Merriman Park resident & HGTV contestant Jany Lee
So, why is this still good news for us?
Well, luckily for Lake Highlanders, it's because she's a neighbor.
On the eve of Sunday's show, Jany Lee graciously welcomed LH Today into her lovely Merriman Park home.
She offered us insight on her exciting adventures as a competitor on the popular show, as well as her love of learning about and living in Lake Highlands.
Upon walking into Ms. Lee's circa 1970's ranch in Merriman Park Estates, visitors are awed by the sheer space, light, and calming muted tones with splashes of color in just the right places. Her pair of Barcelona chairs aren't too bad, either.
Says Lee, "When my husband and I moved here in 2006, we wanted a fixer-upper. What we didn't want was to tear down and have to rebuild something new."
"I love ranch houses," she continues. "Because we don't have a lot of space in Canada, everyone is forced to build up."
"My husband and I looked in a number of neighborhoods but found ourselves always coming back to Lake Highlands," says Lee.
"I believe that the bones of a house - the structure of a building - is what you should start with, and the housing stock here in Lake Highlands had just that. Solid, well built homes."
"Our goal was to be able to come in and do a face lift," says Lee. "We didn't want exterior wall tear-downs that would cost a lot of money."
Additionally, Lee and her husband are looking down the road. "While we don't have kids yet we learned from our Realtor that Merriman Park is part of RISD, and the schools are exemplary," she says. "So, finding a home with a strong past and being able to look forward to the future made it the perfect choice for us!"
So how do you go about turning a '70's ranch into design showplace?
For Lee, it involved raising a couple of ceilings, opening up the living space, filling in a previously sunken living room floor (yes!), and doing some amazing things with paint. The rest was all in the details, which is her special touch. In fact, it's just those talents that originally landed her as a contestant on HGTV's Design Star Challenge.
Being an avid HGTV viewer for several years, she learned in late 2007 that contestants were being sought for the fourth installment of the Design Star series.
"This doesn't seem that hard," she remembers saying to her husband at the time. "I've certainly got the experience after having done our house, so why not apply?"
