But, let’s first look at some befores, for some satisfaction…

This space was graced with some brown linoleum floors and small dark wood trim. Other than that (and a bunch of bi-pass doors that did not slide properly) this room was a blank slate. It connected the family room to the basement, garage, and half bath, so this is a very important thoroughfare. And it housed the laundry hookups. So this is a very hardworking and significant room, in my humble opinion.

First things first, the linoleum had to go… Now I don’t know if you’ve ever removed linoleum before, but it can be a major pain to say the least. Basically the top, plasticky layer peels off without too much crazy effort. But, then you are stuck with the adhesive layer below it. And this stuff can be next to impossible to remove.

I hesitate to even share this with you all, but after trying a variety of methods, we settled on the heat method… AKA the blow torch. I won’t say the fire alarm never went off, and I won’t say that the trim never caught on fire… Basically, Jake would blow torch the area and I would take a metal ice scraper and scrape the (sometimes ignited) linoleum adhesive off the floor.

All in all, this was not the smartest home renovation project we’ve ever done. And in retrospect, why did we need to remove the adhesive??? We definitely should have just tiled over it and saved ourselves the sweaty, stressful nightmare that it was. Oh well, you live and learn.

Finally, with all the linoleum removed. It was time to begin tiling!!! This was by and far the single most time consuming project we did on this flip house. Tiling is a lot of work! It’s not necessarily super hard… but it is tricky, especially if you’re going for quality craftsmanship.

As I shared in the mudroom design plans, my vision for this space included a classic checkered tile floor. I was really hoping to get a marble look, but also knew full well that I was definitely not going to fit real marble in the budget (this is a flip after all). The space was pretty large and so I set out to find a line of tiles that were larger than 12″ x 12″ and that had a white and gray marble look tile.

It was important for me that they both came from the same line because that is the easiest way to ensure that they will fit together. Many tiles are different depths, or have different finished edges, or more or less shiny finishes. After a bit of searching, I honed in on the MSI Porcelain Alicante Tile in Bianco and Grigio.

Now, sadly I don’t think this tile is available any more at Home Depot right now… But fear not, I have rounded up some other beautiful options that are very similar and great prices:

EMSER tiles from Home Depot
You should be able to mix and match any of these since they are the same brand, and finish. There are a variety of options in the 18″ and 24″ sizes.

• Potenza Dove 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Matte Porcelain Stone Look Tile
• Sandstorm Kalahari Matte 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Porcelain Tile
• Realm Ii Nation 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Matte Porcelain Stone Look Tile
• Contessa Dama Matte 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Porcelain Tile
• Contessa Oro 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain

• Sterlina Gray 23.62 in. x 23.62 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Sterlina White 23.62 in. x 23.62 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Sterlina Asphalt 23.62 in. x 23.62 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Contessa Oro 23.82 in. x 23.82 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Contessa Dama 23.82 in. x 23.82 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain

For even more tile options and a deeper look into designing marble-like checkered tile floors, check out my in depth post on the subject.

As I said earlier, tiling this 300 square foot mudroom was no joke! It took us nearly 2 weeks to complete. We started by layout out the tile. Doing a diamond pattern is a little different than when the tiles are square to the walls. We started in the middle so that the tiles would be centered and worked our way out from there.

This is considered large format tile, so we used mapei’s mortar that was specifically formulated for LFT (larg format tile). The one thing we didn’t do, that wouldn’t made our lives easier, was use a tile leveling system. In more recent projects using large tiles, we’ve utilized the tile leveling systems and found them very helpful in getting a quality tile job.

We decided on a 1/16″ grout line, and I think it was a great choice! It can be scary to do a small grout joint if you are worried the tiles won’t line up right or the floor is not completely level. But in this case, the tiles looked great and we didn’t have any issues with the small grout lines.

And we used my absolute favorite grout. Seriously, never use any other kind… other grouts are inferior. We matched the grout color to the gray tiles, since white grout in a mudroom is probably a bad idea. I love Mapei’s grout because it is so easy to work with, unlike the sanded grouts I’ve tried from Home Depot and Menards. And, it has excellent color consistency which is SUPER important. I’ve used grout before that changes color based on how much water you mix in and each batch is slightly different. Needless to say, that is not a good look.

Once the floors were finally completed, it was painting time! Our painters painted everything in the color SW Greek Villa. And the doors got done in SW Agreeable Gray. In this house, the trim was all very small and wimpy looking. But, it was still in decent shape. So, we made the decision to keep it, and paint it the same color as the walls in order that it would blend in. I think it created a more minimalist modern vibe that worked in the style of the house.

One design element that did not stay from the original plans was the laundry area buildout. I was hoping to install a counter over the washer and dryer and kind of make them look built in to the sink cabinet. But, after going back and forth on it, we decided not to buy the washer and dryer and let the future homeowners pick that out themselves. In retrospect, we’re not sure we would do that again, as the buyers used the fact that there was no washer/dryer as a negotiation tactic. But you live and you learn!

We did install this very beautiful stainless sink. I am in love with how the legs are separate from the sink bowl and support it so elegantly! I might be a little jealous that they get this laundry sink…

And the final touch, to really make this mud/laundry room shine, we added a shaker peg rail that wrapped around the whole room, as well as the adjoining half bath. To create this shaker peg rail look, we installed primed pine 1×3 wood pieces to the wall. Then we drilled holes and installed these shaker pegs with a bit of wood glue. Although I had considered painting the shaker pegs the same color as the wall and rails, the natural wood tone added a nice warmth that the room was lacking. So we opted to leave them in their natural state.

