RSVPSTYLE

CATHY LEE STYLE

CATHY’S MARKETPLACE

Grand Prize Winners - Congratulations, Agena Family of Moanalua Valley!

Agena family is excited to see their living room transform.

Previous Next

Jo Ann Agena was outside hanging laundry when the raid happened.

“Jo Ann!” The Salt Lake Elementary fifth-grade teacher turned from her clothes line. Storming up her driveway on a quiet Sunday morning was RSVPstyle’s Cathy Lee, brandishing an enormous bouquet of lilies and roses. Behind her, under a flotilla of balloons, were RSVPstyle’s Lissa Rodrigues, a videographer and crew. Jo Ann’s mouth dropped open.

“Congratulations! You’re the winner of our $30,000 Style My Room contest!”

With Cathy screaming and hugging her, a stunned Jo Ann began crying and jumping up and down. “Oh my God! I can’t believe it!” From head to toe, she was shaking like a leaf. “I’m so excited!”

“Are you surprised?” Cathy grabbed her shoulders.

“I’m totally shocked,” Jo Ann wailed.

As the Grand Prize winners of RSVPstyle and The Honolulu Advertiser’s $30,000 Style My Room contest, Jo Ann and husband Chris, a postal worker, and their four kids had just won a top-to-bottom living room makeover, with personal design coaching from Cathy Lee. Over the next seven weeks the Grand Prize will bring them new flooring, furniture, window treatments, lighting, contracting, painting, organization and electrical services. The entire makeover, complete with lessons from Cathy, will be shown in a one-hour Style My Room Makeover special on KITV4 on June 4.

Previous Next

The eight-week contest drew 1,400 entries from homeowners all over Oahu. It produced seven runner-up winners from Ewa Beach to Mililani to Hawaii Kai, who collectively won another $12,000 in home design and décor prizes. All were looking to revamp living rooms that were outdated, uninspired, stuck with design challenges, or just plain blah.

The Agenas’ living room was all of the above. All the finalists had strong cases, according to Cathy. So why did judges from RSVPstyle and contest sponsors Honolulu Advertiser, American Carpet One and C.S. Wo/HomeWorld choose the Agenas?

“You know, what caught our attention was your desire to learn,” Cathy told Jo Ann. “But it wasn’t just that—your living room is one that so many people can relate to and learn from. You have plain white walls, design dilemmas, furniture layout issues, outdated furniture. Everything came together in your entry.

“And Chris entered for you—he said you love home design shows and really want to learn how to make your space more stylish, modern and kid-friendly. He said you have no idea how to implement those ideas, and he wanted to do something for you. We thought that was really touching.”

Her laundry forgotten outside, Jo Ann led the mob into the house. Like his mom, 8-year-old Matthew’s mouth fell open when he saw the ambush crew. Noah, 5, and Sarah, 3, leaped for the balloons. There was one for each child—but where was 10-year-old Caleb? Or, for that matter, dad Chris?

It turned out they were on their way home from Caleb’s basketball practice. As soon as their car turned into the driveway, Jo Ann led the mob into the kitchen, where everyone waited to ambush the last two family members when they came in the back door.

“Surprise!”

Chris opened the door to a kitchen filled with balloons, jumping kids, a still-shaking wife and the RSVPstyle crew. “Oh wow!” he said, and not much else. His eyes were popping.

He grabbed Jo Ann in what she later said was his biggest hug ever. The adventure had begun!

Read the Agena family’s first blog »