Transforming a Blank Wall to a WOW Factor- A Fireplace Wall for our Family Room

For the entirety of the 3.5 years we’ve lived in our home, the giant wall  in our family room has plagued me. As someone who cannot stand clutter and fully appreciates minimal stuff when it comes to decor, nothing I’ve done with this wall has really worked for me. Because it’s such a large wall and the vaulted ceilings are so tall, it’s always felt either super cluttered (when I add stuff to the wall) or too blank, like we just moved in and haven’t decorated yet. For that reason, this wall is typically left out of pictures and changes CONSTANTLY.

Since we’ve been renovating almost our entire home since we moved in, this big, blank wall has always gotten put on the back burner. (We knew building what we REALLY wanted on this wall would be a costly investment.) Since we’ve completed most of the other big projects in our home, and since updating our family room this spring, I really couldn’t wait another second to bring to life the visions I’ve always had for this wall and make this room feel complete .

So, I went to my favorite trusty cabinet/countertop connoisseur Derek Adams at Adams Multicare and asked him how quickly we could get started. (If you’re in the Tampa area, and you’re looking for someone to help you with your cabinet and countertop needs, look no futher! Got questions about Adams Multicare? Just ask. I used to do a little freelance design work for them AND they’ve renovated a good majority of our home. Highly recommend.) Anyway… after a few pow-wows, we nailed down a design and were ready to get started. After much adieu, we are finally completed with the project…

I knew the number one thing I wanted to add to the wall was an electric fireplace. Living in Florida, especially the subdivision we’re in, it’s not always easy to find a home with a fireplace. So, this was something I’d been wanting to add since we moved in. After some research, I landed on this electric fireplace that I found on Amazon. The best part about an electric fireplace (especially in Florida)… you can turn your fireplace on any day, anytime and not HAVE to have it ommit heat. Honestly, there are few days in a year that we can use the heat down here. But I’ve had our fireplace on every single day since it was installed!

I wanted a VERY simple mantel. I didn’t want to disturb the clean lines of the unit, and I’ve really transitioned out of most of our farmhouse-inspired decor, so I didn’t want anything with a rustic vibe. I had such a hard time finding something that I liked! UNTIL… I stumbled upon this seller on Amazon that makes custom mantels at SUPER affordable prices in the color and finish you want. I went with the non-distressed white mantel in 72″ to cover the entire width of the fireplace build-out. Honestly, I think this mantel/ledge would be great on a wall even if you didn’t have a fireplace. It would work for so many different designs!

I also knew I wanted to add lighting to our unit. And, I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that I went with my go-to modern lighting source Lucent Lightshop. (You’ll see their light fixtures scattered throughout my home.) When we renovated our laundry room, we also went with all white shaker cabinets and chose a matte black hardware from my go-to source for unique hardware. (My kitchen hardware are from here as swell.)  I absolutely luv’d the simplicity of the design and the clean look. So I knew I wanted to go with the same hardware on this unit and match the lighting with a matte black finish. These drop arm sconces were the perfect fit for the bill. I actually had them create a longer arm for the sconces than the listing called for, and I think they turned out perfect! (Want to win one of these gorgeous sconces? Stay tuned to my Instagram to find out how!)

Finally, for winter, I decided to add a super neutral rug to the room to prepare for my Christmas decorations (that are very neutral, too). This rug is ridiculously plush and soft, and basically it just feels like you’re walking on a cloud. Super cozy for the fuzzy, winter vibes I’m going for… Makes ya just want to curl up in front of a fireplace. Oh wait… I can! 🙂

Overall, we couldn’t be happier with the way the wall and the entire room have come together! The floor to ceiling fireplace with quartz-surround creates a wow-factor the room really lacked. The white shaker cabinets coordinate perfectly with the neighboring kitchen cabinets and the rest of the cabinetry in the house. And the simple black detailing really is the cherry on the cake for me.

Hope you enjoyed this little look at our most recent project. Next up… the nursery! 🙂

If you have any questions about the materials we used, the design or the companies we worked with, please feel free to leave your questions and comments in the comment section below.

Shop our Fireplace Wall Unit & Family Room:

*Some items in this room were sponsored, and some affiliate links have been used in this post. Thanks, as always, for your support!

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The Quartz Countertops that I LUV, Why I Think White is Here to Stay & The Truth Behind Our Pretty Photos

Of all the questions I get on my social, some of the most frequent pertain to the countertops in my home… What are my opinions on quartz vs. granite, marble, etc? AND I’m asked ALL THE TIME how I have so much white in my house with little kids and how I keep it clean.

(Our master bathroom, featuring Ella by Cambria Quartz)

To the first question… We have had granite countertops before and now have 2 different brands of quartz countertops in our home. We started our renovations in the kitchen a couple years ago and selected our white quartz, based mostly on price and our budget. I wanted something mostly solid white, with very simple veining. The style I selected fit the bill for this, and I was pretty happy with it when installed. (More on this later…)

If you don’t know a lot about quartz, there are 2 main reasons it has become so popular…

1- It’s beautiful. To me, granite can look overly flecked and uniform. Because of the way quartz is manufactured, the patterns are all completely unique. I had the pleasure of visiting the Cambria Quartz production plant in Minnesota, and watching the materials being made was mesmerizing, to say the least. The creations are gorgeous, ornate and full of character. It has the look of marble, and {almost} everyone LUVs marble. But unlike marble…

2- Quartz is super low maintenance! Granite and marble both require regular maintenance and need to be sealed regularly, as they are extremely porous. Quartz is typically pretty stain repellent and naturally impervious to acidic substances. While real marble is absolutely gorgeous aesthetically, if you are going to choose this material for your home, you must be completely open to the idea that stains and etching could be inevitable. Quartz requires zero sealing and is more likely to maintain its original character, as it is highly durable.