And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the after pictures!!!! In the end, this room just needed a new floor, sink, some paint, storage wall, and a little fix-up job on the doors. And that is enough to completely transform a space from bleh and dingy to bright and classically beautiful. I even got to use our shaker style entry bench to stage the mudroom.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the progression of this combo mudroom laundry room! I have been enjoying seeing all the ways others have been incorporating checkerboard tiled floors into their designs. One thing I did notice after we completed this project, was that the gray tiles are much more forgiving in a mudroom than the white tiles. So, I’m probably never going to do white tiles on the floor in my own home. We are just way too messy!!

The post A Checkered Mudroom / Laundry Room appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Possibly the biggest functional improvement we did at the Fischer Flip was to nearly double the size of the master bath. When we bought the house, the master bath consisted of a tub and barely enough room for a pedestal and toilet.

You walked through a hallway with closets on either side to get into the bath. Since the master already had 2 closets, we decided to remove one of the bathroom closets so we could add a double vanity and make the entire hallway and bath, one decent sized space. This change alone transformed the space and allowed room for a double vanity plus linen cabinet.

After reframing and drywall the space once the closet was removed, we used subway tile to tile the shower enclosure and back wall of the bathroom. My thinking was that this tile wall would be the first thing you see when you look in. Tiling walls is time consuming and adds cost to a flip bathroom, but if you’re going to do it, might as well maximize where is going for the most impact.

For the flooring I went with a light gray marble look tile in 6×6 by Bedrosians. They were a clearance find, so I don’t have the source to share. But I really enjoyed using these tiles. It can be difficult to find tiles in anything but the standard sizes. And I feel that the standard sizes are just so overused. The 6×6 in stacked pattern felt different but also a tad retro, which I love!

One of my first purchases for the Fischer flip was this double vanity from Home Depot. The deep gray color really appealed to me and I liked how it was a unique take on a furniture style vanity.

The legs are higher than most vanities giving more visual space below (and admittedly less storage). Also, there were doors under the sink basins, which is really helpful for install. Drawers can run into the plumbing and cause expensive problems quickly.

I try to always swap out the knobs and pulls on vanities because it’s an easy and cheap way to make the vanity look custom and high end. Here I used the Liberty gold riveted knob and pull from Home Depot and they are the perfect mix of gold and black to tie together those tones throughout the bath.

We used the same bathroom faucets throughout the house in different finishes, here the Bathroom faucets are in brushed gold. The marble vanity top is from Menards, where I almost always get my vanity tops.

I waffled over what mirror should go in here and barely bought one in time to list the house! But in the end, I went with one mirror to span both sinks with a white-washed oak frame. I’m so happy with the quality and it truly adds another element of texture to this room of tile, gray, black and gold.

Installing frameless shower doors was a new endeavor for us… and it was not without trials!! We quickly found out that the framing wasn’t quite in the right location to support the hinges of the shower door. So, we had to add extra blocking, but eventually we got these doors safely secured. They are actually frameless, even though they look like steel framed shower doors. I like that this allows for easier cleaning.

To keep true to our brass theme in this house, I chose the Kohler Brass Shower Head and Handle as the pretty jewels of this shower. I love the punch of warmth they add to this black and white shower space! You can also see my little marble shower shelves I tiled in for storage. These are so cute and affordable from Floor and Decor!

We actually went through two iterations of lights in this bathroom. The first ones I ordered on amazon were cute but didn’t sit flush against the wall, and overall they just felt like low quality. That’s always a hard thing when you are ordering on Amazin, judging the quality of an item.

But, I think we got it right the second time with these Vanity Lights. Plus I love that they tie in three elements: glass, black and gold! They even come with the Edison bulbs included which made my life easier

In the end we still had a decent amount of space between the double vanity and the toilet. And since we had removed a closet, we decided to add a bit of storage back into the space via a linen cabinet.

I originally had my heart set on the IKEA Milsbo, but we installed this so last minute and it was out of stock at our IKEA. So were my second and third choices… but we were able to snag this Brimnes cabinet and it is beautiful and works just fine!

Sources
Dark gray double vanity
Liberty gold riveted knob and pull
Bathroom faucets
White-washed Oak Vanity Mirror
Frameless Glass Shower Door
Linen Cabinet
Vanity Lights
Paint color Sherwin Williams Greek Villa
Kohler Brass Shower Head and Handle

The post Fischer Master Bath appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Sometimes it’s the littlest rooms that pack the biggest punch. At the Fischer Flip house, this certainly rings true of this adorable half bath. We spent the last half of 2020 completely renovating this home. Now that it’s officially under contract for sale, the one room I’ll be saddest to let go is the sweet powder room off of an equally epic mudroom.

Let’s start out with a before photo and talk through this little half bath’s transformation….

There was actually a theme to the decorating in this home when we bought it: painting the same color on the walls and ceiling. I’m not entirely opposed to this idea… But it was just not working in this space.

We ultimately removed everything and painted the walls and trim in Sherwin Williams Greek Villa. This really helped brighten things up and presented a blank canvas for the bath.

The half bath was a part of the massive mud / laundry room and I had opted for a gray and white marble-look checkered floor tile. This naturally carried through to the half bath and helped keep it looking cohesive.

Laying this tile truly felt like a never ending task. We are just not very fast tilers, and there was 300 square feet to cover! Our biggest tile job yet. You would think that 18″ tiles would go down fast since they are so big, but there is just much less margin for error with big tiles.

The tile was an online order from Home Depot and we used the MSI Porcelain Alicante Tile in Bianco and Grigio. And we used a 1/16″ grout line. I matched the grout color to the gray tile so the seams would be less noticeable.

