Toronto Star

Until now, Tami Gringorten-Rabin has never fallen in love with a house. Those are long odds, considering that she's lived in 16 homes since coming to Canada from Israel 30 years ago. "I've always heard people say that they love their houses, but I just don't get attached to spaces," she explains. "Buying run-down houses and fixing them up is a hobby for me. I put my signature on them, and then I leave." But at last, Gringorten's heart has been captured. The object of her affection is a 4,000-square-foot brick bungalow, set on a heavily treed lot in Bayview Glen. "This is the first house I've wanted to stay in, and the one I've been attached to the longest. My husband wants to sell it, get a penthouse and start travelling. Logically, I know it's the right thing to do, but I just don't know if I can," she says of her masterpiece near Bayview and Steeles Aves. Gringorten has no formal training in architecture or design; she's an amateur in the true sense of the word, someone who pursues an activity out of passion, rather than as a means to make money.