The story behind Gardenia & Brick…

OUR STORY


✿ A lake house, a love of old brick, and the stubborn belief that a home should feel as good as it looks.

Gardenia&Brick

Hi — I’m so glad
you found this corner

I’m the person behind Gardenia & Brick — a home renovation and décor journal rooted in lake house living, real brick walls, climbing vines, and the kind of whimsy that makes a house feel like it actually belongs somewhere.

This started as a way to document our own renovation — an older lake house with good bones, original brick, and decades of decisions we slowly started undoing. One room at a time, one weekend project at a time, we found our aesthetic: soft greens, still water, white blooms, and honest materials.

What I share here is real — real budgets, real before-and-afters, real product finds that actually work. No staging, no perfection, just a home that keeps getting more itself.

With bloom & brick,

WHAT WE BELIEVE

The Gardenia & Brick way

Honest over perfect

  • Real renovations are messy. We show the before, the during, and the after — including the mistakes. Because that’s where the real advice lives.

Budget-conscious beauty

  • Beautiful homes don’t require a designer budget. We find the Wayfair steal, the Etsy gem, and the Amazon find that looks like it costs five times more.

A little whimsy, always

  • A home should have a personality. We believe in the unexpected bloom, the blue glazed pot, the Canada geese on the lake at golden hour. Life is in the details.

Respect the bones

  • Old brick, original floors, and vintage milk cans have stories. We renovate with the existing character in mind — working with the house, not against it.

Slow living, intentional spaces

  • The best rooms aren’t the most decorated — they’re the most considered. We believe in fewer things, better chosen, that make you want to stay.

Transparency always

  • Affiliate links are clearly labeled. Gifted products are disclosed. Sponsored content is marked. Your trust is the most valuable thing on this site.

✦   THE JOURNEY   ✦

THE BEGINNING

We found the lake house

An older brick home on the water — worn, loved, and full of potential. The kind of place where you walk in and immediately start mentally rearranging furniture. We said yes before we even saw the upstairs.

YEAR ONE

The great undoing

We spent the first year stripping back decades of decisions — painted-over brick, dated light fixtures, carpet that had seen better days. What emerged was the house underneath: beautiful bones, honest materials, real character.

FINDING THE AESTHETIC

Soft greens, still water, white blooms

The palette found us, really. The sage treeline across the lake. The white ligustrum blooming every spring. The blue glazed pots on the porch. We stopped fighting the landscape and started working with it.

TODAY

Gardenia & Brick is born

“The house smells like gardenias and the lake in the morning. That’s the whole goal.”

✦   STAY IN THE GARDEN   ✦

Come along for the whole journey

Weekly renovation updates, curated finds, and the occasional Canada goose sighting — delivered to your inbox and waiting on Pinterest.

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