Picking out vanities has always been a struggle for me. I’m just so torn by look, price, and quality. It feels impossible to get all three. And then there is function… Functionally I prefer drawers, as I’m guessing do most people. But for ease of install, doors are hands down the winner. If the drawers get in the way of plumbing, you can run into headaches real fast.

In an effort to balance all of these things, I opted for this gray furniture style vanity base on Wayfair. I felt like it was a good compromise with the doors for plumbing clearance and a drawer at the bottom for easier storage. I did initially panic that the plumbing was too low and would go into the drawer space, but thankfully that didn’t end up being the case.

The vanity comes with stainless steel knobs, but I ended up replacing them with these unlacquered brass knobs that matched the kitchen hardware. I find that swapping out hardware on big box vanities helps them look more custom.

I usually buy my marble vanity tops from Menards because they seem to have the best prices. For the Fischer Flip we used the same bathroom faucets throughout the home in different finishes. In the half bath and master we chose burnished brass to match all the other brass finishes. These faucets seemed to be great quality, they had a very strong flow though!

Perhaps my favorite piece of this bathroom was a Habitat for Humanity Restore find: an unlacquered brass articulating wall sconce for just $40. I had to seriously talk myself out of keeping this for our home… but I just knew it was perfect for this space. Here is a very similar one.

This inspiration photo I saw on Pinterest has left me dying to do a side mounted arm sconce in a bathroom. We almost went for it in our basement bathroom, but I chickened out last minute and had the electrician install the box in the traditional place above the mirror. The half bath in this flip house actually was already wired with a side sconce. And so with no wires to move, it was the perfect candidate!

The final element of this half bath design came together at the very end in the form of shaker peg rail. This is another design element I’ve been dreaming of trying, and it just felt right in this mudroom space. In keeping with the flow of incorporating the half bath design with the mudroom, we carried the shaker peg rails in.

And to really bring the design home, I wanted to hang the bathroom mirror on the shaker pegs. Not gonna lie… I bought and returned two mirrors before settling on the final option. I love ordering from Home Depot because they make returns so easy.

We bought the shaker pegs off Amazon and left them in their natural wood state to bring some warmth. Otherwise these walls are a whole lot of white.

Well there you have it, the design and evolution of quite possibly my favorite room in the Fischer Flip. If you missed the after picture of the whole house make sure to check them out here. Also, the lovely before photos are always fun to gawk at.

It feels surreal to have our third flip house in the books! But also, so empowering. During the Fanchon Flip, our goal was to figure out if flipping was a possibility for us. This flip was about whether or not it is repeatable. And I’m happy to share that it is, and we will.

Sources
MSI Porcelain Alicante Tile in Bianco and Grigio
Wall paint Sherwin Williams Greek Villa
Gray furniture style vanity base
Unlacquered brass knobs
Bathroom faucets
Round Hanging Mirror
Shaker pegs
Similar Sconce

The post The Sweetest Half Bath appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

But here we are January of 2021, and this home is listed and ready to become a very special place to next owners. Without further ado… please peruse these lovely images (courtesy of my phone camera) and enjoy the transformation!

Don’t miss the before pictures to truly appreciate the transformation! I’m hoping to break each space down in future posts and go into sources and design process. There was so much we learned through flipping this house. I’ve been so bad about documenting it all here, but I’m hoping to be sharing more here very soon!

The post Presenting the Fischer Flip appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Announcing one’s pregnancy has become such a big adieu. I’m all for keeping things simple. This was a nice way to capture our news in a Christmas card format. You could even use this idea to announce gender as well!

I had bought these gingerbread men and women cookie cutters. You could easily use the smallest gingerbread woman shape as your baby cookie as well. I’ve never made gingerbread before, but it was surprisingly simple. Once the cookies were baked and cooled, I used a royal icing packet to pipe on their clothes and faces.

Gahhhh, the cutest just kills me!!! Next year I’ll have to figure out how to make gingerbread ornaments to commemorate the baby’s first year.

We ended up taking the photos and adding them to our Christmas card for fun announcement surprise. There are so many cute phrases couples use to share that they are expecting. It’s hard to choose! But I had searched a few Christmas pregnancy announcements and thought this was the sweetest: “The more the merrier…”

Sidenote… I had found that red gingham vintage dress months ago and basically cooked up this whole thing as an excuse to wear it. It’s so fun to find unique clothes from times past and give them new life!

I’ll admit, the ginormous shoulder pads threw me at first. But after trying to remove them and realizing that made the top way too big, I decided to embrace them.

We ended up listing this flip house for sale a few weeks later and these little window wreaths made the sweetest backdrop for the real estate photos. I found the red felt ribbon on the wreaths at an estate sale. There was several boxes of Christmas wrapping and bows, and I got them all!

I was hoping to capture a simple ‘Scandinavian Christmas’ vibe with some minimal organic materials, and accenting with some pops of red. I had a hard time finding a lot of Christmas kitchen inspiration that felt understated. A lot of it is very cheesy or over the top.

The Christmas kitchens I ended up liking the most used natural materials like greens, wood, ribbon, and brass. So I pulled together my thrifted dough bowl, some brass candlesticks, and some holiday greens to get the look.

We are so excited to welcome this little girl into our lives in 2021!!! It feels like good timing: I’m into my second trimester and we now have the Fischer Flip on the market. I feel like there is more space in my mind now to start considering and preparing for the new little babe.

It was full force ahead and all focus on the flip house until now. So, listing this place has given me a lot of peace of mind. I am ready to start nesting! I’ll leave you with a few final pictures from this Christmas Pregnancy Announcement shoot and our sweet little gingerbread family.

