This Utah Spec home was designed to blend into the 1970s neighborhood
Maggie Glendenning had looked at just about every mid-century modern home listed on Zillow in St. George, Utah. It didn't take long either – there are only a handful that still retain their original character. “I've always loved the interesting wood and the Malm fireplaces…houses used to have such personality, and they don't have that anymore,” she says. Glendenning hoped that one day she would be able to buy one, but her tireless search came to nothing.
When the new construction boom began in the city after the Corona crisis, Glendenning and her siblings decided to take advantage of the market and build a house on a lot in a golf course community. The 3,400 square foot home was intended to be an investment project for the family. Glendenning, who runs her own event planning and interior design business and recently secured her general contractor's license, oversaw much of the year-and-a-half project along with Matt Metcalf, her architect. Their goal: to create a special home with some personality while also paying homage to some of the circa-1970s homes in the surrounding neighborhood.
“I didn’t just want to have white rooms,” she says. At some point, she started designing it as if it was her dream home. “And then I thought, wait, I “I want to live here,” she says. Before us, the designer looks back on becoming her ownCustomer and shares what it takes to add a great touch to a new building.
I couldn't quite afford to do wood on all the ceilings, which was my dream. So [this accent wall] was my way of integrating wood. I was at the Delta Millworks showroom in Park City looking at various patterns for another project. My friend was staying with me and thought it would look cool in my house. It is a thermally treated pine. I took it back, looked at it with all my cabinet samples, and ended up designing the kitchen around it. | Pendant lamp, Giffin design; Cabinet paint, light blue from Farrow & Ball; Pitcher (on the island), West Elm; Faucet, Brizo; refrigerator, Frigidaire; Range, KitchenAid. My brick building contractor had all these leftover red bricks from another project just lying in his yard. I thought: Oh, I'll buy it! The plan was always to paint it white because I wanted it clean because I knew I would make the furniture and cabinets very colorful. | Custom Table, Vanguard Furniture; Vase, Blu Dot; Floor tiles, concrete collaboration; Art by Anya Molyviatis via Ivester Contemporary Gallery. The company that makes these retro fireplaces from the 1950s and 1960s still makes them. When I first got it, it was all copper, and as soon as I turned it on, it glowed in all these crazy, cool holographic colors. I'm totally obsessed. | Sofa, Montauk Sofa; Carpet, Beni; Coffee Tables, Crate & Barrel; Lounge Chair, Noir Furniture; Fireplace, Malm; Garden furniture set and pendant lamp, Hay; Pillows are a mix of Parachute, CB2 and Block Shop textiles. I have a friend who lives in New York and I said, “Okay, sit on this sofa in the Montauk showroom while you're out and make sure it's not terribly uncomfortable.” He walked over to me and said, “You have to get it.” Currently I have reoriented it so that two of the sections are facing each other. | Lamp, Artemide; Art (in built-in images), Rebeca Rainey via Uprise Art.I originally ordered the Terrazzo floor tile from Concrete Collaborative for the main living spaces and planned to install carpet in the bedrooms to save some money. Then my tiler called and said, “Hey, I think if you really want to put these tiles everywhere, we've had enough of the overage you ordered to pull them off – you'd just have to replace the flooring in the laundry room.” and two bathrooms.' That was great news. Then I thought, now I have to find other tiles that I really love… I raged in the laundry room. | Cushion fabric, Beata Heuman.I had to find a concrete tile that matched the thickness of the other terrazzo tiles so there wasn't a weird transition. It may have been one of the hardest decisions in my house, but it was really fun. I used Molly Baz's buttery yellow kitchen as inspiration for the walls. The clothes horse comes from Europe. I tried to find a cute one because I don't like hanging things on hangers and didn't want one [ceiling] Hanging shelf. | floor tile, Zia tile; Drying rack, Northern; Towels, Etsy; Wall paint, Good Vibrations by Benjamin Moore.I have friends with a furniture showroom here in St. George who had ordered this really cool cork material for a wall in their space. It almost looked like wood; I thought it was so cool. I had the hardest time finding a colorful faucet. You see them all over Europe, but this one actually comes from the American company Jaclo. | cork tile, Jelinek; Mirror, Ferm Living; washbasin tiles, fireclay tiles; plumbing fixtures, Jaclo; Wall lamp, RBW.I had my sofa sample when I was designing my office, so I tried to find a paint color that was very close to the powder blue. I love working here. The only thing is that it's not great for viewing samples because the room casts a slight blue shadow on everything. | wall paint, Aspen Skies by Benjamin Moore; Desk, Blu Dot; lamp and chair, DWR; Ceiling lamp, Frances and son.I convinced my closet guy to hand sand the countertop in the toilet to create a bowl to throw my mail and keys into. I also always take off my dirty construction boots when I get home. | mirror, four hands; Lamp, Virginia Sin; Coat hook, schoolhouse.tub, signature hardware; Wall lights, Flos, towels, Coyuchi; Side table, Four Hands.I'm not a huge bathroom fan, but I had used this round tub on a project a few years ago and thought it would fill the space so nicely. I have always loved fully tiled bathrooms. I chose a tile in a lighter color here to keep everything bright. Good lighting is always important when applying your makeup. The architect wanted us to lower the ceilings in the bedrooms to 10 or 11 feet. But when the time came, the woodworkers told us it would require another $5,000 in lumber. That's why we decided to keep them tall (they range from 12 to 14 feet). My bedroom was so large with the high ceilings and west-facing windows that I felt like we had the ability to walk into the darkness without feeling like we were stuck in a hole. | wall paint, Dark Night by Sherwin-Williams; carpet, DWR; Bed, Ellison Studios; bedside table, Blu Dot; Bedding, Cozy Earth; Wall lamp, RBW. I live in the desert so we have red stone everywhere. I tried to design the tones in the rooms to match my surroundings. | tile, Zia tile; Wall lamp, Flos.I think the iridescent mirror from Urban Outfitters is actually intended to serve as a headboard. I've had it for years and always put it behind my Christmas tree to make everything sparkle. | wall paint, Soft Apricot by Sherwin-Williams; bedstead, sixpenny; Nightstand, Crate & Barrel; Wall lamps, Etsy.
