KTBS 3 / St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway designed to impress

Looking for a bargain?  How does this sound? A brand new, 3,600-squarefoot house, valued at $575,000, can be yours for just $100.

Too good to be true? Not if you are the winner of the 30th Annual KTBS 3/St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway – a major fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

You will find this year’s home at 131 North Canal – in Bossier City’s Canal Place subdivision. If you live in Louisiana, you can buy your ticket (they’ve been $100 since the giveaway began in 1991) at www.ktbs.com. If you live out-of-state, you can buy your ticket by calling 1-800-724-2423. The drawing will be Sunday, Aug. 9, from 3-5 p.m., and televised on KTBS’s sister station, KPXJ/CW21.

Over the years, “More than $35 million locally has been raised for St. Jude,” said Jan Elkins, community projects director at KTBS. “We’ve sold enough tickets already to go above $36 million this year.”

Because of COVID-19 precautions, you won’t be able to personally see the inside of the home. However, you can take virtual tours at facebook.com/RodgersHomes.

“It’s a shotgun-style house, so the front entrance from the porch is long and huge and has windows along the whole front of the house with columns,” described Jenny Rodgers. “You walk straight through that to the backyard – the back porch, basically. That’s the whole living room, great room, kitchen area. It’s huge and long.”

Jenny and her husband, Philip, own Rodgers Homes and Construction. The company – dating back to when Philip’s father, George, was the owner – has built all 30 St. Jude Dream Homes.

“Philip saw a similar house to this in Baton Rouge, just driving around one day, and loved it,” Jenny said. “He took that inspiration to the draftsman at Palmetto Custom Homes, and he brought it to life in Bossier. We have floor plans that we like and we use, so we built off that. We’re not totally reinventing the wheel every year, but we put something into the house each year that is different and new.”

This year, one of the places you will find something “different and new” is the master bathroom.

“You walk in, and the vanity is right in the middle,” Rodgers said. “There’s a mirror on each side of it, so it’s like his and hers on each side, instead of alongside the walls like the vanity normally is. It’s right in the middle. The mirror (donated by Henson’s Lighting and Hardware) – you hit a button, and it lights up. It will defrost itself if you hit another button. Those are some pretty cool features.”

And when it comes time for Mom to do laundry, she will enjoy the not one, but two washers and dryers.

“As a momma with little kids, that would be nice to be able to do laundry like that,” Rodgers said. “They will be able to do laundry for the whole family in half the time. I think it’s amazing!” For the fourth year, Myron Griffing with Space:Interiors, was the Dream Home’s designer. He and his project director, Liz Bowen, are responsible for pretty much everything you see inside. They picked the paint colors, floors, tile, carpet, countertops, backsplash and furnishings.

“We do everything – literally everything.” Griffing said. “We even do the mortar color.”

And that’s just the way Griffing likes it.

“It’s not going to be for everyone, and that’s kind of the beauty of doing St. Jude,” Griffing said. “I don’t have anybody telling me what they want. I get to do kind of what I want.”

As for this year’s home, Griffing – as he always does – matched the outside “look” with an inside “feel.”

“This is a very Southern-style house,” Griffing said. “There are columns lining the front. I wanted it to have a very Southern feel when you walk in. It’s very light and open.”

To that end, Griffin went with what he calls “Distressed Southern Luxe.”

“The beds are deconstructed, meaning you can purposely see the interior of the bed,” Griffing said. “All the side tables look like they are worn out, like you inherited them from your grandmother – your super-cool grandmother.”

A staple of the St. Jude Dream Home is the number of businesses that donate some – if not all – of their time and labor. Four years ago, G&S Electric provided their labor free of charge. Then, owner John Slaton visited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Since, he’s added materials to his donation, such as the wiring, can lights and bathroom vents.

“I knew St. Jude was a good organization, and I guess I just didn’t realize how many lives that place impacted,” Slaton said. “It made me come back and want to reach out to my suppliers a little harder than I had before about doing donations with them.”

For Slaton, seeing was believing. “It’s for a good cause,” Slaton said.

“I knew they did good work, but until you walk through the halls up there at that hospital and really see what they’re doing on a daily basis, it really just doesn’t hit home to you. It will wake you up.”

To learn more about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, you may visit www.stjude.org.

The great room is a long gallery that includes the living room, dining area and kitchen in the totally open-concept design desired by many homeowners. A beautiful space for families to live and play. Home furnishings are from Ivan Smith.

Myron Griffing, owner of Space:Interiors, was inspired by the home’s galleries and architectural design to create what he calls “distressed southern.” The simple cabinetry and fixtures in the kitchen are a seamless addition the other design features in the great room.

A soft color palette of earth tones along with the black window and door trim seems to frame the views beyond. The back porch features an outdoor fireplace and a large seating area.

The master bedroom and bathroom have vaulted ceilings, lifting the space. The bedroom furnishings feature a distressed and deconstructed look. The bathroom (opposite) have his and hers vanities on front and back of an island in the center of the room. A stylish soaking tub is just beyond.