Photo credit to the amazing Rilea Petersen.

The post A Christmas Announcement appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

I am so overly obsessed with this look, I wanted to do another post solely dedicated to my love for the checkered tile floor and delve into the different variations and options you have when looking to do this in your home.

There are a hundred different variations of this floor pattern, using various colors and types of tile. But for this post, I’ll be focusing on the black and white, or gray and white, marble checkered look.

So, if you are thinking about installing your own checker tiled floor, then this is the post for you! We’re going to talk about all the considerations you’ll need to think about before picking your tile, and deciding your layout and design.

Size of Tile

When you are planning your checkered floor, it’s important to consider the size and scale of the tile you will use. Do you like the busier look of smaller tiles? Or the spacious feel of large format tiles?

For large spaces you can get away with larger tiles. In this stunning dining room by Chris Loves Julia, they went with a 24×24 inch tile. It’s huge, but totally fits the scale of this extra big dining space!

We decided to go with a 18×18 for our 250 square foot laundry space, and I feel like its a nice spacious look. But I’m very glad we didn’t go bigger!! I’ll be honest, size wasn’t the biggest deciding factor for me. I knew I wanted a large format tile (ranging from 16×16 to 24×24), but I based my decision on the best looking (and cheapest) tile and it worked out to be 18×18.

Common sizes you’ll see for tiles include: 30×30, 24×24, 18×18, 12×12, and 6×6. Perhaps the most popular sized tile is the 12×12. I think this is a nice size, and I love this bathroom below by Jaimee Rose Interiors. Here the 12×12 goes nicely in the space!

And finally the smallest you can get before going into mosaics is 8×8 or 6×6. I think this look can get a little busy, but it also makes quite the impact. If you want a bit of a retro vibe, this is definitely the way to go! I just love the below room by Sarah Gordon and how the muted monochromatic space lets those smaller checkered tiles shine.

When picking the size tile for your space, definitely weigh in the other elements of the room. Are there a lot of busy looking details already? Maybe opt for larger tiles. Going for a traditional look? The 12×12 never fails! Prefer a vintage vibe? Consider some smaller tiles for your space.

Tile Material

A lot of the black and white (and gray and white) checker board floors that I see are marble or marble-look-a-likes. But that doesn’t mean you have to use real marble tiles to achieve the look. Marble can be expensive to buy and is often more money to install because of increased difficulty. There are a variety of options when it comes to tile material

Obviously nothing will ever replace the variation and beauty of real marble tile. The space below is just gobsmackingly stunning… You can tell it’s real marble because of how unique each tile is. And it’s that raw natural beauty that truly steals the show in this space.

If you love the the marble tile look, but hate the price and the idea of dealing with finicky real stone, you can consider a ceramic or porcelain tile. They make many very realistic porcelain and ceramic tiles that give you that subtle veining.

This beautiful floor by The Life Styled Co uses porcelain tiles, but still has a marble-look. I love the gray and white veining in the tiles. It adds such a nice nuance.

And then of course, you do not have to go for a marble effect at all. There are many beautiful porcelain and ceramic checkered floors that have no veining at all. This marvelous kitchen floor by Joanna Gaines, is simply black and white.

Which Tile Finish?

When looking for your checkered tile, be sure to consider what kind of finish you’d like your tile to have. Tiles range from polished, to matte, to tumbled, and each of these will give you a very different look.

Perhaps the most formal and traditional look is achieved with a polished tile. These will have a shiny appearance, and offer a more glam style. In the grand hallway below, the sheen of the tile elevates the space.

If you want a more casual or old-world look, opt for matte or honed tiles. These low to no shine tiles, as seen in the bathroom below by Ham Interiors, offer a ‘lived-in’ vibe. Real stone tiles will be called ‘honed,’ and man made tiles with low sheen are usually called ‘matte’.

And finally if you like that really old-world, totally organic, natural vibe: check out some tumbled tile. Usually an option in real stone, the tumbled look is more jagged and raw. It’s missing those perfect lines and edges and has a softer effect. Keep in mind, these imperfections will usually require larger grout lines, as seen below.

Colors for the Checkerboard

There are endless options when it comes to color for your checkered tile floors. The most classic and common route is the black and white combo. But you may also want to consider a softer look, like gray and white. You could even play with the white tile and consider an ivory or beige for a warmer effect. The floor below looks fabulous with a clay and black combination.

If you prefer to walk on the wilder side, consider some more fun color options. You could use white and red, blue and green, pink and orange… Seriously, go nuts with it! The checkerboard pattern is just so classic, that you can’t go wrong.

Border or No?

You may have noticed that some of the floors above have borders around the edges and some have the checker board pattern going all the way to the wall. In general, no border is a cleaner more modern look. But, the border can add elegance and flair if you choose to go that route!

In the photo above, Ham Interiors used a checkered tile pattern that went all the way to the walls. I think it gives this historic home an updated and more modern leaning. Using traditional materials in a slightly more modern take can be a great way to get that transitional look that is so classic and beautiful.

In this entryway, the Fox Group used a small gray border around the gray and white tile and in this case it perfectly defines the space. Without a border this flooring transition might not look so intentional and thought out.

Direction of Tile

In almost all of the pictures I’ve been sharing, the checkerboard pattern is going diagonal to the walls. This causes triangles around the edges and a diamond look. But, you can also consider laying your tiles in line with the walls for another look.

This stunning space uses a perpendicular tile pattern that gives the space a more casual vibe. I think that if you lay your tiles in line with the walls your design will usually lean slightly more casual or retro.

