TV presenter Johanna Griggs opens up her home and her heart to talk about a few of her favourite things

WHEN it came to building her dream home, Better Homes and Gardens presenter Johanna Griggs knew exactly how it should look and a tall family demanded high ceilings.

Renata Gortan

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less than 2 min read

May 15, 2014 - 1:16PM

WHEN it came to building her dream home, Better Homes & Gardens presenter Johanna Griggs knew exactly how it should look.

It has a gym, theatre room, massive open-plan kitchen, living and dining room plus high ceilings and wide hallways.

“It was a luxury knowing what we wanted,” she says. “I see so many gorgeous homes with Better Homes, I’ve been exposed to all those little details that make a great home and got
to pick people’s brains on what worked and what didn’t.”

“We’re all really tall and because I hate homes that are too constricted we went for high ceilings and big, wide hallways. I think a bit of extra width makes a home feel better.”

For Johanna, the key factor in designing her home was creating the space that her family needed.

“We don’t go out a lot, so movies are a big part of our downtime and it made sense to have a theatre room,” she says.

“The boys are now men, they’re both out working and are using it more as a halfway house so we wanted to create enough space so we could give them privacy.”

Just as Johanna knew what she wanted in a home, she knew where she wanted to be.

“We’ve moved to three homes within 400 metres of each other in Collaroy,” she says.

“We just love the area and we’ve been here for eight years. This is a very relaxed neighbourhood, people don’t care that you work in TV, it’s a really good community and it feels like everyone cares about each other.

“For instance a neighbour, Tom, is 90 and shares the veges he grows and Deidre next door is 87 and has a herb garden. We’ve just struck gold with our neighbours.”

Johanna Grigg is currently working on House Rules on Channel 7 Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 6.30pm.