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Antiques

All Things Home

latest antique haul in Cannon Falls & Red Wing

A couple of weeks ago, I gave in to the itch to get out of the house strictly for fun and, while the floors were being refinished, I went to a few antique stores with my friend, Cheri.  We drove separate cars, wore masks, and doused ourselves in hand sanitizer, and took every precaution we could short of staying home.  I didn’t find any of the larger items on my list for all of the room projects that are in the works, but I did end up with a pretty nice antique haul. I bought the glass jelly jars for $12.  They are so sweet and the perfect size for a little fruit salad or for whisking up a single egg. I found a roll of heavy cotton twine that I thought would be fun to crochet with.  It’s a good weight for dishcloths… This is such a fun find…

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All Things Home

hanging a butcher’s rack over the stove

When I received another box of goodies from Maria of Dreamy Whites, one box contained a long metal rack with pointed hooks.  I wasn’t sure what it was, so I asked Maria and she told me it was a French butcher’s rack used when making sausages.  No matter what it was once used for, I could pretty quickly envision many different uses for it in our home. The most obvious one was hanging it above our stove.  It looked like it might be the perfect size and I have always wanted to hang something there.  It seemed like it needed something.  I’ve tried signs, ironstone platters, breadboards, a tole tray, and a large silver platter and none of them seemed to work right.  I had always wondered about the idea of hanging a small rack to hold a few small copper pots, but I wasn’t sure how I would mount

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a slice of life

the best gift

Saturday was my 42 birthday.  It started off with apologies from Jeff and the boys that they couldn’t go out and buy me gifts and couldn’t take me out to a restaurant.  It would be another day hunkering down at home.  The fact that I wasn’t disappointed was surprising to me.  I’ve always been a “big birthday person.”  I love presents and cake and surprises. To plan for the day, I bought the ingredients to make a copycat version of Olive Garden’s lemon cream cake, but there have been bigger things than online shopping for potential birthday presents to occupy my time and thoughts.  We would just unceremoniously move some cash from the gifts line item to my personal spending money in our budget and I could buy something later. It was actually the precautions we’ve been taking to keep our family, particularly our type 1 diabetic son, insulated from

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a slice of life

my silver patterns

I often receive comments about my flatware, even if I am posting about food or styling or something else entirely.  I will admit that I have a thing for flatware and have inherited and collected some beautiful pieces. The pieces I inherited from at least five different women in my family are stunning and hard to ignore, which is the main reason why I started using them as our everyday flatware several years ago.  They are just too pretty to keep in a box 363 days of the year, only making appearances at Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, despite being valuable heirlooms, we use them every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I doubt my boys remember using anything else and I know they just see them as regular ole forks and spoons. HERE is a post about why I use my silver every day and how I clean and care

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All Things Home

cleaning & reviving old wood

A few weeks ago, I took some time to hit some of my favorite local antique and thrift stores.  I had been inside a lot during my shoulder recovery and then catching up on work through January and I just needed to get out…not to go to the grocery store or to run the boys to an activity, but to meander without much purpose.  While I was out, I ended up buying a couple of old wooden spools for $1.  I thought they would be nice to wrap yarn or twine around that had come unraveled.  They were dirty and the wood was dry, though, so I took some time to clean them up and get them hydrated. The first thing I did was scrub them with dish soap and water.  I know some people are nervous about getting wood wet, but it really is the best way to clean

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All Things Home

last week’s antique finds…

Last week, I just needed to get out and away from my desk.  I had plenty of work to do and the weather was terrible, but I was determined!  I had planned it and I was going to stick to my plans.  I’m also finding that if I use “I have work to do” as an excuse, then I won’t ever leave the house!  There is always some sort of work to do. So, I went to my PT appointment to have my shoulder worked on (it’s getting so much better) and then I hit a few of my favorite antique and second-hand shops.  There is not a ton of antiquing right here in Rochester, but there are a few spots I like to hit every now and then.  I have been looking for a few things…a mirror for the living room, a large basket, and a buffet-sort-of-piece for a

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All Things Home

foyer refresh & slate update

Before I get into today’s post, I wanted to share that Mustard Seed Mentoring is now open to new members!  You can get all of the details on group and one-on-one mentoring HERE.  I am offering an early bird gift to those who JOIN TODAY – a pocket-sized version of my favorite journal/notebook.  It’s the one I use every single day for notes, sketches, and journaling.  It’s a leather notebook that can hold three inserts, which can be changed out when they are full.  It’s just a little bonus from me. I’ll be sending out e-mails about Mustard Seed Mentoring this week and if you are not starting/running a creative business, you can opt-out of those specific e-mails at the bottom of each e-mail.  Opting out will not unsubscribe you from my blog feed.  I want to let people know about it, but only the people who need it and

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All Things Home

haviland 12 days of Christmas plates

First of all, I loved reading through all of the comments on Wednesday’s post!  I didn’t intend for it to happen, but everyone gave me great ideas for blog posts next year.  It sounds like many of you need simple decorating ideas, inspiration, and some solutions to dilemmas you’re facing.  I think I’m going to have to bring my Decorating Dilemmas post series back! You have also taught me that not everyone follows me on all of the platforms where I post and, even if you do, you still miss a lot!  And all of my readers haven’t read all of my posts!  So, I’m going to make sure I’m spreading my content out more evenly and I’m going to dust off some of my old tricks for new posts and tutorials.  I’m really excited about it. But today, I’m going to share a bit more about the vintage Christmas

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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