Couple Of Quinns

12/21/2024

We recently had Brett at create a mantel for us; finished just in time to hang our stockings! 🥰 He made our vision come to life for something sleek and modern, and crafted from white oak to match our floors. Even better, there is an outlet inside which allows us to hide the TV wire. We love how it turned out! Thanks Brett!
Merry Christmas everyone!
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02/11/2024

Today we're showing more of the as this past week I spent a few hours nearly every day working over packing up random items left behind, cleaning and touching up paint. Sadly, Brian had the flu all week and has been terribly sick! He even had a fever for 4 days 😳. Thankfully, Willoughby and I have been fine (thankful for the 2 of us getting our flu shots!), but that means absolutely no progress has been made at South House. 😩
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In other news, we bought new bedroom furniture for the new place and need to get rid of this dresser and mirror (my sister already took the bed). Perhaps we should do some sort of giveaway? Should we donate it? Interested? Leave a comment below 👇 or shoot me a message! 😊 It's a very fine piece made in Italy. Solid and VERY heavy. We had the movers move it down to the first floor for us. 🙌 When we moved into the Brownstone, it took Brian plus three friends/family members to get it up to the third floor. The movers got it down with only two of them 😳💪
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02/08/2024

Welcome to the best room in the house 🥰 Not only is it super adorable, like miss Willoughby herself, but the light from the south facing windows is truly magical. It's always been my favorite room.
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Brian and I worked on the nursery after the Fed's restoration project was complete, and took our time looking for the right pieces. My brother John completed a "mini makeover" of the ensuite bathroom. He swapped the regular door for a pocket door, which we thought would be much better in the tight space (this was easier said than done, but he did it!! 🙌) replaced the builder LVP with a fun tile from , painted, and added accessories like the little arched shelf ( )
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The wallpaper is called "Woodsford" by . I used it on a design project maybe 10 years ago or so(?) and bought a couple rolls for myself; just enough to do the inside of my closet. Well, my closet was never finished and I held on to it all these years hoping to use it somewhere special. It's just so pretty!!
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The crib is by and is on loan from my sister whose kids also used it. It's a lovely and solid crib. The company states they are "heirloom quality" and we're putting that to the test. So far, so good 😉.
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We removed the closet door to make the closet feel more a part of the room. The little window lets in additional light, and we swapped out the builder wire shelving for these boutique-y closet fittings by . I love how fancy they make her baby clothes look, lol.
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Ceiling fan:
Draperies:
Dressers: vintage
Rug: purchased during our babymoon to Asheville
Painting: purchased for $3 at auction!! Then I spent more than $100 to have it restretched 🤣🤷. Still worth it.
Pendant lights:
Rocker: (seriously the BEST rocker ever for a nursery! It's SO comfy and has a removable slipcover. We recently bought a second one for our new nursery!!)
Paint colors: Quietude and Peach Blossom by . Even the names are perfect for a nursery, lol.
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02/07/2024

It's so nice to see some SUNSHINE recently!! The nice thing about our townhouse is that it always felt bright and cheery. The extra windows in the end unit made a huge difference in the amount of light coming in. These photos show the large windows across the open concept main level 🥰
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Our new place is much darker, despite the new windows and large patio doors we added. It's taken some getting used to and has left me feeling a bit depressed these past few weeks. The wide overhangs also block some of the light. I told Brian we need skylights 🤣. But seriously...
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I hope you're soaking in some sunshine today wherever you may be. ☀️
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02/02/2024

I'm gonna miss this kitchen and especially the countertop (I almost selected this same exact stone for our new kitchen because I love them so much).
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I'm NOT going to miss hiking groceries to the second floor. Especially most recently trying to juggle 2 dogs, the baby and navigating the baby gates 🤪
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02/02/2024

More progress is being made at the Arcade! 😍😍

Construction on our two North Arcade buildings is fully underway 💪

📷 © Tom Gilliam Photography

02/01/2024

Sharing more of our Brownstone today. When you climb the stairs to get to the main living level of the home, the first thing you see is the dining room. I sure am gonna miss that view 😍😍😭
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02/01/2024

We're switching things up over here for the next few days and we're going to show you photos of our place in . It's going to be hitting the market in the next couple of weeks after we finish up some final cleaning and touch ups.
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This is the first floor entry level, which we used as our office once Willoughby was born. We have loved the stained blue concrete floors (it was one of our favorite selections), and the bathroom was something we did ourselves post-builder. And by "ourselves" I mean my brother John did the work. 😉
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Progress on our new house has been soooo slooooow and unfortunately I don't have anything to show you because everything is a mess 🤪. Brian did get the washer/dryer hooked up (I never thought I'd be so excited to do laundry), the dishwasher is working, and the garbage disposal is wired up. So we have a fully functioning kitchen minus the range hood, so my house still smells like last night's dinner, but I'll take it! 🙌 I try to focus on one drawer/cabinet/box at a time, but managing my real estate business and a very mobile one year old takes up 95% of my day. So for now it's nice to look at pictures from when my house WAS clean and organized.
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01/29/2024

