On her shows Love It or List It and Tough Love with Hilary Farr, the designer always tells the truth to her clients, no matter how much it hurts. After buying an adorable bungalow in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2020, Hilary had to have a tough conversation with herself. She had planned to renovate the house but discovered that it was waterlogged and termite-ridden, and it had to go. “I was elated with the idea of transforming a little cottage — and devastated to learn it couldn’t be saved,” she says.

She had never built something from the ground up, but she ended up enjoying the process. “I had my own blank slate, so I indulged myself with all the ideas I’d been saving,” she says. Plus, rescue dog Suki and cat Puff love it here as much as Hilary does. Take a look around!