A LOVE Story Founded on Faith & Family:
Family legacy comes in many different forms for garden, landscape and outdoor remodel television personalities Chris and Peyton Lambton. It shows up in the prayer they recite with daughter Lyla every night before bed, the same blessing Chris’ late mother recited to him and his brothers when he was a child. It shows up in the church elders and older generations within the community in Peyton’s east Tenn. hometown, offering a greeting and a word of wisdom at the grocery store. It’s a legacy hinged on faith, say the Lambtons, who are preparing for the release of Chris’ second season on DIY Network’s “Lawn & Order” and who will make an appearance at the Birmingham Home Show February 16-17 at the BJCC. “It’s nice and refreshing to be able to be open about our faith,” says Peyton. “I think a lot of people aren’t; they either hide it or maybe they don’t feel that they can talk about it along with their careers, but it’s exciting that we are able to share something that’s important to us and our family and our careers. It’s all encompassing.”
Romance & Reality TV. A fan-favorite and the runner-up on season 6 of The Bachelorette, Chris Lambton met wife Peyton, who had competed in season 10 of The Bachelor, through mutual friends at a charity event in 2010. Instead of returning to ABC for another season searching for love, Chris had decided to stay home in Cape Code, Massachusetts, running E. Lambton Landscaping with brother Erik and their father, Ed, who is notoriously remembered by Bachelorette fans as the man who used to tell wife Marjorie that “love is the only reality.” Impressed with his authentic skill as a landscaper in a charming hometown, HGTV approached Chris with an idea for the gardening and landscaping series “Going Yard” just after his engagement to Peyton in 2011. The couple co-hosted the show, and they even filmed a special in Chris’ backyard to prepare for a Cape Code wedding reception for friends and family. Once his parents’ house, both of Chris’ brothers were married in the same backyard. Chris is now a familiar face on HGTV and DIY Network, also hosting “Yard Crashers” and appearing on “Blog Cabin,” “HGTV Dream Home” and “HGTV SmartHome.”
Mentors in the Faith. When it comes to mentors who inspire him as he sets out to engage Christian values as a husband and father, Chris looks no further than his own parents. “My mom was raised by her mom, and so forth, [to be at] church on Sundays. Every meal we had growing up we’d say a little prayer first. When my mom tucked us in, she had another prayer she would say to us every night. I think those little things and the instilling of the family values was very important in my growing up,” he says, noting he still hosts Sunday family dinners with his brothers and their children as at their home in Cape Cod as often as possible. Raised in Kingsport, Tenn., Peyton says traveling to baptize their daughter in the same church she was baptized in was a significant step in maintaining faith traditions important to her family. Born in November 2016, Layla James Lambton became the sixth generation from Peyton’s family to be baptized at the family’s church. “My father served as an elder in the church, so he was able to be a part of the ceremony,” Peyton remembers. “The biggest reason I wanted to do that was because family is so important to us, teaching Layla this is what we have.”
For the Lambtons, the significance of Layla’s baptism also represents a lesson in patience and seeking God for guidance while pursuing parenthood. Conceived via in vitro fertilization, Layla’s birth followed what Peyton calls “a long long long hard battle and a lot of soul searching” on how to create a family when it doesn’t happen naturally. “Trusting God is a huge part of it because it’s such a frustrating process,” she remembers. “It was so long, and I’m very much a person of instant gratification. It was probably two years of going to the doctor and blood tests and injections and all of these things that you did not imagine when you set out to start a family. There was a lot of resentment. There was a lot of anger. But then I just had to put my trust in God that He had a plan, and He did. His plan was for Layla, and no matter how we ended up with the family that we have, that was His plan all along,” she says, adding, “I just have to trust that in the future when we want to have future children. If that is in the cards, then we will just have to trust and have faith.”
The Fun is in the Filming. Still working daily in his family landscaping business, Chris says one of the most memorable parts of filming for HGTV and DIY Network landscaping shows is the people he meets along the way. Filmed in Philadelphia and Orlando, ”Lawn & Order” focuses on finding homeowners who lack the inspiration, the money or the skill to raise their home’s value by boosting curb appeal. “We get to go in there as a team and completely tear out the yard and make the client work a little bit so they get the sweat equity,” Chris says. “It gives them more of an ownership so they’ll take care of it when we leave.”
Now an interior designer in Cape Code, Peyton says when it comes to filming for Chris’ newest shows, she leaves most decisions up to him. “He’s so good at what he does that we try to stay in our own lanes. I’ll come in and help with some finishing stuff if there’s furniture involved, as far as what style, what fabrics, finishing accessories. But when it comes to the basic landscaping, the layout and design, that’s all him.”
Meet the Lambtons. In Birmingham this month, Chris and Peyton will share photos and stories from some of their most memorable projects and give helpful tips for committing to the first step in making your outdoor dreams a reality. “We try to give people ideas to get outside, to take that first step, and to renovate their yard into a great space where they can entertain. The great thing about a home show is that I can give some ideas and walk around and find people to help implement those ideas right there. It’s kind of like a one stop shop.” The Lambtons will appear at the BJCC Birmingham Home Show at 6 p.m. on February 16th and again at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. on February 17. For more details visit www.homeshowbirmingham.com.
– Camille Smith Platt
