Sisters compete for Renovation Resort crown

Teams transforming neglected lakeside resort into luxurious waterfront retreat

Author of the article:

Linda White  •  Postmedia Content Works

Published Apr 17, 2026  •  2 minute read

Sisters Marcy, left, and Melissa Mussari are competing on Renovation Resort Season Three.  HOME NETWORK

For sisters Marcy and Melissa Mussari, growing up in a home that was always undergoing a facelift influenced their love of renovation and design.

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Growing up in Niagara-on-the-Lake, meanwhile, influenced the style they’re embracing on Renovation Resort Season Three: rustic, traditional and nautical.

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“Renovation was just a part of our childhood,” Marcy says. “We were used to my dad renovating our kitchen, renovating our deck, redoing our bedrooms so our parents really let us get creative with things. I fell in love with design at a really young age.”

She remembers fabric shopping, antiquing and attending open houses with her mom at a young age. She studied interior decorating and has had a design company for more than a decade. She works primarily on residential projects but has recently worked on some restaurants and stores.

Melissa remembers helping their father with renovations as soon as she was old enough to use a measuring tape, to paint and to cut with a saw. She loved comparing the before and after and knowing that what she did was “such an accomplishment.”

In her work with a Niagara-on-the-Lake company that builds custom luxury homes, her job is to ensure “everything is perfect” before handing over the keys to homeowners.

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Scott McGillivray and Bryan Baeumler host Renovation Resort, which premiered on Home Network on April 5. This time, they’re in the Kawarthas to revive a neglected lakeside resort and transform it into a luxurious waterfront retreat. Four contractor-designer duos compete over eight weeks to design and renovate one of four waterfront cabins, with the winning team earning $100,000 and the title of Renovation Resort champions.

Before competing on the show, which was filmed last fall, Marcy and Melissa had collaborated on projects but had never completed a top-to-bottom renovation together.

The experience was transformational. Marcy realized that her confidence in her skills had grown and that she and her sister had honed their problem-solving skills.

Admittedly, “there were lots of times when we were scared and nervous, but it was good to have someone like Marcy to pick you back up in those moments or for me to pick her up,” Melissa says. “It was good that we could lean on each other, help each other out and really bond.”

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While Melissa leans toward a more rustic style, Marcy favourts traditional and nautical and loves the Hamptons and Cape Cod. “We love natural finishes, lighter tones, neutral spaces like incorporating soft blues and the feeling of the nautical – not in a cheesy way but in a timeless, more appealing way,” Marcy says. The sisters are “so happy” with the blending of their styles, she adds.

“Right now, I am loving bringing back the vertical wood, white oak panelling – seeing it on walls and seeing it covering an entire space, whether it’s a front foyer or a library. I just love the warmth of the wood and incorporating linens and soft textures with it,” she says. She also loves bringing the outdoors in, from a bowl with pebbles from the beach to sandalwood and driftwood.

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