A Lakeland woman is the winner of the HGTV Dream Home in Sonoma, Calif. valued at over $1.8 million.
Cheryl Smith, 58, an avid HGTV fan who has entered the giveaway every year for the past 10 years, learned last week that she had won.
But HGTV viewers didn't see the reveal until 8 p.m. Sunday on the "HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2009" special.
"It was amazing and we couldn't believe it," says Smith who was watching television with her husband Joe last Monday evening when HGTV's Chi-Lan Lieu knocked on her door.
The retired couple plans to visit the dream home in April.
Smith's name was drawn from nearly 40 million entries. In addition to the custom-designed, fully furnished home, the $2 million prize package includes a matching Doggy Dream Home and 2009 GMC Acadia.
"This is so exciting that we've been unable to sleep all week," Smith said in a telephone interview. "Now we have more questions than answers. We have to decide if we're going to move to California and how much property taxes we would have to pay and what owning it would do to our income tax," she says.
For the moment though, she says the whole family is enjoying the attention.
"I can't wait to see it," she says. "It's in wine country and it comes with a small vineyard that produces a couple of cases of wine."
The 3,600 square-foot two-story Victorian style home has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a home office with fully stocked wine closet, gourmet kitchen and a two-car garage.
Originally from Michigan, the Smiths have lived in Lakeland for three years.
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