My Maryland Home Tour
We purchased a 1970 brick ranch house in Washington County, Maryland in September of 2022. This wasn’t the home I envisioned us purchasing, but we thought it was a little gem that needed the kind of updating we were eager to do. We have had the privilege of meeting some of the children of the original homeowners, who built this Better Homes & Garden floor plan as their dream home. Follow along as we make updates to the home, big and small, while retaining the original charm and best features of the home.
when the wrong order is the right order
I started working on the dining room mural when there were still nail holes in the walls that needed to be patched. I was doing so well with taking each step of the makeover in its proper turn. I painted the ceiling first, installed the molding, caulked the seams,...
woodblock scenic wallpaper
As I've shared the process of working on the dining room landscape mural, several people have commented on the "paint-by-number" look. (Not in a negative way, but pointing out the departure in style from my oil paintings.) I thought I would share more details about...
dining room landscape mural | diving in
I had the palette selected for the dining room mural. I've painted murals before including a landscape mural in my previous dining room. I had inspiration pictures, sketches, and a vision. Now that the ceiling has a fresh coat, and the wainscoting is installed,...
basement floor progress | 1970 home renovation
A part of me felt like sharing the process of this basement makeover here on the blog wouldn't be very fulfilling. With other rooms in the house, there is going to be a transformation with well-lit photos at the end of the journey. With zero natural light in this...
dining room makeover | painted wainscoting
I have finally finished all of the trim and painting in the dining room that needed to be done before I started on the mural. After having only primer on the walls for over a year, this feels like a huge accomplishment. I don't know why painting the ceiling and...
removing carpet glue from concrete | part one
I'm sure you're excited to see that this is only part one of removing carpet glue from concrete. That means there will at least be a part two and you'll have more ugly photos and stories of slow and tedious DIY endeavors to delight you. As I shared in the initial...
picture frame molding | dining room makeover
I feel like I keep returning to the same decorating bag of tricks with picture frame molding, but it is such an inexpensive and easy way to add architectural detail to a space that it's hard to resist. A room can look stately, classic, and more interesting with just...
basement ponderings & asbestos testing
Prepare yourself for one of the ugliest posts ever to grace this blog. Sometimes when you're renovating an older home, things are ugly. It's almost unavoidable. When we first looked at this house and considered buying it, the basement was the obvious sore thumb. ...
two years | 1970 home renovation
Can you believe we just passed the two-year mark of living in our current house? I feel like, between years two and three is when our MN home started really feeling like ours and I think the same is true for this house. While the Minnesota house just needed some...
painting the dining room ceiling
Well, I finally did it. I've been dragging my feet for over a year, but I painted the dining room ceiling. I have been hung up on working on this room just because I knew the ceiling had to be done first and I just really didn't want to do it. It wasn't the...
Landscape Mural Design & Colors
I'm getting things lined up to start "dining room mural take two." I painted the mural in my last dining room with very little planning. I just had an idea in my head and used MMS Milk Paint and some acrylics that I had on hand. I was just going to throw the paint...
dining room inspiration & plans
While the walls of our dining room are still only primed, I've been giving it a lot of thought lately and would like to start making some progress on it over the next few weeks. It would be very nice to have it done before the holidays. If it makes you feel any...
Kitchen
Like the rest of the house, the kitchen has great bones, but it needed a lot of paint to make it fit my design aesthetic!
We replaced the modern pendants with some small spot/task lighting to accommodate the pot rack. We also painted the cabinets, walls, and trim, replaced the faucet and updated the appliances.
…and we built some simple open shelves in the awkward recess.
- Wall color: Stonington Gray by Benjamin Moore mixed at 50% in Aura, matte finish
- Trim & cabinet color: custom match to Farrow & Ball’s All White (mixed by Benjamin Moore in Advanced, satin finish)
- Doors: Coventry Gray, Benjamin Moore, Advanced, satin finish
- Island: Custom green to match Boxwood from the MMS Milk Paint Line mixed in Benjamin Moore Advanced, satin finish. You can find the exact recipe HERE.
- Counters – Hanstone Quartz in Monterey
- Tile backsplash – Venatino Marble Subway Tile form Lowe’s. You can read about the installation HERE.
- Bar stools: Restoration Hardware
- Pot rack: Calphalon Stainless Steel Pot Rack
- Faucet: Delta Cassidy Kitchen Faucet
- Sink:
- Cabinet hardware: Hobby Lobby
- Braided jute runner: Joss & Main
- Applianced: Kitchen Aid (you can read about the “beefy range” HERE)
Still on the to-do list:
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- Sew a simple valance for the kitchen window
- Maybe replace the range hood with something custom, but that won’t happen for a while!