Midway • Somebody is going to be living the dream right here in Utah — living, that is, in the 2012 HGTV Dream Home.

Built on the banks of the Provo River with mountain views from every window, the three-bedroom,4 1/2-bath ranch home is part of a prize package worth more than $2 million. That includes furnishings, artwork, a new car and $500,000 in cash.

"Someone who's living in today's challenging economy and sitting at home dreaming about where they'd rather be, they'll see this house and say, 'OK, that's what we want,' " said Jack Thomasson, who has planned all 16 HGTV dream homes. "We want people to want this house."

That won't be hard. The house isn't huge — about 4,000 square feet — but it's beautiful. From the entry through the dramatic great room to the beautifully appointed kitchen, it looks and feels like home — a very nice home that includes a family room with a kids' nook; a laundry room with two washers and two dryers tucked away in the cabinetry; an outdoor living room complete with hot tub, TV and cooking area; and three very separate, very different bedroom suites.

The master suite, with a balcony off the front of the house and a porch off the back, is the biggest, but the space feels like having three master suites.

The house also includes some surprises, such as the dog bed constructed to echo the look of the house. Then there's the downstairs changing room that you can enter from the outside and use the bathroom and sauna before entering the rest of the house.

"It's the kind of thing you'd build in a dream house," Thomasson said.

And the River Meadows Ranch setting, in the midst of the meadows, is amazing. "All these views outside are what's important," said interior designer Linda Woodrum. "And every room in this house has wonderful views. And when you have that kind of a gift, that's what you play up."

That's the idea behind designing a Dream Home — it should fit the land. "You could never buy plans for an HGTV Dream Home out of a plan book. It wouldn't work," Thomasson said.

The home was unveiled in an HGTV special on Jan. 1. A day later, a re-creation of the home traveled through the streets of Pasadena, Calif., on a Rose Parade float. "How cool is that?" Thomasson said.

Thomasson scouted Utah for several years before finding the perfect site. Then six months went into finding the right architects (Salt Lake City's ASWA+JSA Architecture), the right builders (Draper's Rimrock Construction) and then actually planning the house. Another six months went into the construction. Along the way, HGTV cameras have documented every foot of the property.

You can take a virtual tour of the home at hgtv.com right now. Details are still being worked out, but locals will be able to tour the house sometime after the first of the year.

"If somebody told me that you could build this home from start to finish in six months with decisions being made outside of Utah, I would never have believed it," said Mark Hampton, a partner in Rimrock Construction. "But they were very responsive, they got questions answered quickly and we finished on time."

For the folks at HGTV, working on a Dream Home in Utah was a dream.

"Utah has been the most wonderful surprise. Spectacularly beautiful," Woodrum said. "And the work ethic here has been unlike anything I've ever experienced in my entire life. I never heard, 'We can't do that. It's not in our budget.' It was, like, 'We took the job on, we can get it done.' Jack said if he could build every house here, he would."

Thomasson termed the yearlong process "absolutely phenomenal."

"Seriously, every team member was great. Their talent, their expertise — and just being nice. These people are my friends now."

Architect John Shirley said the "collaboration went really smooth on this. It was so much fun."

While he and Corey Solum have designed for parades of homes, "to do one for TV was very different. Knowing the whole thing was going to be televised, we tried to keep it as open as possible."

But this will be some lucky family's real home, not just a set for a TV show. "Being usable on an everyday basis drives it all," Thomasson said. "I don't want to have a house that someone couldn't comfortably live in. This is a real house that someone has a chance to win."

Last year, there were more than 76 million entries in the sweepstakes.

"I hope somebody local wins this home," Hampton said. "Wouldn't that be nice? Somebody who can appreciate it and understand the beauty of this little setting."

spierce@sltrib.com; facebook.com/nowsaltlake —

HGTV Dream Home Sweepstakes

You can enter twice daily — once on HGTV.com and once on FrontDoor.com — for a chance to win the Dream Home, a 2012 GMC Terrain and $500,000. The total prize package comes to more than $2 million, and a winner will be announced in March.

Deadline • Feb. 17, 5 p.m. ET.

Enter here • bit.ly/vAIa3c