Checkered Tile Options

Ok, now that you know exactly what size tile you are looking for, how you’ll lay the tiles, what sheen you prefer and whether or not you’ll use a border…. How are you going to find these tiles for your harlequin floor??

Fear not, after spending hours of searching the vast internet for options, I’m here to share with you some of my favorite tile combos to get that checkered tile look!

First things first, it’s best if you can find a darker and lighter tile in the same product line. That way you can be sure that they will be the same height and size and coordinate together properly. If you are using real stone, this may not be possible and you’ll have to pay extra close attention to the dimensions of the tile and also how they are cut (rectified, beveled, tumbled etc.).

My Checkered Tile Floor

Updated to add:

The mudroom checkered tile floors turned out incredible!! Letting those floors go may be one of the saddest parts of selling the Fischer Flip. They were also our biggest tile job to date. We learned so much through the process… like always buy Mapei tiling products. They are far superior to what Menards and Home Depot sells in the grout and mortar department. We got up close and personal with a 24″ tile snapper. Cut many a door jamb with the multi-tool saw. And regretted not buying and using tile leveling clips. Through the whole thing, my confidence in tiling has increased exponentially and I cannot wait to tackle our next project! Check out the final look below…

Now, sadly I don’t think this tile is available any more at Home Depot right now… But I think this line of tile has some very similar options at an affordable price.

EMSER tiles from Home Depot
You should be able to mix and match any of these since they are the same brand, and finish. There are a variety of options in the 18″ and 24″ sizes.

• Potenza Dove 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Matte Porcelain Stone Look Tile
• Sandstorm Kalahari Matte 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Porcelain Tile
• Realm Ii Nation 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Matte Porcelain Stone Look Tile
• Contessa Dama Matte 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Porcelain Tile
• Contessa Oro 17.72 in. x 17.72 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain

• Sterlina Gray 23.62 in. x 23.62 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Sterlina White 23.62 in. x 23.62 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Sterlina Asphalt 23.62 in. x 23.62 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Contessa Oro 23.82 in. x 23.82 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain Tile
• Contessa Dama 23.82 in. x 23.82 in. Matte Marble Look Porcelain

And here are some other options to consider for your marble-look tiles:

1. Bedrosians Urban porcelain tile (24×24) matte in Iron Blue and Lava Gray

2. MSI Alicante porcelain tile (18×18) matte in Bianco and Grigio

3. Carrera Marble polished tile and Vogue Gray Polished Marble Tile (18×18)

4. Bedrosians Urban porcelain tile (24×24) matte in Raven Black and Nova White

5. Black Slate Tile textured and Crema Antiqua Tumbled Travertine Tile (12×12)

6. Pianetto Polished Porcelain tile (24×24) in Sabbia Bianco and Laurento Gray

And not to be discounted, is the option to cover your existing floors with vinyl peel and stick tiles in this same style. Check out these Floorpops for a cheap and easy upgrade! Chris loves Julia even made their own line specifically so you can achieve the checkered marble tile look.

Pretty nifty right?! I would say that this is definitely a style I would like to replicate again in another space. Since installing this checkered floor, I’ve noticed so many others doing similar looks! It’s so fun to see a beautiful and classic look catch on. And I am now inspired to look to older tile patterns and colors for my future tiling projects. I wish you all the best in your checkered floor journey! And if you like this mudroom, make sure to check out how the tile looks in the sweet little adjoining half bath.

The post Checkered Tile Floors appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Le’ts start with some before pictures so you can get an understanding of the space…

The mudrooom is right off the the living room, and near the entry way. It is a whopping 250 square feet and includes: a laundry area, half bath, 2 coat closets, garage access, basement access, and exterior access. Is there anything this space doesn’t have?!? When we first saw this house, I was enamored with this room and I truly believe it will be a major selling feature of this house.

When something is going to be a selling feature, it’s worth the time, money, and effort to really make it shine. I knew I wanted to do some time of tonal trim around the whole room and incorporate shaker pegs for practical and beautiful storage.

This inspiration mudroom space always gets me with it’s rustic beauty!! And I wanted to do a similar treatment with trim painted the same color as the trim, doors, and windows with shaker pegs.

I love modeling things in sketchup to get a better idea of the design and iron out details. So I started out with the below design. I want to incorporate some builtin boxes for the washer and dryer and have some double shaker pegs on the one wall, and a bench next to the garage.

I actually already know what bench I’m going to stage this space with!! A few months ago I found the most beautiful shaker-style entry bench on FB Marketplace for our home. It will go so beautifully here and I love that I can stay true to a shaker look in here. (Let’s see how far I can take the shaker theme!!)

So, I had been trying to decide exactly what trimwork we would do on the wall, board and batten, like this room?

Or a simple beadboard, or vertical panelling would be pretty….

But I knew that both of those options would be very labor intensive… doable though. In flipping, your goal is to shorten the time you hold the house, and the more complicated things are, the longer they take. I was trying to brainstorm a simpler solution to get the same effect when I came upon these (traditional Shaker) pictures:

It all became clear! We will do this shaker style peg rail with a chair rail below for a beautiful, historic look that will take MUCH less effort. My plan is paint the trim, doors, and windows in SW Agreeable Gray for a subtle tonal look.

With that aspect of the design figured out, I moved onto the flooring… Jake requested large tiles for speed of install. I looked through quite a few options trying to find a cheap ( <$3/sq ft ) tile that looked like stone. There were some definite options. But at the same time, I had become obsessed with the marble checkered floor and was considering the look for the master bathroom.

