Courtesy Dunwoody Crier..Tuesday, June 13, 2006 10:54 AM EDT

Would you like to buy a custom-built home in Dunwoody for $5? Sound too good to be true?

The real estate listing for this dream home reads something like this: Exclusive one-of-a-kind customized home, new construction, built on your site, hardwood floors throughout, owner chooses paint color, perfect starter home for a first time homeowner.

Spacious and roomy? Yes, although it will help if the new homeowner is five feet tall, or less, and enjoys doing arts and crafts in a preschool or in an elementary school classroom. For the second year in a row, one lucky ticket holder will be the grand prize winner of “Project Playhouse,” a charitable fundraising project sponsored by Dunwoody Renovators, a local construction firm specializing in large scale home renovations and additions.

Proceeds from this year’s ticket sales will be divided equally between the Dunwoody Homeowner’s Association and Shepherd Spinal Center, in honor of Matt Dewhurst, owner of the Ace Home Place hardware store in Dunwoody, who was paralyzed in an automobile accident in May 2005.

The winner will be drawn on Tuesday, July 4, immediately following the annual Dunwoody Salutes America Fourth of July parade, hosted by DHA and The Dunwoody Crier. Last year, organizers for Project Playhouse sold more than 400 tickets and raised $1600 for DHA. This year, organizers have set a goal to raise at least $5000 above the cost of building the playhouse.

Chris Troxel, President and CEO of Dunwoody Renovators, said his company has a simple reason for starting Project Playhouse.

“Dunwoody is a great place to live and work. We feel it’s important to help improve the lives of people and to give something back to the community that’s been so good to our business,” said Troxel.

“The Dunwoody Homeowner’s Association is an important organization that protects the quality of life for the citizens of Dunwoody. And I can’t think of a better person than Matt Dewhurst, who means so much to so many people, to honor with a donation to the Shepherd Center.”

Tickets for Project Playhouse 2006 can be purchased every Saturday in front of the Ace Home Place store located at 2480 Mt. Vernon Road.

Tickets also are available any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., at Dunwoody Renovators’ office located at 2402 Mt. Vernon Road, Suite 210. For more information, call (770) 913-0450.

Organizers also will accept financial contributions, in addition to proceeds from ticket sales, which will be donated to DHA and the Shepherd Center.

Unlike last year, this year’s playhouse will be custom built on the winner’s site.

“It’s easier logistically to build the playhouse on site rather than build it somewhere else and transport it to the winner’s home,” said Troxel. “Plus, this way, we can custom match the paint on the playhouse to match the winner’s house if they want us to.”

Dunwoody Renovators has received financial and material support this year from several community leaders and from several of its building supply vendors, including Robin Blass, a local real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, Bob Bailey’s TV and Appliances, Ply Mart building materials and Signs by Tomorrow. If last year’s winner is any indication, the 2006 winner of Project Playhouse will be a lucky young girl or boy who will receive a special gift of a lifetime.

Paul Sims, along with his wife Laura, and their two daughters, Sarah and Maggie, saw the playhouse in last year’s July 4th parade. They purchased a ticket after the parade, and to Sarah’s great joy, won the playhouse at the post-parade raffle held in Dunwoody Village. In a “thank you” article he wrote that was published last October in The Crier, Sims thanked Troxel for “giving a gift that keeps on giving.” “Sarah Sims is learning firsthand the joys of homeownership. Equally important, she’s learning what it means to give back to the community,” said Sims. “His (Troxel’s) generosity has made an important and lasting impression on a little girl who forgets nothing and who has offered Mr. Troxel an open invitation to the next tea party at Sarah’s house.”