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!

One of the most charming updates to the exterior: the walkway. Hilary surrounded this long and winding path to the front door with native grasses.

The only TV in the house is in this colorful space — Hilary’s favorite room. She had the Ambiente sofa and lumbar pillows covered with fabrics from her Covington line; the coffee table is also from Ambiente.

The Silestone backsplash, hood vent and countertops were inspired by an all-marble kitchen at a Paris Airbnb where Hilary once stayed. “It’s never left my head,” she says. To keep the lines clean on the modern, flat-front cabinets, she chose thin pulls that almost disappear. "I designed the layout in a Southern way so there’s always a cross-draft. I don’t even need AC," she says.