Marcy and Melissa Mussari grew up watching their family show them the magic of being able to transform their living space into something new.
The two sisters were raised in Niagara-on-the-Lake in a home their parents spent years renovating.
“Throughout our whole life, both of our lives, we’ve lived in this renovated home,” said Marcy. “We’ve just watched the house take on a whole new look and a whole new function.”
That lit the spark of creativity in both of them at an early age.
“I always remember, growing up, asking my mom to take me to open houses and redecorating my room, redecorating my sister’s room, taking pieces from the house and then bringing it downstairs to our playroom,” Marcy said. “I was always creative.”
Today, they’re still in the world of building and designing. Marcy, the older sister, is an interior designer, while Melissa is a contractor.
Together, they put their prowess to the test as contestants on the new season of Home Network’s “Renovation Resort.”
The show, spotlights four renovation-savvy duos from across North America, each tasked with creating a lakeside vacation home in the Kawarthas. The winning team at the end of the eight-week-long endeavour will get a $100,000 prize.
Each week, the duos focus on bringing a separate room or area of the house to life. No two homes will look alike: each design and build is unique, depending on the vision of each team.
“Our style is more of a rustic, nautical style. It really blends Melissa and I’s aesthetic,” said Marcy. “And our childhood, what our family is interested in.”
Every day on the show is a challenge, Melissa said: decisions often have to be made on the fly. It’s kept them on their toes.
“They like to throw in a design detour onto us, so you really have to think on the spot, design on the spot,” she said. “It was fun to do that together, try to work together on how to bring it to life.”
The Mussaris are the only sibling duo in the competition this season. Melissa said they wanted to be sure to treat each other respect throughout the whole experience, in spite of all the ups and downs.
Fortunately for them, having known each other all their lives gives them a boost, as well.
“We know each other so well that in those stressful situations, if I just give Marcy a look or she gives me a look, we know, ‘OK, don’t say anything,’ or, ‘She needs a second to breathe,'” said Melissa.
Overall, however, taking part in the competition and building the lakehouse has been a blast for both of them, they say.
“We get to see it from drywall to the finished product and being able to do that with Marcy has just been so much fun,” Melissa said.
Season three of “Renovation Resort” is streaming now exclusively on StackTV. New episodes air every Sunday.