I often follow the second question (about how I have so much white with kids) by reminding my followers that what you see is not always what you get when it comes to a bloggers’ photos. Typically I’m photographing a space that is freshly cleaned, and for every clean space that’s being photographed, there’s typically a mound of laundry or some other type of mess hiding just behind that space. Having said that, I believe there is something to be said for light surfaces, in terms of keeping them clean. The granite countertops we previously had were a dark blend of blacks and metallics, and quite honestly, you’d never even know if they were dirty, because they hid EVERYTHING. While some may find this idea nice, the thought of what lurked beneath what meets the eye always gave me the heeby jeebies. When a surface in my home is dirty, I know. I can feel confident when food touches my countertops that they’re not bacteria-ridden, both because I keep them cleaner (because they are white) and because they aren’t porous.

So to prove to you my point that bloggers’ photos are not always an accurate depiction for what everyday life looks like, I’m going to show you some staged photos of my kids’ bathroom vanities and then show you what they look like more often than not…

Here’s how my daughter’s bathroom came together. The color we selected is Ella.

OK, now let’s be real… Here’s a more accurate depiction of how her bathroom typically looks. Em’s daily rituals are as bright as her personality. She likes to come home from school and add a rainbow of hair chalk to her hair. She usually has the hamster on her countertops while she brushes her teeth. And, despite the fact that she’s 8 years old, she LUVs applying makeup.

I mean, you can be afraid of white surfaces all day long. But for me… what’s scarier is thinking about what my kids put on their countertops (ahem… hamster butt) and not being able to see if they are actually clean. Non-porous sounds pretty good, when you think of it this way, huh?!

Corbin, on the other hand, is a certified neat-freak, like his mama. He doesn’t like anything to be dirty. But one thing that seems to linger is toothpaste residue. (Someone tell me why children always get more toothpaste on the countertops and in their sinks than their actual toothbrushes?!) AND, like Em, there’s often an animal on the counter. He has had a fish here for the last year, that just passed, rest his soul. But the kids put the dog on the counter to drink water out of the sink and Em tends to bring her hamster in here as well. So, again, I really like that their surfaces are non-porous. Here’s what his vanity area looks like when I typically photograph it for my social…

And what it more frequently looks like…

 

So, as you can see, non-porous is the key when suspicious bacterias could be lurking on your surfaces. (Ahem, dog on counter and then toothbrush in mouth…)

While I would have LUV’d to do unique designs in each of our bathrooms, we decided to keep a unified look throughout the house, for both resale value and budgetary reasons. We used white shaker cabinets through our kitchen, bathrooms & laundry room and simply chose different hardware and finishes, to make each space a little unique from the other. Like I mentioned before, we chose a quartz countertop brand based on price when we first did our kitchen, and the bathroom renovations came a year later. After a year of using our kitchen quartz (not Cambria), I wasn’t completely happy with the durability of them. They do, in fact, scratch a little and they have become a little more dull than I had hoped. So when we went to select the quartz for our bathroom renovations, I went with the brand I had coveted from the beginning… Cambria. Cambria’s cutting-edge technologies make their designs more durable and higher-quality than all of their competitors. Some key notes I learned about Cambria when visiting their facility last winter…

  • Cambria is American-made!
  • Cambria is a quartz surface product made of 93% pure, natural quartz- one of the hardest and most common minerals on Earth.
  • Cambria offers more variation than any other quartz manufacturer. (AND, recently introduced a matte finish material into their product line as well.)
  • It is non-porous, scratch and stain resistant, maintenance free and never needs sealing! Liquids and bacterias are never absorbed.
  • Cambria invests extensively in research and development, delivering the most technologically advanced surfaces available in the market.

So, in a nutshell, Cambria leads the way in technological advances, when it comes to quartz countertops, and seeing with my own eyes how it is made, I really was able to see what makes it the best. All of that aside, I can speak through experience that it really is superior when it comes to quartz countertops. Our kitchen quartz (not Cambria) has scratched, chipped and stained. Something I never thought would happen. We’ve now had Cambria in our bathrooms and laundry room for more than a year and have not seen one scratch, one stain or one imperfection. (This post may be sponsored, but that is a fact and my own experience and 100% truthful!)

Having said all of this, our “white’ish” Cambria quartz countertops have been one of the best design decisions I have made in our home. Again, I LUV that I can always see if they are dirty and I LUV the versatility of the design. In my next home, maybe I’ll go outside my comfort zone with a little color (who knows?!). But I’ve been extremely happy with how cohesive the designs in our home feel. I’m guessing white is going to stick around a while. It’s versatile; (You can change out the hardware and/or decor and have a different look.) It’s bright and beautiful; and I think it’s here to stay.

Got any other questions about my experience with the countertops in my home? Just ask!

Shop the items in my bathroom (and similar):

Shop the items in my kids’ bathrooms (and similar):

* This blog post was sponsored, but it was arranged a year AFTER having chosen Cambria for our home on our own. This experience has 100% been our own, and I agreed to do this collaboration because of my positive experience with the brand.

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