Top Transactions: Lake Harriet home sells for $2 million.

Byline: Anne Bretts

Editor's note:The Top Transactions feature focuses on the latest top home sales in the Twin Cities area, as well as noteworthy new listings, new residential developments and housing trends.Finance & Commerce checks certificates of real estate value filed with the Minnesota Department of Revenue as well as data from the Northstar Multiple Listing Service, Realtor.com, county records and other sources.

Deborah and James Damian hadn't planned to buy their neighbor's 1908 home along Lake Harriet, even when the neighbor told them they were meant to have it.

Eventually they did buy it, however, and after nearly 15 years of living there, lovingly renovating the inside and turning the yard into an elaborately landscaped garden, they sold it on Nov. 14 for $2.05 million.

The price is more than $400,000 higher than the $1.6 million they paid in 2004.

Peter Truwit and Lauren Erickson bought the five-bedroom, four-bath, 4,468-square-foot house at 4308 Fremont Ave. S. in Minneapolis from the Damians, who now list their address as an apartment in The Lakes on West Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Listing agent Debbie McNally of Lakes Sotheby's International Realty in Wayzata remembers meeting Deborah Damian.

"It's a wonderful story, actually," she said. "The owner of the house, a gifted landscaper and a gourmet cook and a stylist, is the owner of [children's boutique store] Goodnight Moon. I was in the shop getting presents for grandchildren of mine and grandchildren of friends of mine when she introduced herself."

The store, located at 4388 France Ave. in Minneapolis, is not far from the Fremont Avenue home. Damian had seen McNally's marketing materials and invited her to look at the property.

"It's just as charming as it looks [online]," she said.

The story of how the Damians undertook the renovation project is even more interesting, McNally said. The Damians already lived in the neighborhood, and one day the Freemont Avenue house's owner came up to Deborah Damian and told her she was meant to buy it. Damian was surprised and said she and her husband weren't ready to buy another house. Eventually, the woman convinced them she loved the house and just wanted it to go to people who would care for it as she did.

The Damians worked with Dovetail Construction and architect Jean Rekamp Larson, both of Minneapolis, to update the house.

"They renovated every...