The Lofgren House

My younger sister Mindy and I, about 6 months ago, unbeknownst to each other, bought houses at the same time a few streets away from each other and redid them at about the same time. Mindy went to interior design school and her husband Daniel is an architect here in Salt Lake City. What happens when an interior designer and an architect get married and re-do a house together? Well you’re seeing it here first: The Lofgren house.

When you enter a space and it feels like it fits the people that live there, I think it’s a sign of good design. That’s how Mindy’s house is to me. Her style is very clean, creative, and beautiful. Like her. My style is more eclectic, european, old lady so I’m going to have to think about my comment about spaces reflecting the people that live there…

I had to beg Mindy to let me do a home feature of her house cause it’s not in her blood to be showy. This house was designed purely as a gathering place and a home for her little family to be together. I love that about it.

In asking her about the house and the details behind the design she said that one of the biggest things she wanted people to know is that you don’t have to pour a bunch of money into a home to create a place that is beautiful. For example, they wanted sconces to flank the fireplace. Instead of hiring an electrician to wire them in Mindy found these awesome battery powered sconces online that work great and cost a lot less.

Also, the tile on the floor of the fireplace used to be yellow which didn’t match the aesthetic of the room. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars to have it retiled Mindy used a Tub & Tile kit to paint it white and you would honestly never know.

The sofa is from Ikea from Daniel’s college dorm. Mindy said it has been great, which was good to know cause I’ve always been scared of Ikea couches. Chairs she got online . The rug is originally Anthropologie but Mindy found it on closeout.

The beautiful leather chair was left by the previous owners. Lamp is West Elm. Side tables, desk, and tripod lamp are Target. They got that Thonet desk chair at the DI (thrift store) when Mindy was in design school and she used it in her portfolio display. I loved it so much that I’ve been slowly collecting them on KSL Classifieds for my kitchen chairs.

Mindy is all about details. One of my favorite details that I would have never thought to do and haven’t really seen done well anywhere else is their decision to paint the doors and trim this stunning dark color. This is a look through to the kitchen. Mindy said the color is a dark green/blue Benjamin Moore color.

Her kitchen is my favorite room in the house. The dark trim and wallpaper are the star of the show here.

I mean how lovely and perfect is that wallpaper? She stumbled upon it when she was making a baby shower invitation and had Googled floral prints. It’s a Swedish company and actually a lot of their stuff is pretty awesome.

I think every house should have something in it that you don’t often see. I’m all about trends. I actually really like them and when I like something I like it and if it’s all over Pinterest then great! If not then great! I don’t try to stay away from something trendy if I like it but I do think it’s fun to push yourself to think of something that you’ve never seen done. I like to anyway. Maybe that’s why the eclectic grandma style is alive and well in my house…But the heart wants what it wants. That’s what Selena Gomez taught me.

Favorite thing of my life #2 is incorporating unique original features of an old house into an updated design. Have I mentioned that I LOVE old things. This light is one of my favorite things about the house. It’s funny because it’s easy to overlook stuff like this - kinda crazy light fixtures, vintage hardware, art, molding details. When they’re surrounded by popcorn ceilings, orange shag carpet and cat lady smell you’re like “Yuck. Tear everything out as fast as possible.” BUT before you start ripping out 70’s chandeliers and shattering mid century mirrors take a long look at what you might have to work with. You might be surprised that that crazy Grandma light hanging in the basement is actually going to be the star of the show in a redesign. Old with old is bad. But a touch of old with all new is magic, in my opinion.

This gallery wall is another of my very FAVORITE details of the house. Please ignore that the only picture I took of it is blurry. #photographyawardgoestome But how cute is this display of family pictures? In the middle are pictures of Mindy & Dan as kids and then pictures of their parents and ancestors. Displaying family history pictures in a tasteful way is way hard to do and I think Mindy really nailed it. I’ve done more than a few pinterest searches of “How To Hang Family History pictures” and you get everything from entire walls of collaged pictures shaped in a tree to “How to Make Doily Frames” tutorials. I’m not knocking doilies. I actually had a neighbor across the street make me one as a gift in our last neighborhood and I wanted to cry thinking of how long that must’ve taken her to make. Talk about love your neighbor. I’m keeping that thing forever. Okay. Moving on from doilies.

In the other half of the kitchen they kept the original wood cabinets which I think are so beautiful. Again, you might be surprised how much your cabinets can come alive again if you just switch out the hardware, countertops and backsplash. Which is good to know because when you go to price out how much it is to buy new cabinets you will cry little new cabinet tears because of how expensive they are.