Savvy Renovations Home Tour That Shines!

This 1970’s fixer upper had plenty of potential. See how projects were embraced with some savvy renovations to make this home tour shine!

When shopping for a new home, Marly Dice’s main focus was on being close to family. Looking past the obvious changes that needed to be made, this home stood out against the others. Before any of the furnishings could be put into place there was a lot of work ahead. Let’s dig in and learn a little more about Marly of A Brick Home in today’s tour!

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Savvy Renovations Home Tour

Meet Marly Dice…a home blogger, podcaster, mama and wife whose mission is to help home enthusiasts beautify their home & build their dream online business. Marly is a former corporate marketer who quit her job to stay home with her baby girl in 2017.

Shortly after, she started her home decor blog A Brick Home as an outlet in which to channel creative energies…
“I immediately fell in love with blogging. It quickly hit me that I wanted to not only be a blogger but also help other home enthusiasts. That’s when I started The Marly Dice Podcast! I discuss marketing (and beyond) related to growing a home blogging business.”

“I wish I could say that the charm of our home drew us in, but honestly, it didn’t have much charm. Every single room needed renovation – which I guess could be considered a good thing since we’ve now got to put our touch on every space in our home.”

“What really lead us to choose our home was the location of our Maryland home. We are within an hour of most of our family members. We’re in a great school district and have over an acre of land.  We fell in love with the size of the home the four bedroom home, which we knew would be perfect for our family to grow into.”

“Our home is a traditional, two-story, brick colonial built in the late 1970’s. We purchased our home in late 2013, and have since fixed up almost every room in it. The first time we did a walk through of our now-home, we saw that it needed lots of work but we also saw the potential. We’re extremely happy with our home, and we’ve been able to renovate it over the past several years and make it the perfect home for our family.”

After purchasing their home 2013, the couple has done extensive DIY renovations.

They installed new hardwoods throughout the main floor and in the master bedroom. With that project completed, they enlarged the master bathroom and giving it a complete overhaul as well.

They whitewashed the brick fireplace wall in the family room and installed a mantel and bookcase surrounding the fireplace.

The heart of the home, they also put a lot into renovating the kitchen from top to bottom.

They finished out the basement to allow it to become a playroom and family hang out space.

Marly and her husband installed a board and batten DIY accent wall in her home office space.

So creative, a mudroom was added utilizing an IKEA hack for plenty of storage.

Next they had a garage built that was contracted out. So impressive!

Here’s a little more from Marly so that you can get to know her!

Favorite projects:

My favorite projects so far include our DIY mudroom, our living room DIY mantel & bookcase project, and our vintage dining chair makeovers.

Our DIY mudroom greatly helps the function of our home and it was such a budget-friendly project. We used two IKEA wardrobes and Jason build a cubby and bench to connect them. 

Our DIY mantel and bookcase project is another favorite of mine, and this has actually been our most recent project. We wanted to move our TV to the same wall as the fireplace, and we struggled with having an off center fireplace. Jason and I brainstormed together how to tackle this issue and we love what we came up with! 

Our vintage dining room chair makeovers are another favorite DIY project of mine. Jason and I found them on Craigslist, drove over an hour to get them and an hour back, and then took several months to completely transform them. We reupholstered them ourselves and white waxed the wood. It was a long process but they’re now some of our favorite pieces in our home.

Savvy Renovations Home Tour -Favorite Rooms:

My favorite rooms in my home are my office and my living room.

My home office has been a work in progress for years, and it’s finally to a point where I absolutely love being in it. We completed a DIY board and batten project in that room awhile back. Afterwards I repainted and furnished the room to look like what it is today.

Our living room is another favorite room of mine because it’s the perfect place to curl up and hang out with my family. We completely re-furnished it the last few months and I love the French country pieces that are now filling the space as well as our DIY mantel & bookcases. 

A charming mix of vintage and new in Marly’s daughters room.

You can usually find Marly working on a home improvement project with her husband Jason or decorating her home. Her three year old Hannah loves helping mommy decorate!

“One of the coolest experiences to date has been my feature in The Cottage Journal’s Country Cottage Christmas 2019. I could never have believed that my blogging journey would lead to such an amazing opportunity, and for that, I’m very grateful.” Make sure to visit Marley in any of the links above for more!

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