Home as a pit stop, with all the extras

“I want to stand in the kitchen and feel like I’m in the garage.” Now that isn’t something one would normally hear an interior decorator say to a work crew, but Steve Watson was only passing along the wishes of the Lopez family, whose quirky makeover dream is the focus of tonight’s edition of “Monster House” (10 p.m. on the Discovery Channel).

The new series debuted earlier this week as part of Full-Throttle Mondays programming from 8 to 11 p.m. It packages “House” with “Monster Garage” (featuring exotic overhauls of vehicles) and “American Chopper” (ditto with motorcycles). The shows repeat during the week, but for my money, “Monster House” is the best of the bunch.

Each week, host Watson meets with homeowners who are bored with their anonymous tract-house existence and are seeking a domicile that better reflects their tastes and interests. Santiago and Carol Lopez and their two young boys are heavy into the drag-strip scene, so having an interior design with a top-fuel flavor is the goal. As crazy as it sounds, that’s exactly what Watson and company deliver.

A crew of five arrive on the scene Monday morning and have until midnight Friday to get the job done, with the Lopezes being put up in a mobile home across the street (they’re forbidden from peeking in the house). A brainstorming session among the designers results in some of the more interesting touches: a car hood that drops from the wall to serve as a dining room table; a master bed that sits atop hydraulic lifts; an easy chair that does 30 mph.

The missteps and squabbling among the workers (“You can have too many roosters in the hen house,” observes one dryly) make it fun to watch, and when the Lopezes finally get their tour on Saturday, it’s a tie as to who’s wearing the biggest smiles, the family or the crew.