THE KITCHEN // The kitchen renovation was probably the project I was looking most forward to. It's not every day that you get to plan a new kitchen 🥰
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The challenges of the kitchen were 1. It felt way too cramped and closed off from the rest of the house. 2. Not enough counter space or storage. Pretty much everything wrong with it (besides aesthetics) fell into one of those two categories.
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To solve problem #1, I knew we needed to remove some walls. Don't mind my quickly hand drawn floorplans done for the sake of this post 🤣, but you can see we removed the entire wall between the kitchen and dining rooms, and the stairwell wall became a half height wall. Removing the soffits and bumping the fridge partially into the garage also greatly helped open up the space.
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I arranged the main components to be close to how my kitchen was laid out in our previous home. I liked the flow of it and really enjoyed cooking in it, so my work triangle is roughly the same as what I'm used to.
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Requarth's renderings they did for us highlight our favorite features: the coffee bar in place of the breakfast nook, which felt like wasted space to me, and the huge extended breakfast bar in front of the dining window. We can use it for overflow seating during the holidays, or the counter can serve as a buffet line for gatherings (and helloooooo Christmas cookies!) It's also where I've been sitting and doing my real estate work in the mornings, and we added a bird feeder outside which has been lovely 🥰.
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Lastly, you can see our cabinetry samples with our countertop slabs. The stone is called "Serata" which is a Dolomite. Dolomite is a sedimentary stone totally different from marble, granite or quartzite. When we saw it, we both said, "yep, that's the one!" We've officially named the color "melted black raspberry ice cream." 🤣 It has purple tones which are pretty rad for a countertop.
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01/28/2024

The half bath was one of the first projects we started once the basement was cleared out. I wanted to have a clean, working bathroom in the house. Is that too much to ask?! Lol. But in all seriousness, neither bathroom sink worked, and only one of the toilets in the house somewhat worked when we bought the house. 😖
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My brother John removed a couple layers of old flooring, and then laid this new tile for us. I love the pattern and color! It's very fun in the small space and I love its vintage feel. It's from the
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The wallpaper was removed, my M-I-L and I took shifts, and thankfully it really wasn't that hard to remove! However, the glue did make a mess as it was incredibly sticky when it got wet. I really had to scrub it off the brand new floor. I tried to use a tarp, but it just stuck to that too. 👎 In retrospect a disposable floor cover would have been the best option.
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The original sink, while not working, was in otherwise perfect shape and I really wanted to keep it. My dad took it home, took it completely apart, and deep cleaned the internal workings of the faucet. He replaced a few of the washers and other small parts, and I'm excited to say it now works as good as new! 🙌 We also kept the original TP holder but are replacing the mirror and lights with something just a bit more modern (plus the lights had sadly lost their covers and the wiring was really unsafe!) As it stands, the half bath is still a bit of a construction zone, though it DOES at least work!
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When we first walked through the house the bathroom was SO full of stuff that I couldn't tell which way the toilet faced, and neither of us noticed the large closet located on the left behind the bathroom door! So that was a nice surprise 😊
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01/27/2024

DESIGN PROCESS // for has been the complete opposite of how I typically approach an interior design project. Normally I spend some time alone in a space and let the ideas start to flow. I compile adjectives that embody the mood I want to achieve, and then complete sketches, gather images and product samples, and create a mood board.
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None of that happened with this house. Not for any of the rooms!!
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From the get go it was a mad dash to get the big things ordered. The kitchen cabinets took 15 weeks to arrive from the time we placed the order. You have to have your design and layout complete before you can place the order. So I designed the kitchen layout in about a week, including choosing the cabinetry door styles and colors. Before we knew what the flooring or countertops would be 😳. I've been a nervous wreck hoping everything comes together just right!
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For the main living area and bedrooms my approach has been one of simplicity. I wanted a clean and clear foundation upon which to build. For the walls we went with "creamy" by Sherwin Williams which is a soft and comfortable white (kinda boring, I know 😜). We used it throughout the Fed so I knew it was a safe choice; I don't have time to spare for repainting. The trim throughout is the same color but in semi-gloss instead of flat. For the primary bedroom we went with "sh*take" and it's the only different color in the house.
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My plan is to use this clean foundation to layer in color, patterns and textures as we settle in and make this house our home. So there's a lot I don't have figured out. But at least Willoughby's room is coming alive 😍
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For Willoughby's "big girl room" the bunk beds were my sister's and mine when we were kids. My parents still had them so I traded them the antique bedroom furniture that was left here. Even though they got the much nicer furniture, I still feel like I won 🥰. The crown color is "hearty orange" and the comforters are by (the other was still backordered when this pic was taken.)
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There's still a lot to do, but we're finally to the fun part.
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01/26/2024

Let's talk about windows! 😳
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I've included a shot of each bedroom after the windows were replaced. They have made a HUGE difference in the amount of natural light coming in. And believe it or not, the windows are the same size as the original ones, though they look SO much bigger! One of our neighbors across the street didn't believe us when we said we didn't change the window sizes. So apparently they look much bigger on the outside, too.
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The truth is, the old windows had very wide frames, trim boards down the center, and the shutters (while very cute) just blocked more light. We love our new windows 😍
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Lastly, the snakeskin wallpaper is gone! 🙌 Yes, part of me thought it was cool, but it was faded where artwork hung, yellowed with age, and held the musty odor of the house. It needed to GO. Major props to Brian's parents for removing it! It took them a couple of days, then required washing the walls really well, one coat of primer and two coats of paint. The doors and trim were oil, so I had to prime all that before painting another two coats with Sherwin Williams Emerald trim paint. Oh, and the ceiling was primed with kilz, then two coats paint, as well as BOTH closets. This one room took freaking forever!! 🤪 Then I painted the crown moulding a bright orangey-red color for a pop of fun in Willoughby's "big girl room."
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P.s. we're adding back a different wallpaper in her room that is going to be super cute 🥰
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