The hundred-year-old bungalow Melissa Glover purchased had seen better days. Layer upon layer of numerous remodels had abandoned the home a messy mixture of styles. However, its greatest days were yet to come.
As a first-time homeowner, Glover poured her soul, heart and some concrete into making her home amazing again. She did so mostly by stripping away rather than adding on. The remodel is summed up by the dining room hutch. “I discovered this and originally wanted to knock it out, it was disgusting,” says Glover, who’s a brand and relations coordinator for JayBird Sport. “Every inch was covered in 10 to 15 layers of paint, for example, hardware. However, with patience and a lot of chemical stripper, I discovered a real gem — original beadboard concealing behind cardboard and ’70s-era mirrors. It’s original glass also.”
at a Glance
Who lives here: Melissa Glover and her cats, Lucy and Ethel
Location: Sugar House area of Salt Lake City
Size: 1,200 square feet; two bedrooms, 1 bathroom
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“I’d say my style is a mixture of crafty, Etsy love mixed in with industrial and antique elements while constantly trying to optimize coziness,” Glover says.
Ceiling fan: Acero, Amazon; couch: Lofgren’s; couch pillows: vintage French grain sack, Restoration Hardware; java tables: Overstock.com; carpeting: Lappljung Ruta, Ikea; curtains: Ikea; curtain sticks: Pottery Barn
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At one stage the heating system of the house was installed where the living room fireplace was, which makes it unusable. She included a faux brick fireplace between the built-in bookcases to create a charming focus.
Brick facade fireplace: Brick Design; wall paint: Perfect Taupe, Behr, Home Depot
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Lucy Call
Glover installed dimmers throughout the house to create ambience.
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She needed to get creative with furniture placement to open up the space. “I transferred the dining room lighting in the middle of the room towards the windows to create a pure route to the kitchen,” she states.
Dining table: Tai Pan Trading; chairs: 1934 Dining Chair, Sundance Catalog; dining room dividers: Lights Up! , ” Lofgren’s
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One of Glover’s favorite places inside her home is the dining area. She loves to sit at the dining table around sunset when the light comes through the four big windows and spills across the floor and onto the old hutch.
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Glover takes pride in handling a furniture job, stripping the piece down to the original layer and restoring it, instead of simply covering up what the previous proprietor installed. The dining room hutch is a prime example.
Antler: European Antiques; hardware: Restoration Hardware
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Hutch: CG Sparks
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Glover installed tile in lighting and the kitchen. She purchased a kitchen island to include additional counter space and storage.
Kitchen counter lights: Sundance Catalog; kitchen lighting: Pottery Barn; “Vogue” art: flea market; backsplash: Overstock.com; island: Ikea
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Glover and her former husband installed the lantern-tile backsplash in the kitchen for a clean, contemporary look that blends well with the standard style of the home.
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Glover is currently restoring the metallic and timber railing on the front porch. “It is pretty overwhelming,” she states.
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“Sugar House is a superb part of Salt Lake City,” Glover says. “Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, parks and grocery stores are all within walking distance, and also the neighborhood comes alive in the warmer months.”
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“Most of this work I have done is in the garden. As soon as I discovered the house, the lawn was totally dreadful,” she states. “Total of dead trees and a chain-link fence with a crumbling concrete retaining wall. It took a lot of determination for me to get it to the state it’s in now, and I’m really proud of this. I had a custom concrete patio poured too as a driveway, shed, pergola and custom cedar fencing installed”
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Picnic table: Sundance Catalog; lights: Amazon
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Umbrella: T.J.Maxx; fencing paint: Tugboat, Behr, Home Depot
Lucy Call
Lucy Call
Glover made custom plant markers with little pieces of timber by painting them and then stenciling the name of this plant. Each of the plants came from her dad’s nursery.
Her garden is her prized possession. It is the thing she will remember most about her first home.
“There is not any better sense than spending time cultivating a vegetable garden on land that you can call your own,” she states.