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My Speed Queen Review

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

Ok, I really love my washer.

Let me explain. I’ve had every brand, many front loaders (that smell after many uses and not remembering to leave the doors open) 2 years ago when we bought our first Georgia house, I was in the market for a washer and dryer. I was told to forget all the brands and just purchase a Speed Queen. I tried many distributors and they were sold out and on a major waiting list. As a mom of 5, how can I wait 6 months for a washer and dryer? Since that was out of the question, I went with an LG front loader. The latter of which I never felt cleaned the clothes very well and I was happy to part with it.

Enter the TC5 top loader from Speed Queen, it has a 30min wash option, is heavy duty, no smells, and even Levi realized, “wow mom, you got all the stains out!” I’m a fan.

I did have one hang up the week we moved in, I overloaded the washer with my duvet cover, water spilled all over the floor, and I tripped the line. We had to go down to the basement to reboot the wires. After Reid fixed that, my Speed Queen was back to purring.

Founded in 1908 in Ripon, WI, Speed Queen owned by Alliance Laundry Systems LLC, I was sold on the fact that their washers last 25 years. They’re known for their durability which the brand credits to “ergonomic motors, suspension systems, and only the best materials designed to handle wear, tear, and abuse.”

Which one did you get?

Speed Queen TC5 Classic top load

Model:TC5003WN

SKU:6505836

Does the lid lock?

No, the lid doesn’t lock.

Pros

One of the big pros is that you get clean clothes in about 30 min! Many of my readers raved about the quality of this commercial washing and dryer, and mentioned how they work for warranty companies and never get calls for Speed Queens.

Cons

It can be loud when in use, so I close the door.

What do you think, have you tried a Speed Queen?

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Tile 101: why we chose what we did

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

With all the variety of tile choices nowadays, there is no surprise that picking one is overwhelming. I mean, where do you start? First, make a list of what you want.  For example, I knew that I wanted black and white checkerboard in a diamond pattern, herringbone, and a master bath inspired by Alys Beach. Keeping these images in mind, we scoured the internet for tile.  Read on for our tips and tricks to make it easier for you!

What’s the style you are looking for? How much do you spend?

Black and white tile is no easy find.

Like I mentioned, I’ve been envious of all black and white checkerboard spaces for some time now.  It’s a classic look when done right, but finding the right tile is harder than it looks.  Be cautious.  Some blogs make it look simple, but they end up laboriously custom cutting each tile or using fake peal and stick (that looks great in photos but awful in real life).  Our limitation was our tile had to be a certain thickness to avoid a silly floor transition.  This voided the options for marble and other natural stone tile.  We finally found this black and white tile from Floor and Décor.  Boom!  The triangle cut tile wasn’t my first choice, but using grey grout tied it all together and I absolutely love it, and it wasn’t a budget killer.  It reminds me of The Great Gatsby!

For the master bathroom, we loved the interior design of homes in Alys Beach, Florida.  We wanted neutral and natural looking tile.  The tile we found has specks of white fossils embedded in the surface much like the Alys Beach homes showcase.  The tiles come in large sizes and this makes for easier installation.  We liked the design potential to offset the large-scale tile with an accent wall of mosaic tile.  As for budget, the mosaic white marble tile was a budget buster, so we limited it and paired it with the large scale on budget tile to balance out the cost.  I joke that I like to “rob Peter to pay Paul.” This is Reid and my favorite room in the house.

The powder room is tiny so I splurged on a wall mounted custom marble sink, I found on Etsy.  The sink came and we were inspired by the multi tones of the natural marble.  We happened upon a tile called Country Beige Tumbled Travertine Tile and it was on clearance at Floor and Décor.  I was hesitant because the name “country” threw me off, but we bought a sample to bring home anyway.  The beige tone matched the sink perfectly.  The tile edges are tumbled so we juxtaposed the irregular edge with a modern vertical stack pattern on the shower walls and an old-world herringbone pattern on the floor.  I love it!

The kid’s bathrooms were a simple strategy.  Go way under budget yet timeless style.  Subway tile is the way to go.  We splurged with marble hexagon on the shower floor, but did a basic white hexagon on the bathroom floor.  It was all fun and fresh!

The boy’s bathroom is small so we used black hexagon flooring and white subway tile shower walls.  We used remnant vanity counters in both bathrooms to reduce cost.

The laundry room, aka the hardest working room in the house, has the tile same checkerboard pattern as the foyer for a lux look. Lots of modern splash for what could’ve been a very utilitarian space. We ended up using the same countertop as the girl’s bathroom.  I love that it has a window to the street and lots of natural light. This is a major upgrade from my last house which had a tiny dark room to do 7 people’s laundry.

