Former Figure Skating Champion Creates Unique, Modern House In Louisville
Writer / Beth Beckwith
Kentucky is home to many talented individuals, each contributing something special through their desire to share their joy and passion with others. One such individual, Ludmila Dimitrov, has been spreading hope and inspiration here for nearly 20 years.
Ludmila is a former Pro Ice Figure Skater and Champion from Moscow, Russia. She moved to Louisville, Kentucky 20 years ago to start a family and explore her passion for design through a new career as a real estate agent. Over the course of her athletic career, she was provided with the opportunity to travel across the globe. The various cultural experiences and opportunities she gained inspired her to start a non-profit organization called Chance4Champs. This organization allowed her to give other children the same opportunities for growth she was given.
“My children inspired me to start Chance4Champs,” Dimitrov says. “I wanted them to be as proud of me as I was of them.”
This business endeavor also provided her children with the opportunity to grow and hone their athletic skills. Chance4Champs helps youth direct their abilities, practice their crafts and encourages healthy habits for an overall successful lifestyle. Her two children have followed in their mother’s footsteps. They both reside in Spain where the eldest is trying out for pro soccer teams and the youngest, having just played Wimbledon, is preparing for her upcoming tennis performance in the U.S. Open.
After a brief stay in Barcelona, Spain to help her children prepare for their athletic careers, Dimitrov returned to Louisville with a new goal in mind. She wanted to create a home to sell that reflected the architecture she held in the highest regard throughout her global journeys. The project has since taken up almost every waking moment she could spare and the product is a house unlike any other in Louisville.
“My heart has always been with the creative aspects of the job and I am particularly fond of interior design and inspiring comfortable living spaces, which is why, for my latest project, I wanted to build a one of a kind home in Anchorage,” Dimitrov says. “My entire life I have traveled all over the world, seeing how people live, how they express themselves, collecting style and architectural ideas from across the globe. This was the influence and inspiration behind ideas which built this modern home.”
Dimitrov has been involved in various projects over time, channeling her craftsmanship as not only a mother, athlete and real estate agent but as a designer and general contractor as well. If you need an expert guidance in hiring a contractor in Montclair, then you can try the professionals in the list of the best contractors in Montclair, NJ.
In the real estate realm, she has adeptly navigated projects with diverse challenges — from acquiring, fixing, and flipping single-family and small multi-family houses to overseeing major apartment complexes with hundreds of units, always ensuring the highest standards of quality through collaboration with a Certified Snagging company.
Dimitrov discussed how, over the years here, she has met builders, developers, landscapers, managers and investors who have fueled her passion for real estate and innovative design. Her passion and drive have only since grown over time. Her one of a kind home can be found in Anchorage, just on the outskirts of surrounding neighborhoods, which require homes to fit specific standards. Dimitrov says that people in Louisville are typically very traditional with their home styling but could tell that they have good taste. She knew that, once they saw her vision brought to life, they would appreciate the new style.
“I saw the demand in Louisville for modern homes and also being a real estate agent, I haven’t seen very much supply for this segment of the real estate market,” Dimitrov says. “There just aren’t too many contemporary homes here for sale or new construction being built.”
However, she did find a few homes in the area that reflected her taste and style. After returning from Spain, she did some research on these houses and, after a closer look, discovered that all of them were built by the same man, John Bajandas.
Dimitrov reached out to John and expressed her admiration for his work. Initially, she had inquired about working together and being his real estate agent but soon discovered his wife was also an agent. She later returned to ask John to come on board for her project in Anchorage.
“Having the background of competitive athletics, I’m not one to give up and stop,” she says. “After the fourth architect couldn’t see my vision, our paths crossed again with John. I didn’t even immediately realize that that was that John – John Bajandas. The rest was pure magic.”
John seemed to understand her vision more than the others and, alongside another Louisville talent, Don Underwood, they came up with a detailed open floor plan for the new home.
‘This house attracts so many people,” she says. “People pass by taking pictures and videos wanting to copy its ideas to build similar houses elsewhere. It all makes me think I’m doing something right. I received so many compliments on this house which I don’t think I have ever received in my skating career. All thanks to having a great team to work with – a team capable of sustaining the positive energy and sharing the core vision of what I was trying to achieve.”
Alongside Dimitrov, her boyfriend, Edward Hager, has put in plenty of time and effort to make sure her dream house meets her standards. Hager is a well-known local landscaper who you may have seen in commercials or heard about on the radio. Dimitrov commended his endeavors on the project, commenting on his thorough efforts with masonry, landscaping and tree work. Even Dimitrov’s children have had a hand in constructing the house, offering new ideas that their mother made sure to incorporate.
During the construction process, several offers were made but the potential buyers wanted to change Dimitrov’s vision. Much to their dismay, this was not just a project to Dimitrov. It was, as she put, a realization of a vision and a dream. She had visualized all finishes in the house before they even started to build.
She described the home in detail, explaining how it was uniquely finished throughout. The house includes black walnut countertops, real petrified wooden sinks, and custom cabinets, doors and trim. Large windows welcome natural light into the home which, in turn, compliment wall-mounted faucets, exotic wood decking and uniquely installed exterior wood siding. Everything in the house is one of a kind, including the graciously spacious garage and an exterior made of stone and pebble rocks that pleasantly contrast with grey brick and black windows.
Dimitrov is waiting for a person to reach out who sees her vision and recognizes it as their home just the way it is.
“After seeing it all finally come together, I wouldn’t change a thing,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to the house setting a trend in Louisville in the direction of more contemporary style elegant homes.”
For more information on this home and future innovative projects Dimitrov has in mind, you may contact her through her agency, Gant Hill and Associates, or via e-mail at gdllcrealestate@gmail.com.
