The Silva family are still in awe of their new Warwick home, and say their appreciation of everyone involved — especially the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition — will never end.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Sometimes it’s the little things.

It’s been a little more than seven months since the goodwill of friends and strangers — plus the expertise of a slick prime-time TV show — enabled the Silva family to see their old crowded cottage replaced by a gracious new home three times bigger. But they’re still finding things about the transformation to celebrate every day, even if it’s not as dramatic as what was captured on the May 4 broadcast of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Ken and Doreen Silva admit that sometimes they’re still a bit awestruck when they pull into the driveway of the gracious, sun-filled 3,000-square-foot home on Yucatan Drive. But as they and their five children approached their first Christmas in the new house, there are countless little things they find themselves thankful for.

“We’ll be making Christmas cookies this year, and that’s a first, because there just wasn’t room to do that in our old house,” Doreen said. Then there’s the oversized Christmas tree shining brightly in the front windows, as opposed to the Charlie Brown variety they had to squeeze into the living room last year.

Many aspects of their lives remain the same. Ken is still a driver for the city’s sanitation department. Doreen is still home-schooling their five children and trying to make sure they keep their rooms — decorated by professionals from the Extreme Makeover team — neat.

And the couple still believes in giving back to the community. They continue to make their home available to foster children. And earlier this month, when a family in need from nearby Voluntown, Conn., qualified to get a new home on Extreme Makeover, Ken and Doreen made the drive to join the volunteer corps there for a day.

“It felt great to be able to give back,” Ken said. “We know what it’s like to be on the receiving end, and with another [Extreme Makeover] house so close by, there was no way we weren’t going to go.

“The appreciation in our hearts will never go away,” he said. “Our new house wasn’t built by one person, or by money. It was built by a whole community of people who wanted to help us.”

— Journal Staff Writer Barbara Polichetti

bpoliche@projo.com