” said the

38-year-old mother of three, who left Sunday for Jacksonville, Fla.,

to work on a home for an upcoming episode of the show. “I’m having a

great time. It’s like a dream come true.”

“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” is a reality show that takes on

a rundown house of a very deserving family and transforms it into a

new home in just seven days.

It’s somewhat radical how Hadley came to be part of the show.

Like another ABC show, the mega-hit “Desperate Housewives,” Hadley

said she was mired in a situation much like the show’s namesake.

Unlike that show, where the fictional Wisteria Lane is a facade

for perfection and struggles are real and far-fetched in suburbia,

Hadley enjoys raising her three children and has a loving, supportive

husband.

Hadley just needed to release her creative genie out of the

bottle.

“I have a really, really understanding husband,” she said of

husband, Jevon, who she said becomes “Mr. Mom,” while she’s away

working on the show.

Her involvement with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” started when

she sent an e-mail to the show’s website in February 2004.

“That February, a friend told me that ‘Extreme Makeover: Home

Edition’ was coming to Costa Mesa to remodel a home around the corner

from her,” Hadley said. “When it aired, I was really moved by the

show and thought they could utilize someone with my experience, since

I’m pretty familiar with producing fine art under very tight

deadlines.

“I e-mailed the website, explaining my background and my desire to

work with them. It was on a whim and I didn’t even mention it to my

husband. When I got the call a week and a half later, I danced all

over the house, woke up my family and sent a photo file to an awesome

design producer on the show named Jeannette. I ended up donating my

services for three shows in San Bernardino, Livermore and South

Central Los Angeles.”

Steve Joachim, a design producer on the show, said that Hadley has

been a natural fit.

“We were looking for a really great muralist and she fit the

bill,” he said. “Nancy’s really diverse. We can throw any theme at

her, and she comes up with something really great. She really makes a

room come to life. She’s wonderful.”

Hadley has worked on 15 editions of the program to date. As she

prepared to leave Sunday for a grueling, eight-day stretch of 20-plus

hour days of work on two houses for upcoming segments, she reflected

on one of her favorite makeovers for the program -- the Livermore

home of the Cadigan-Scott family.

“I heard the story of the Cadigan-Scott kids, eight kids who lost

mom and dad to heart attacks at home, two weeks apart, and knew I

wanted to get involved,” she said. “I was then hired on for the

Encinitas episode and have been called in on homes since. I have

appeared on air with [cast members] Ty [Pennington], Paul [DiMeo],

Paige [Hemmis] and Ed [Sanders], but have worked extensively with all

the designers.

“I still can’t believe what we accomplish in such a short amount

of time with the help of so many willing volunteers. It touches me

every time.”

Hadley said that she has “painted and sculpted” since she could

hold a pencil or lump of clay. She has a degree from UC Santa Barbara

in studio art, and her first mural commission came prior to college,

while she was in high school.

She went on to work for the California Academy of Sciences in San

Francisco, painting, sculpting and installing elements for an exhibit

called “Life Through Time.” When that project was completed, she was

recruited by Academy Studios Inc. -- now in Novato, Calif. --

researching, fabricating and installing museum exhibits around the

world.

Following the birth of her son, Connor, in 1996, she and Jevon,

moved to Orange County where she began to freelance, sculpting

prototype toys for Mattel and doing commissions in murals, portraits

-- 2-D and 3-D -- and illustrations.

She also continued with her home mural business through the birth

of the couple’s daughters, Isabel, and Larkspur, in 2000 and 2001.

“Before ‘Desperate Housewives’ aired, I explained to my new

co-workers that I was a housewife in a dream,” she explained. “I

could not believe that one e-mail could launch me onto the set of one

of the top network programs and change my life entirely.

“I went from desperate Huntington Beach housewife to muralist on

‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.’ I walk the sets and almost have to

pinch myself. I have had the opportunity to enhance the homes of

people in need and create beautiful, playful and peaceful murals and

sculpture. On days off, I go back to my housewife role, refreshed and

thankful for what I have.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca @latimes.com.