Here are some tips below that we learned in the process of picking tile.

#1 Tip:  Do play with tile patterns in unexpected ways.

#2 Tip:  We played it safe with grout choices and went with what the retailer recommended.  Also, when mixing different tiles in a room, use the same grout color throughout.

#3 Tip:  Budget buy doesn’t mean short on style. Use subway tile in a vertical pattern, or better yet, use a pearl liner trim! (images via Pinterest)

#4 Tip:  Don’t overspend on tile.  You can get very stylish tiles between $5-$10 SF. 

Tile we chose

White hexagon tile

Foyer Black and white tile

Boys bathroom hexagon floor tile

Boys subway tile for the wall

Girls bathroom shower floor marble hexagon

Girls bathroom white hexagon floor

Master bathroom floor tile in running board

Master bathroom shower floor

Laundry room tile

Home

Why we chose a Semi-Custom build

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

Looking for a new home is a stressful ordeal, but also can be fun and opportunity to express your creativity.  We have bought and sold many homes in the last 10 years.   This will be the first time we’ve done a semi-custom new build.

Tips on finding a new build?

We looked daily for on-line listings.  The most important factor is always location.  We wanted a couple acres, no HOA and low property taxes.  We then filtered our home searches to these categories.  You will need to research property taxes in your state to know best rates.  As artists, we didn’t want an HOA as well as the extra cost that come with it.

When looking for new-builds, you can use the search engine filter to show you all new-builds on the market.  In my opinion, these homes are often over-looked by the public.  Therefore, a benefit to new builds will be less competition and rarely paying over asking.

Look for homes that show pictures of the home fully framed or recently sheet rocked.  Most likely, the builder will have the home finished in a few months.  Here is why the timing is super important.  You want in before the builder chooses finishes.  We went under contract with our home right before the builder was about to select finish and finalize the cabinetry.  We were ecstatic to be able to provide our personal design touches to the home.

We customized the kitchen with a range cubby, tile selections, counters, laundry room layout, school room loft details and were able to choose all lighting.  We wanted all the design creativity without the long wait.

Since you chose the home based only on framing and drawings, it is a bit risky not knowing what it will look like when finished.  You must be able to take that risk and trust your vision.  You are also picking the house you like without knowing much about the builder.  It’s kind of like a blind date.  Before you fall in love with the home, research who the builder is.  Look for references and reviews.  Our builder lived nearby the new home, so we trusted him and his craftsmanship.

You are now having to learn to work with the builder as a team. 

Here are some tips that we learned.  Ask the builder what they had in mind first.  Then go from there if you want to upgrade or adjust.  You don’t want to change anything drastic and the builder most likely won’t agree to it.  Some changes we made were adding arches to doorways in the main living space, adding a built-in school desk for the kids and having hanging gas lanterns instead of wall sconces.  NOTE: any big changes you must make to the house (within reason) should be added to the contract before you finalize the offer. Ours was the range cubby, but I wish I asked for a stairway off the back patio. This is key.  Communication with the builder is very important and keep a record of all decisions and receipts. Any upgrades we had like lighting, we paid for and kept receipts of.

As we write, we have 1 month left of our semi-custom build. Some of the pro’s of this experience have been just that, a good experience! We love seeing a quick turnaround, like the arches we asked for, put in that same week. Some con’s have been the fact that we feel like we’re flying blind, not knowing what to expect and when. Like I said earlier, it’s a risk, but if you don’t jump, you can’t fly. We’re super excited to share more blog posts of REAL experiences that social media glosses over or fails to divulge the details. Want a paint color, we will share it, want a tile source, we will share it. What else would you like to see? Please share your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for sharing this journey with us.

Here’s a sneak peek of our faucet, lighting and tile we chose:

Lighting we chose

The Jacqueline chandelier is on sale!

Faucets we chose

Tile we chose

White hexagon tile

Foyer Black and white tile

Boys bathroom hexagon floor tile

Boys subway tile for the wall

Girls bathroom shower floor marble hexagon

Girls bathroom white hexagon floor

Master bathroom floor tile in running board

Master bathroom shower floor

Laundry room tile

Similar vegan shorts // Shopshalicenoel tee // 327 New Balance sneakers tts //

Want to see more?

Let me know in the comments

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Our experience buying and selling in 2022

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

As you’ve seen on my social media, we are going through a housing transition in our family, again.  I want to share our experiences in the housing market.  Buying and selling.  How to work with realtors and how to make a final housing decision

We decided to strategically sell our last home for a number of reasons.  A major one was, Reid had a job offer back in California.  We also seem to sell after every kitchen renovation.  We do this because we feel our home has the most value while the newly remodeled kitchen is fresher.  For some reason, we deny ourselves the beauty of living in a new kitchen.  As designers, we love a new project.  We also felt the timing of our sale would be ideal late summer.