The more I saw pictures of the check flooring idea, the more I knew that I wanted to do it in the mudroom. There are infinite examples to show you. Chris Loves Julia just did a spectacular version of this in their dining room. And here are a few inspiration photos I adore…

This image is by the magnificent Ham Interiors and I could include every photo of this home in my all time favorite designs. But, I especially loved seeing the trimwork in the color I am thinking. Also, I noted, the matte tile, and larger size.

Here is another home where you see a gray and white checkered diagonal floor with the soft greige trimwork.

And of course this is why it is such a lovely idea for a mudroom. I love the two floors meeting and the peek a boo effect of this beautiful tile.

I went on a search for the perfect checkerboard tiles with a few criteria in mind:

• Less than $3 a square foot (it’s a large space so budget really counts!)
• Matte tile
• Larger tiles (preferably 18″)
• Porcelain tile that had a white marble option and a gray marble option (preferably with veining)

It was tricky to pick these out, and it’s tough to go off on online pictures that may not be accurate. I first found the Urban tiles at Bedrosians and fell in love… but sadly they were over budget.

After hours of searching online, I came across these MSI Alicante tiles at Home Depot. They met all my criteria! Plus, I like shopping at HD because their return policy makes me feel safe. I ordered the Bianco and the Grigio.

We have a good chunk of the floor now laid and I have to say, I am very pleased! These have been great tiles so far, they didn’t come with any broken and they seem to be good quality.

One thing I didn’t anticipate was the tile waste that occurs when you lay the tile diagonally. Because both ends of the room end up needing over half the tile of either color, you end up with significant waste. And I think we will be short on tile and need to order more…

And on to the final design decision for this space (not including the half bath, which I’ll go into in another post): the laundry area.

I knew a few things: I wanted to add a countertop for folding. Also, it was important to have some side panels and built-ins for the laundry appliances since guests would be walking past them to use the bathroom.

I was up in the air about the sink cabinet mainly. I was feeling uninspired, and trying to deal with the issue that most cabinets are 36″ tall while laundry machines are 40″. Do I do two-levels of countertop? I don’t know… until I saw this picture and it all became clear.

If I do a stainless steel sink, it’s its own separate unit and my countertop problem goes away. Plus, it’s very utilitarian yet classy. So I plan to pretty much replicate this look with a wood countertop and panels for the appliances and a stainless utility sink.

There are still a few things I need to nail down, like what height will the peg rails be, will I do shelves above the utility sink etc. But overall I feel very excited about the direction of this space and am hopeful it will make some future homeowners very happy!

The post Mudroom Plans for the Fischer Flip appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Overall, the house was in very good condition, but needs some cosmetic help. From the outside, you can see that it is a nice secluded-feeling lot with lots of vegetation. The mansard style roof kinda threw me off at first… but it’s really growing on me.

We are going to freshen up the outside with a new paint color that will make it more modern and hopefully complement the metal shingled roof. I’ve played around with a few options and I’ll have to show you all what I’m thinking design-wise in another post.

The entry is tucked away in this little nook. What color should the front door be? Something fun, right?? This area will need some landscaping and a better walkway put in, hopefully we can make it feel like a feature and not a creepy entrance.

As you walk in you are greeted by a hallway with living spaces directly to your right and left. If you go straight through the entry hall it leads to the kitchen. I’m going to take you around the house from left to right…

Directly to the left of the entry is this nice-sized living room. There is not a lot to be done in this space other than paint and flooring. We’ll be painting all the doors, windows, and trim a shade of white. And I’m thinking can lights would be a nice touch in here.

Welcome to the dining room… I am actually so stoked that there are sconce lights in here!! It’s something we probably wouldn’t pay to add, but will bring so much extra character to the final space! Once we replace them, of course, and say goodbye to the faux wall finish…

To the right of the dining area is the kitchen. Guys, this kitchen is massive! It’s truly already a great space… no rearranging needed. We will likely open up the dining room doorway a bit, and that is it. We’ll have a fridge and built in pantry on the left side. The range will be on the dining room wall and we’ll incorporate a large island down the middle.

I’m truly so excited for this kitchen, I think it will make the house sing. Hopefully it will be one of the elements that pushes the house up into that higher sales bracket

Next to the kitchen is an eat-in nook and an office. We’ll be keeping the eat-in area as is and then doing a french door into the office so it feels more incorporated with the space yet still private. In the time of Covid and widespread work-from-home, we’re hoping this office will be a huge bonus to buyers!!

Continuing around we have this second living area. It has some nice glass patio doors, a fun fireplace, and some funky stairs. I’m excited to let this fireplace shine, I don’t plan to do much to it but give it a clean. The stairs, on the other hand, need some help to be safe and functional. Don’t worry, I plan to still honor the floating style, just add some features to make it feel much more kid-safe.

Possibly the coolest feature of this house… right of the living are and to the right of the entry there is this MASSIVE mud room / laundry room. It has washer/dryer hook ups, closets, and a half bath. And from this room you can get to the back yard, basement, and garage. I have some big plans to make this a really special space and another one of those “must-buy” features for the future home-owners.

Upstairs there is a long hallway that connects 5 bedrooms and a hall bath. As you can already tell, I think the previous homeowners liked bold colors. This hallway is purple everywhere and has some crazy track lights going on….

First door to the right is the master bedroom. It feels dark and cave-like with the purple ceilings, but some white paint should help a lot. We are planning to do a carpet upstairs. Mainly because we believe that lots of people still like carpet in the bedrooms, it’s simpler, and it’s makes the second story a lot quieter. Weigh in below, what is your preference? Are you team #woodfloornomatter what? Or are you ok with new carpeting in the bedroom areas?

