Jenn Hannotte: Okay, everybody relax. No need to get up in arms about my absence; let me explain. And no, I'm not going to blame it on the kids (this time), I'm going to blame it on Real Estate - capital R, capital E. I let the beast take hold of me again and I've gone and sold our house and bought another one a few blocks away, all thanks to the most amazing agent in Toronto, Nutan Brown. But I had good reason - a couple of good reasons, actually. We moved into our current house about 2 1/2 years ago and transformed it from a gold damask (in a bad way, trust me), brown carpeted, stippled mess into a pretty charming and hip abode if I do say so myself (check out my Flickr page here for the befores-and-afters of that ordeal). The main floor got a new kitchen, new floors, new laundry/mud room and upstairs got a coat of paint on every surface, including the floors. There are a lot of classic elements that remained intact from the 101 year old home that are blended with a modern and trendy reno. And that's the thing, folks - it's trendy. That, combined with a housing market that may or may not 'burst' meant that if we were going to reap the rewards from all our hard work, it was now or never. Thankfully, a young couple fell in love and in 5 short days the showings and open houses were over.

Our new house is a 'forever' kind of home. She's big and beautiful and needs a TON of work, so I'll be sharing some of that work and inspiration here as we move from project to project. Oh...did I mention we have to do it for practically free?* We're dubbing it the No-Money-Makeover and it's going to likely mean Craig's Listing, dumpster diving, recycling, street-walking....no, that's too far....and how ever else we can work towards a 'temporary' solution using cheap and clever tricks until we can get to the big stuff in a few years.

Here are a few snaps of the 'new' house below to kick-start brainstorming! Is that a fire place in the entry way? Why, yes it is! Beamed ceilings in the dining room? Check. Stippled plaster everywhere? Sure!

For more of Jenn's take on style click here.

*A disclaimer: The whole house needs the knob and tube wiring removed - a big job at an even bigger ticket price that needs to be done ASAP. so it doesn't count. Because I said so.