We listed our house in August and priced it competitively.  It seemed like the house was on the market for a while and we were extremely discouraged knowing all the work we had poured into it.  We did one price drop and finally got some better offers.  Ironically, many of the people interested in the house were from California.  We finally went under contract, but did not have another house for us to purchase at the time.  This was panic time.

Buying and selling is unavoidably stressful, so do not do it as often as we do.  We felt that we could not buy a home until ours closed, just in case something fell through in the contract.  At this time, we were planning on moving back to California and house buying is difficult and contingencies are not ideal for a buyer’s offer.  Therefore, we had our hands tied until our home closed. 

Once we closed, we made a house hunting trip to California, with the entire family.  The kids were grieving their friends in Georgia and I had a gut feeling of hesitation.  My gut is usually what we go with.  In summary, we could not find a desirable house in California for the right price, size or condition.  It was gut wrenching.  One house that Reid loved and would have made for great content had a squatter living in it.  Could you imagine?  The kids revolted and my gut finally said, that’s it.   We decided to pivot back to Georgia and Reid would work remote.

Fortunately, we were able to stay with family and neighbors for a couple weeks and then Florida, while we searched.  We focused our house hunt within a 20 minutes radius of our church.

What have we learned about making a final decision on a home purchase?  Here are five tips we’ve experienced.

1)     Location is always everything.

2)    Know the value of the home and don’t get emotional.  (Study the recently sold listings to get a sense of fair values.  We will go back to old listings that we put offers on or were interested in to learn that the homes sold for exactly what we thought.  The realtor will try and get you to pay the most you are willing to pay to secure the deal in their best interest, but you need to be confident that you are the market and you know what you are willing to pay for.  Remember, you are the ones making the payments, not the realtors.)

3)    As designers, it’s easy to think of ways you can change a home, but consider cost of labor and materials.

4)    You will not find everything you are looking for, so don’t expect it.

5)    Date the rate, but marry the house.  We were overly concerned about changing interest rates until someone shared this with us:  We felt rushed buying a certain home, knowing the interest rates would rise the next day.  This was a bad mistake because we didn’t really love the home or the value we were getting.  Therefore, remember this saying:  Date the interest rate, but marry the house.  Interest rates throughout financial history have gone up and down, typically in a 3 to 7 years cycle.

While looking for homes, we were always disappointed in something about the house.  We ended up finding a listing that was at the framing stage and ready for the new owners to select finishes and we jumped on it. More on our new home later and our experience with new construction.  This is all new to us, so stay tuned!

Xo

Shalice

Home

How to hang mini wreaths

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

Mini wreaths from Trader Joes Similar here and here // Commando hooks // Gas lanterns // Cardigan in small // Modal Tee (in XS) // Joggers //

I like to keep holiday decorating cheap and simple to avoid distraction from the real meaning of Christmas. Wreaths are a great way to add Christmas character to your home but can be expensive. I chose these small scale candle wreaths from Trader Joes and they fit perfectly on our french doors. The wreaths were $9.99 and were able to buy one for each door for a great balance to our front porch. We used 3M command hooks to stick to the door. The wreaths don’t weigh much, so any size hooks should do. The hooks hold up to 3 pounds. I want to avoid permanently damaging our wood doors, so the hooks are a great find. Some people have complained the hooks don’t stick in humid climates, but so far so good for us in Florida.

I also plan to place dwarf evergreen trees in our planters and add some exterior string lights. The front porch decorating budget was $100. See what you can come up with this season and show me!

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday sales I’m shopping

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

Happy Cyber Monday! Who doesn’t love shopping from home in their pj’s? I love picking up some early Christmas gifts and home items like pendants and house slides. What did you score today?

Modere – Cyber Monday 10% off sitewide- free shipping!

Puffer vest

Golden goose sneakers lowest I’ve found 

40% off my Sherpa slides code CYBER 

Eames chair – I love in black and wood

25% off my tee no code. TIP: Size down

lululemon skirt 

Frame tv

Puffer jacket

Belt bag

ANTHROPOLOGIE

JCREW

SSENSE

CB2

LULU & GEORGIA

AMAZON (linked my amazon page)

Home

What it’s like having a rental property

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

Chairs // Pressure Washer 2000PSI // Dyson Vacuum //

OWNING VACATION RENTAL PROPERTIES IS NOT ALL HOLIDAY

After renting out properties in Chicago, Lake Arrowhead, and now Florida, Reid and I have seen it all. Well, maybe not everything, but pretty close. We’ve had new chairs ruined by renters making holes in the seats, oven knobs shirred off, and another oven broken for 2 months. You never know what will happen next. We have compiled some highs, and not-so-glamorous realities below.