The master has two closets in the room and then another two through this hallway to the en-suite bath. Ideally there would be a walk-in closet in a house of this size, but we feel it’s more important to expand the foot print of this bathroom.

So, we will be losing the left closet area for a larger vanity and keeping the right closet. That still leaves three closet spaces in the master, so I’m hoping that’s good enough.

Next we have several bedrooms, with some very interesting wall treatments…. These will need a lot of drywall help I think.

This hall bath actually already has some good bones. We’ll be keeping the marble floors, jetted tub and marble tile surround. And thankfully that glass block wall hiding the toilet will be gone! Also, can we just talk about this vanity?! I have personally never seen anything like it. It’s not staying because #weird. But I’m hoping to make some good money selling it on marketplace! The mirror, I’m torn on, It’s very good quality and not too ugly. So, I feel like we should keep it and just replace the vanity. But the lights weird me out a bit. They are very fluorescent.

And finally there is the third full bath in the last bedroom. This one has some very unfortunate wall texture that will likely cause us to have to re-drywall the space. Also, check out this glass block shower with led lighting strips!! There is definitely no lack of creativity in this home….

And now heading outside…. The back yard feels very quiet and secluded. It’s fenced and has this impressive deck. The landscaping needs some help, but let’s be real, this is nothing compared to our current home….

Alright that’s it for now! I’ll be back soon to share some of the story on how we came to buy it and then some design plans.

The post Fischer Flip Before Pictures appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Last year we bought our first non-live-in flip, the Fanchon Flip. I share bits and pieces here on the blog and some behind the scenes footage on instagram. But, to be honest, my main focus was surviving in that season. Jake and I were both working full time jobs and working on this flip on our evenings and weekends while still attempting to live somewhat balanced lives. The Fanchon house showed us that we could do it, flipping is really possible. This one, will show us if it’s repeatable.

A few things are different this time around…

Firstly, I left my accounting job in April (I know, quite interesting timing to leave your job during quarantine), and got my real estate license. So, I will have much more time to commit to this flip house. The hope is that my extra time will help us achieve a little bit more balanced of a lifestyle as we flip this next home.

Next, I want to share our journey during this flip. I want to take you along for the ride. To see what each day in a flip-renovation is like, and talk to you candidly about our strategies, fears, failures, and successes.

What does that look like?

Well, I do plan on blogging more frequently. But, I also want to take you along live via video so you can see the raw unfiltered goings-on. If you are interested in following along with me on this journey, I encourage you to follow me on instagram, (or on my facebook page). That’s where I’ll be putting up daily content, tips & tricks, some how-to’s, and just general flip-life stuff.

Do you know people who are always saying they’d love to get into flipping? I hear this a LOT from people. If so, would you share this with them? Following along on a real live flip project is a great way to dip your toes in and see if it’s something you’d actually like to do. Plus, you can learn from all our mistakes!

Now, a little bit about this next project….

The Fisher Flip

This house is ginormous… and that makes us quake in our boots just a little bit. It’s 3000 square feet with 5 beds and 3.5 baths (and a first floor office on top of all that). There is a LOT of house to flip.

But, it was built in the 1970’s and honestly has impeccable bones. Yeah, you can always update electric, plumbing, foundations in old homes… but the risk factor is tenfold. That’s why we prefer to keep it in the post 1960 range for now.

The home is only 5 minutes from our house!! Which is a huge bonus. It’s on a nice, quiet dead-end street, blocks from our cute little downtown area. The strangest thing about the home (besides the previous owners finishing selections), is the Mansard style roof.

I felt very unsure about this roof style at first, but it’s growing on me! A Mansard roof is essentially where the roof line extends down below the second story on all sides. If it only extends down on two sides, its a gambrel-style roof (picture a barn). I think with a little paint, we can make this exterior shine!

I’ll be sharing all the before pictures next!!! Until then, don’t forget to follow on Insta!

The post Introducing: the Fischer Flip appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

To stage the Fanchon Flip house, we spent a total of $650. And $200 of those dollars were spent on pillows…. not kidding! We knew that in order to keep our expenses low when staging this flip house, we’d need to be very resourceful.

Here our my tips on staging an entire empty home for sale on an extreme budget.

Buy (Almost) Nothing New

New things cost way too much money. When you consider that used or thrifted items can be 5-20% of the price of new, it’s really a no-brainer. Buying one couch new, even from the cheapest of stores, would have blown our entire $650 budget.

There was one item that we did decide to buy new, however. And that was pillows. Have you ever tried to find trendy, cute pillows at the Goodwill? It’s just not very feasible in my opinion. Nobody likes a crusty, outdated looking pillow. Our strategy was to buy nice used furniture that we could dress up with fresh new pillows.

So, you may decide to buy new to help supplement and make sure your place doesn’t look “thrifted”. If you do that, I’d suggest you pick one or two affordable items that will help polish the space. And know that they will be taking up a significant chunk of your budget.

We shopped our pillows at Home Goods and Ross, but they still ate up over 35% of our spending budget at $250.

When you’re shopping secondhand, there are lots of options to find what you are looking for. To stage this house, I shopped many Goodwills in our area, Salvation Army, and other local thrift stores. I also frequently searched Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.

I like to challenge myself in everything I buy second hand. I try to buy low enough that I could sell the item for more than I purchased it for. Sometimes all it takes is a nicer picture and you can make money on a furniture flip. In this way, you could stage a whole home, resell all the items, and actually MAKE money.

FREE is Your Friend

I don’t know about you, but when I shop second-hand to furnish my own house, I tend to shy away from anything that’s free. The reason being, I would rather pay $20 for something that I definitely find value in. Free things tend to be free for a reason.

