COEUR d'ALENE — From broken tables and burned mac and cheese to attention from local media, a spot on a PBS show, a surprise proposal and hundreds — if not thousands — of friends made, Monday Night Dinner has blossomed into more than Adam Schluter could have imagined.

“If I had to describe anything, I am honestly incredibly humble and grateful," Schluter said Monday evening. "I don’t know any other emotions that could explain what I’m feeling right now. Again, starting from nothing, having nothing, no money — this is only a product of everybody that’s a part of these dinners, the community. We’ve never made a penny. It’s blood, sweat and tears.”

Schluter's home was selected for a backyard renovation by the PBS television show "Ask This Old House," which was on the site of Schluter's midtown Coeur d'Alene home all Monday, filming a whirlwind of activity as walkways were placed, an outdoor kitchen was built, back steps were fixed and landscaping materials were installed.

“We’ve had so much fun today,” said Victoria Canning, who co-owns Coeur d'Alene business Double Legacy Stone with Eric Jones. “We laid all of the flagstone, about 2,000 feet of flagstone today. We put paths and all of the flagstone in the back."

Canning said she'd never been to a Monday Night Dinner but contacted Schluter when she heard rumors of "Ask This Old House" coming to town.

“At 6 in the morning, we were the second crew to arrive, and they were installing the kitchen and setting up for the shoot,” she said. “Throughout the day we’re working like mad, saws and drills and everything going, then, ‘Quiet on the set!’ We’d take 10 minutes as they’re filming us for interviewing us, then everybody's buzzing again. What a transformation. It was dust yesterday. Just dust. All the way, everywhere.”

Double Legacy and the other crews and individuals helped complete the project in a short window of time. 

“This is very out of the ordinary for what we do,” said Rebecca Galvin, producer and director of "Ask This Old House."

"We’re going to be in Deer Park on Wednesday, just doing a walkway, a simple walkway. That’s usually what we do,' She said. "When Adam reached out with his story and what he does, we thought it was a nice moment for us to do almost a mini-spotlight on something that happens here in Coeur d’Alene. It’s such a unique story that we wanted to be a part of it. And while this is a little out of the ordinary for what we do, we thought it was a real nice opportunity to tell a story.”

Monday Night Dinner started in 2018 with just a few people when Schluter — seeking friendship and to provide friendship to others — began simply inviting people to his home to enjoy a meal together. Now, during Monday Night Dinner season, guests know to bring a side dish and a few bucks for the band each week as they meet people and say hi to the new friends they've made.

“He brings the whole community together for these dinners, and he also brought the community to help us finish all these projects,” said "Ask This Old House" associate producer Makayla Townsend.

“It was amazing to see the community support,” Galvin said. “I think we were all like, ‘There’s no way this is going to happen and get done,’ and it did and it turned out wonderful, everybody was great and you really got a sense of how important this is to the community.”

The evening included a romantic highlight as an aerial photo of the group was about to be taken. David Johnson proposed to Taysia Matthias on her 29th birthday in front of the roughly 300 people in attendance.

She said yes.

“We met on reality TV,” said Matthias, who grew up in Coeur d'Alene. “It was on an entrepreneurship show called ‘The Blox,’ it was filmed in Kansas City.”

The couple has been to about 15 Monday Night Dinners over the past two years.

"We find out her birthday is A, on one of these Mondays, and B, we found there was another show here,” Johnson said, smiling. "We literally met in reality TV and to have another show present, it’s hilarious.”

Kristen Walker has attended the dinners since she was pregnant with her now almost-8-year-old daughter, Maia Burt-Walker.

“I feel so blessed to have been a part of the whole thing," Walker said. "Some days it was only 10 of us sitting around having dinner, and it was every Monday, to now, it’s so big and the live music. It’s unbelievable the community that he’s brought together.”

She said it's important for Coeur d'Alene to have something as special as this.

“A lot of media makes Idaho, especially, out to be very lacking in community, very hostile," Walker said. "Ultimately, no matter where you live, there is community like this. You just have to ask for it and that’s what Adam did. He just reached out when he felt like he had nothing. And when I had nothing, this has always been a good place to come and be yourself. Nobody cares where you work, nobody cares what your history is like. It’s just a big family."

    PS I Love U guitarist Tristan Pierce jams with the band during the 95th Monday Night Dinner at Adam Schluter's Coeur d'Alene home.
  

    "Ask This Old House" director and producer Rebecca Galvin, right, chats with Adrienne Perkins of AMD Interiors, left, and Ali Shute of Sixtwofour Designs during the 95th Monday Night Dinner. The day was a whirlwind as the film crew captured teams conducting backyard improvement projects, including laying sod, installing bark and building an outdoor kitchen.
  

    David Johnson and Taysia Matthias are engaged during a surprise romantic moment Monday as Adam Schluter captures the moment from his roof.