NEW REMODEL PROJECT: WILLOW WICK

I am so fortunate to be able to work with such a great real estate team that invests in making homes better by renovating them and taking the care to hire a designer to make sure it gets done better than your average flip.

I love doing these projects because they challenge me with their budget restrictions and need to be "safe" for the unknown buyer, while also being stylish and beautiful. But as you might suspect, it is very fun for me to be able to design the space exactly as I would like to (given my sometimes very strict budget restrictions).

My latest project I was hired to help with is in Sandy, Utah on a street called Willow Wick. It is going to be a wonderful family home when we are finished, but it started out as a very strange home with a difficult exterior renovation needed.

Here are my plans for the home with the BEFORE pics.

Thinking of blueish-gray exterior color with white pillars to make this strange home exterior into a fresh, cape-inspired exterior.

Benjamin Moore Glacier White tongue and groove accent wall will give it a casual, cape/farmhouse look I'm thinking of for this home. Considering marble for the fireplace, or even a limestone or slate.

We will be adding glass doors to the opening to create a definitive separation between the formal dining and the kitchen.

The ceilings are too low for pendants over the new island, so to add some lighting (besides the cans we are putting in) I am doing two overhead sconces to add character and directed light. The room next to the kitchen is going to be turned into a mud-room and pantry.

I wish I had more pics of the house to show you more of my plans, but I will share some of my inspiration photos instead and watch for updates of the home as we go! (BTW, my Insta account (mariannebrown12) is the best way to keep updated on projects if you are interested!)

Images via my Pinterest board:

FARMHOUSE/CAPE-INSPIRED HOME REMODEL

tongue + groove for the accent wall

sconces in the kitchen

master shower set-up

love the tongue + groove and lantern lighting for the master bathroom

kids bath inspiration

dark wood flooring to add depth

vertical tongue + groove could be cool?! Loving the simple fireplace.

I have big plans for this house! Excited to get working on this one...by the way remember my B Street project? Guess what, we still haven't even progressed past dry-wall! Aagh! Hopefully we will move that one in a couple of months as well...

OVERSTOCK'S SOMERTILE MOSAIC TILE - TRIED + TRUE TUESDAY

So it seems we are only blogging on Tuesdays lately :) But this Tuesday we have a great product review to share with you. It's Overstock's SomerTile Castle White Mosaic tile. We had been eying this tile for a while and were excited when we got to use it in our N Street project as the fireplace tile surround.

THE STATS: $154.99 for a pack of 10 sheets. Each sheet measures at 11.75" x 11.75" so the sheets are just under a foot each. That makes this tile approximately $15.50 a sq. ft. The tile is glazed porcelain so it works for both indoor and outdoor use.

The tile installed...

In this picture the tile almost has a creamy look to it, but in real life I would say it has almost a grayish tone to it. The people who bought the home requested a cream grout to blend in with the tile, but if I had my way I would have done a charcoal grout so you could see the pattern really well (like the picture above of it in the box). We also thought about doing a blueish-gray grout that would bring in some color as well as show the pattern better.

OUR REVIEW: +++ This product gets a 3 out of 3 pluses from us (our version of stars). For the price, this is a fun mosaic tile that is well made, and a good color. Overstock is always a great company to work with, with an excellent return policy and great customer service. The tile arrived in perfect condition and the tile installer had zero issues with the tile. We definitely recommend this tile to you.

Best uses of the tile:
- Fireplaces (obviously)
- Kitchen Backsplash
- Powder Room Bathroom Floor
- Shower Walls and/or Ceiling

Have you used this product? If so, please do share! Also, if you have seen a product we have used in one of our projects and are wondering how we liked it, let us know and we will make sure to give you our review.

WHAT'S UP - 8.16.12

The past few weeks have been busy, yet very manageable. I like being a little bit busy. It keeps me motivated without the stress.

I have been looking for fabric for pillows, for clients and myself. This is my personal favorite from Designer's Guild. I want to make lumbar pillows out of this for my couch, but I'm not sure it's the right fabric for that space.

I have some other fabric that I am loving for various projects.

This paisley fabric with the dot background is another favorite. Wouldn't it look great with the wavy stripe and gold fabric? I love the gold fabric for an accent pillow.

I've also been sketching out my plans for N Street. (This is a very rough drawing I did quickly - still in the idea phase)

I was thinking of painting stripes in the main floor half bath, but then I thought that might look a little too young for who might be buying the home. I still want to do something different with the paint so I might paint one very large stripe around the room in a dark navy blue or black. Here are some other striped painting ideas I gathered from Pinterest...

I've also been looking at fireplace and built-ins on Pinterest for the N Street project. Here are my current favorites.

If you have a definite favorite of the 3 fireplaces, please let me know. Your help is SO appreciated.

I've also been trying to keep this messy kid from destroying my house! She is so cute right now and super funny, but seriously the messiest kid I know!! (Doesn't she look amazing?! Just trying to keep it real. This is what we all look like in the morning at my house).

And that's what's up!