But, you should ignore that principle for staging, and here’s why: this furniture is for looks only. It does not have to pass all the tests that it would to enter your home forever. Does it have to look stylish and add to the space? Yes!

Does it have to be free of cigarette butt burns, creepy stains, and rips? Surprisingly… No! When we staged this flip house, I found a gray leather sofa and chair set on Facebook Marketplace for free. And let me tell you, they had all of the above listed issues. But…. They had great modern lines, and neutral color.

And you know what, we threw some throw blankets over the rips and stains, and covered the burns with pillows. And no one is the wiser!!! All that to say, free is the EASIEST way to stretch your budget.

After the house sold, we just dropped the free stuff off at goodwill and called it a day! I will caveat… one thing you do need to avoid is odors. Make sure you don’t buy something that will give your house a smoke or animal smell.

Use what you Already Have

This one may seem like a no-brainer. But we saved a lot of money staging by taking items from our own home. We had several rugs in our basement that we used, the wood stool tables were from our living room. I brought a lot of our own home decor items in to supplement. And we had friends and family lend their extra decor as well.

So I guess this ties in with the point above, free things that you (or your friends/family) already have REALLY stretch your budget. When we bought this flip house, it came with an old turquoise dining table. So that’s what we used in the dining room with a table cloth.

Sometimes, what you have is just better. It may not be perfect… I would have loved to do an open leg dining table. It would have looked more modern and inviting. But, this dining table illustrated the space without detracting from it. So it fit the bill and eliminated another expense.

Don’t Fill Every Space

The purpose of staging is to make a house feel like a home and to demonstrate to the buyer the feel and function of a space. It’s not essential that every single space in the home is filled. You know how stagers always encourage homeowners to remove personal items and pictures when they sell their home? The same principle goes here. It’s the idea that there should be open space for the buyer to imagine their own items in the home.

How do you know which areas to leave and which to stage? I believe that the main living areas and the master bedroom should be staged. That’s enough to give the buyer a true feel for the space furnished. So living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and one bedroom.

In this flip house we had additional rooms that where we added nothing: the rest of the bedrooms, the laundry/mudroom, the entire basement. And it goes without saying, that choosing not to stage these areas saves a lot of money. Can you image how much more it would have cost to buy beds for each of the 3 additional bedrooms?

Visual Illusions are OK

I hate moving mattresses. For me, the idea of bringing a mattress into this house to stage and then having to transport it back home sounded like pure torture. So we didn’t!

We bought an air mattress and placed it on top of some boxes, and dressed it like a bed. It may sound hokey… but think about the purpose of staging. It’s not for someone to take a nap on the bed. The purpose of that bed is first to illustrate how a bed fits in the space, and second to help the buyer visualize themselves sleeping there. It’s all about the visual.

So, give yourself permission to hack some things. Don’t have a nightstand? Stack some decorative boxes on top of each other. You could cover them with some fabric. Get creative and remember, it’s more about looks than function in this case.

Do Sweat the Small Stuff

Yeah, you gotta have furniture to make a space feel furnished. But it’s the little decor accents that take a space from furnished to homey. Think art, blankets, pillows, tchotchkes, lamps, books, flowers. Lets look at some pictures and how these extras make the space.

We added a neutral art installation to the fireplace mantle. This draws attention to a positive feature of the home. Then we framed it with a standing floor lamp on one side and a faux plant on the other. A basket with a blanket spilling out is a nice touch. It makes a person feel like they could cozy up in the space.

In this corner, I added an art easel with a framed print. This is a great way to get art in a home without making holes in the walls. Plus it fills a corner visually and add height to the room. I found this easel for less than $5 at Goodwill.

In the bedroom, we tried to create an inviting look with layering and texture. You can see there is an assortment of pillows on the bed, and layered blankets to add interest and warmth.

There is a DIY art piece over the headboard, and framed painting leaning on the nightstand. Note the several items that I’ll call ‘tchotchkes’ on the nightstand. I believe a few of these items can make an empty space feel more lived in.

And finally, you can see a stack of books. I truly believe that books are your very best tool when it comes to staging. Look for hardcover books with neutral spines. A stack of books can decorate just about every space in the home. They are a neutral decor choice that appeals to everyone.

Again, you can see the power of books! Baskets are another winner when you are a staging a home. They can be empty even, but they provide a nice neutral decor piece that helps the home feel lived in.

And last point, flowers! Do use fresh flowers when staging the home. Have you ever noticed that in every magazine spread of a home, they always have some type of flowers or greenery on display? Always! That’s because there is no comparison when it comes to nature, so bring a little natural life to the indoors by incorporating greens/flowers.

Don’t Forget the Bathrooms

And for my last point, I want to encourage you not to neglect the bathrooms. It may seem like they don’t really need staging since furnishings are necessary in bathrooms. But, remember that kitchens and baths sell homes! So you want to be putting your best foot forward in all those spaces.

Use attractive hand and bath towels. White is always a good choice. Make sure you have nice looking soap on display. Bathrooms are a great place to display some of that greenery.

You can even create some vignettes if you have the space. Our master bath had a freestanding tub and we wanted to feature that as a relaxing place. So we added a footstool with books, candles, and spa items.

I hope you find this guide helpful when you are staging an empty home. Just keep in mind the main goals:

• make the space feel functional
• give the buyer a picture of what life in this house looks like
• leave some room for them imagine themselves there

Check out more about how we bought and renovated this flip house here: Fanchon Flip.

The post Staging an Empty House on a Budget appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.