Maggie Glendenning’s St. George Midcentury Modern Home

With its terrazzo floors, color-drenched rooms and savvy design solutions, Maggie Glendenning’s St. George midcentury modern home is an ode to ’70s cool. Photos by Lacey Alexander

Midcentury modern homes have an undeniable swagger about them—the clean, low-slung silhouettes and the seamless indoor-outdoor flow that makes every space feel expansive. Warm walnut paneling, open living rooms and sculptural Malm fireplaces practically beg you to sit down and stay awhile. But finding one that still has its original charm? That’s another story.

Creating A Signature St. George Midcentury Modern Home

Maggie Glendenning discovered this all too well. As a self-described Zillow hound, she had scoured every St. George midcentury modern home listing hoping to find one that hadn’t been stripped of its character. “Many of today’s homes look and feel so generic,” she says. “Too vanilla.” After a long and fruitless search, she had to face the facts: her ideal midcentury home simply wasn’t on the market.

Then came a twist. With post-COVID construction booming, Glendenning and her siblings saw an opportunity—why not build? They secured a lot in the Bloomington Country Club golf course community, planning a spec home as an investment. As the owner of an event planning and interiors business—and now a newly licensed general contractor—Glendenning took the lead on the project, collaborating with architect Matt Metcalf to bring their vision to life. Her goal? To design a fresh, modern home infused with soul, a nod to the groovy ‘70s-style houses in the neighborhood.

“I love to push cool and fun ideas, so I knew one thing for sure: the rooms wouldn’t be all white,” she says with a laugh. But as the design process unfolded, something unexpected happened—she started planning every detail as if it were her own. And then, it hit her. “Wait, I want to live here,” she laughs.

Here, she shares what it took to give this new dwelling’s spaces some serious retro-cool vibe—and how she accidentally ended up with the home of her dreams.

Great Room

“The wood slatting adds warmth,” Glendenning says of the kitchen’s 15-foot-high, angled back wall of thermally treated pine that anchors the end of the great room with dimension and rich wood tones. “I couldn’t stretch the budget to do wood on all the ceilings, but I still wanted to bring that warmth and midcentury charm into the space,” says Glendenning, who created the accent as a striking, wallet-friendly solution. The wood is from Delta Millworks in Park City. 

Fireplace

Glendenning knew that a Malm fireplace was a must-have. She positioned it on the raised brick hearth, transforming it into a strikingly colorful focal point in the great room. “It started as fully copper, but the moment I turned it on, it came alive with incredible holographic colors,” she recalls. To balance the space, she selected sheer drapery panels to soften the room while complementing its midcentury-modern aesthetic. A leather-strapped chaise lounge offers a cozy spot to take in patio and golf course views, grounded by a textured rug from Beni Rugs.

Kitchen

Glendenning furnished the end of the kitchen’s “statement island” with generous shelving and serving space. “Rather than just having lots of barstools, I focused on creating an area at the island’s end for casual gathering and entertaining,” says Glendenning, who also increased the height of the island to make it more comfortable to stand around it. She rejected “bulky and heavy” upper cabinets and, instead, created a hidden pantry beside the refrigerator for storage. “This makes the space feel more open and airy.” The island is topped with striking Dolce Vita Quartz, while Caesarstone adorns the perimeter cabinets, which are painted in Farrow & Ball’s Light Blue. “The color helps break up the wood tones,” she notes, adding a refreshing balance to the open kitchen.

Powder Room

“The blue faucet was the starting point for the design,” says Glendenning, who fearlessly sheathed the walls of her “dark and moody” powder bath with cork tile and clad the floating vanity with Red Rock tile by Fireclay Tile. “I started with the sky-blue and red-rock tones from my home’s desert-inspired color palette.” To soften the room’s angular features, she incorporated an organically shaped Living Pond mirror by Ferm Living and a round Dimple sconce by RBW. 

Dining Room

The dining room highlights Glendenning’s signature midcentury-modern materials: painted brick and terrazzo tile. Repurposed from a contractor’s surplus, the brick adds texture to a great room wall and forms a bench that doubles as a fireplace hearth. The terrazzo tile—with its mix of white, butter yellow, gray and burgundy tones—was a must-have. “I always knew that I wanted terrazzo,” she says. The tile was originally intended only for the main living areas, but an overage allowed Glendenning to extend it into the bedrooms, with alternate tiles chosen for the laundry room and bathrooms. Colorful furnishings bring the space to life: a custom table from Vanguard Furniture, a vase from Blu Dot and artwork by Anya Molyviatis through Ivester Contemporary Gallery.

Primary Bathroom 

Glendenning’s love for fully tiled bathrooms shines throughout the home, where each bathroom features a single tile choice, relying on patterns and colors to create visual impact. Keeping materials consistent, she notes, avoids a sense of “decorative whiplash.” In the primary bathroom, light-toned tile complements the room’s airy feel, with a striking round tub by Signature Hardware as the centerpiece. 

Guest Baths 

In contrast, the guest suites’ bathrooms embrace bold color inspired by the desert landscape. Basil-hued cement tile from Clé brings a fresh vibrancy to one, while earthy red terracotta tile from Zia Tile defines the ‘St. George midcentury modern home’ vibe other. “Surrounded by red rock in the desert, I wanted the colors in my spaces to echo the natural tones of the environment,” Glendenning explains.

Primary Bedroom

In the primary bedroom, Glendenning embraced a daring palette with Sherwin-Williams Dark Night, creating a rich, moody atmosphere that balances the room’s towering ceilings. “The architect suggested lowering the 12- to 14-foot ceilings to 10 or 11 feet, but when we learned how much extra lumber it would cost, we decided to keep them high,” she says. “With the tall ceilings and west-facing windows, I was able to go dark. This makes the room feel more comfortable and not like a deep hole,” she explains. An RBW wall light hangs above a Blu Dot nightstand; Cozy Earth bedding dresses the bed by Ellison Studios.

Laundry

The vibrant yellow laundry room is one of Glendenning’s most playful spaces. Finding a concrete tile to match the terrazzo’s thickness was a challenge, but she discovered this Zia Tile with a graphic pattern, warm texture and colors from her palette. She chose a chic European drying rack from Northern, favoring the wall-mounted design over a ceiling-hung option. The room’s upbeat vibe is driven by Benjamin Moore’s aptly named Good Vibrations paint.

Office

Glendenning color-drenched her office in a powder blue, similar to the shade of the living room’s sofa, to create a seamless flow throughout the home. While she enjoys working in the space, she admits the walls can cast a blue shadow, making it difficult to evaluate samples. Furnishings include a Blu Dot desk, DWR lamp and chair and a Frances and Son ceiling light.   

Guest Room

“I don’t know when we became afraid of color. It adds so much life and energy to a home,”  Glendenning says. Embracing that philosophy, she bathed a guest bedroom in Sherwin-Williams’ Soft Apricot, a warm backdrop for layers of desert-inspired hues—peach, terracotta and red rock—woven through the bedding, lighting and rug. “Orange is my favorite color,” she adds. The space is grounded by an upholstered bed frame from Sixpenny and a nightstand from Crate & Barrel. 

See more of the latest in Southern Utah design in our St. George Area Parade of Homes Trends Roundup.