Like many of you, one of our financial goals is to have residual income in a variety of investment types.  Think barstool.  Each leg is a different means of income.  Vacation rental properties are one leg, but lots of stress. Is it worth it? Keep reading.

TIP: Properties require maintenance, visit your rental once a month to check-in.  As an investment property, you can stay on the property 14 days out of the year for holiday.  However, we recommend you visit the property at least once a month for maintenance and check-in.  It is work, not a vacation.  We use a local property manager for support, but we still find it necessary to keep things looking clean and maintained ourselves.  Management varies by percentages and involvement. Ours doesn’t cover landscaping. We pull weeds, scrub walls, change light bulbs, power wash the exterior and caulk sinks/showers.  Sweat equity is always worth it. I secretly love weeding, especially when there’s not a million mosquitos biting my legs.

TIP: Do things that require professionals during the off-season. The complication to your vacation rental is you have a small window of time between bookings to schedule big maintenance items, so plan-ahead.  We replaced our crawl space insulation with spray foam.  This isn’t a fun expense, but over time it will keep utility costs down.

TIP: Interior design is pivotal to your vacation property brand, but keep durability in mind when making a purchase.  We noticed after only six months of guest, the upholstery is already looking worn.  Keep knick-knacks and breakables to a minimum in the house.  To decorate, we used antique books around the house.  Books add warmth, are cheap, non-breakable and easy to replace.  The basic rule is, don’t get too attached. Your rental will likely experience lots of wear and tear and plan to budget to replace furniture at least once a year. Despite the losses, broke items, highs and lows, is it worth it? We say yes.

TIP: Bring your gently used furniture from your primary house into your rental. You don’t wanna buy new for a rental that gets A LOT of wear and tear. We recently brought our ottoman and rugs to our rental to freshen up the interior and take out the rugs that have seen better days. We’ll enjoy new rugs in our home while our rental gets a glow up.

How about you, have you taken the rental plunge? Share your tips below! Or email me shalice@shalicenoel.com

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NSALE Home finds

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

Sheets // Honey Art Print // Wall Art // Black Box // Indoor garden // Duvet Cover //

Home

We got a new sectional!

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

This is our new sectional from Kathy Kuo Home

Exact one HERE


We have a new addition to our home.  A new sectional.  With seven people in our home we are often fighting for seats, so a new sectional was a part of our peace treaty.  When picking out a sectional, keep size and scale in mind.  We’ve discussed this before when we purchased our Pasadena house sectional.  See article here.

For our current home, the space is not large.  In Georgia, they call it a Keeping Room.  A sectional is a big investment, so study the specs carefully.  To make sure the dimensions work for your space, a helpful tip someone gave me is to use blue masking tape on the floor to match the sectional dimensions. It’s a great way to visualize how the sectional will look before it’s delivered. Genius!

In terms of style, I like a modern look with sharp corners and rectangular geometry.  I prefer couches that sit off the floor as if it was floating.  I also like cushions that are fastened down to keep the kids from having pillow fights.

The color is beige and coordinates with our fireplace stone work and mantle.  I LOVE how this room turned out. A perfect marriage of modern and traditional. What do you think?

Home

5 Reasons to switch to a “clean” laundry detergent

by Shalice Noel
written by Shalice Noel

I’m not one to air my dirty laundry, but here are five reasons to switch to a “clean” laundry detergent. 

We recently made the full-time switch to a non-toxic laundry detergent after my son was experiencing daily itchiness.  (Non-toxic in the sense of normal conditions of use). Add this laundry detergent to your monthly subscribe and save now, for the most bang for your buck.  One bottle is about 32 loads of laundry.

1)    Big-box laundry detergents typically have overwhelming fragrances that make me gag.  This laundry detergent has a soft jasmine fragrance and keeps your clothes smelling fresh.

2)    My son’s skin sensitivities have not been an issue since we switched.

3)    The detergent is so “clean” it is greywater safe, meaning…if you have a greywater system in your house you can use the used wash machine water to water your garden.

4)    A “little” detergent goes a long way.  Less than a capful.  We do one load of laundry a day and go through one bottle a month.  Perfect for the monthly subscription that saves you 15% off.  That way, I save a trip to the store and buy more impulsive snacks we don’t need.

5)    We even got Reid’s mom to make the switch.  She always bought whatever was on sale at the grocery store, but now she’s tried it and loves the value and quality.

Use code SHALICE for new customers – $10 off!

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