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Antiques

All Things Home

gold rush purchases

Saturday was Jeff’s birthday and he went out for a special father-son breakfast for some time with our youngest before we spent time together as a family.  On their way home, he saw that there was an antique market happening at the Rochester Fair Grounds.  And, believe it or not, he called and told me about it (no. 1) and then (no. 2) he actually suggested we go there together as a family.  Now, Jeff has always been supportive of my antique habit (unless it involves moving something huge), but he’s not usually one to suggest going to an event, especially with the kids and especially on his birthday. After I checked to make sure he wasn’t joking or ill, I gave an enthusiastic yes. So, we all went to the antique market, which is a small offshoot of the Gold Rush Days that happens in Oronoco and Rochester in

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All Things Home

fixing the bottom of an upholstered chair

This chair has had issues for a while, but I’ve been ignoring them.  It’s typically been in out-of-the-way places, so it wasn’t something I had to look at or be bothered by regularly.  Well, since I moved it into the studio, this saggy bottom has been annoying me. But still not quite enough to actually fix it. It went on my “annoying project list” to hang out there until I was in the mood to tackle it.  Well, then it started shedding all over my studio floor.  No, no, no.  Not in my creative sanctuary.  Even the boys pointed out the pile of “hair” under the chair, which is saying a lot because they are not generally observant about messes. So on Friday, before I took some time to paint, I took about 15 minutes to fix the chair.  Some of the webbing was coming undone and it obviously needed

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All Things Home

the toledo drafting stool & equipto cart

There are two things that have been on my shopping list for a while – an antique adjustable drafting stool and a rolling cart, both for my studio.  I’ve been trolling craigslist and looking at local antique and consignment shops and haven’t found anything that was just right.  Well, I hit the jackpot at Junk Bonanza and found both!  A rolling cart (green, no less) by Equipto and an antique Toledo drafting stool. One of the reasons it took me so long to locate these items is that I was being very picky.  The cart had to be the right size, the right configuration, the right color, and it had to roll well.  The chair had to be comfortable, sturdy, and all of the parts had to work properly. Let’s start with the antique Toledo drafting stool/chair.  It was my most expensive purchase at $129.  I paused for a moment

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All Things Home

farmhouse white dresser makeover

While at Junk Bonanza, we decided it would be fun to shop for a piece, paint and finish it in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint products, and then offer it up as a giveaway.  We did it last year and it went so well that it was worth an encore.  So, Wednesday evening, after our booth was set up, I wandered around looking for a good candidate to paint.  I found a few pieces that were nice and within my $150 budget, but I decided to keep looking. And I was glad I waited when I spotted this gorgeous late 1800’s dresser with unique hardware and trim for $125… I bought it from The Tinker’s Ware. There were actually several pieces in that booth that were good candidates to paint, but this one was the one and my heart was set on it.  We settled up and moved it upstairs

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All Things Home

monogrammed smock

A little over two years ago, I borrowed a smock while teaching a workshop at Me & Mrs. Jones in Memphis, TN.  The smock was heavily used and smeared with paint, but there was a crisp new linen one tagged for sale on a hanger nearby.  I fell so in love with my borrowed smock that I removed the new linen apron from the hanger mid-workshop and gave it to the owner to hold for me to buy.  I only saw one and the paranoia set in that someone else might buy it before I had the chance to claim it.  (It turns out there was an entire rack, so I was being a little silly.) This smock and I have been like peas and carrots ever since.  I wear it during events, workshops, while painting at my easel, refinishing and painting furniture, etc.  I like that it doesn’t hang

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All Things Home

junk bonanza 2019 | part 2

Saturday evening, we packed up our remaining merchandise and headed home after a long three days at Junk Bonanza.  We were pretty much cleared out by the end of the event, which is always a victory.  Our little crew of three painted and finished a dresser, talked a lot about MMS Milk Paint, our finishes, and furniture painting in general.  We chatted with customers and other vendors, delivered purchased furniture to the loading dock, ate hot mini-doughnuts, and, of course, did some shopping ourselves. It was slow at times, thanks to the poor weather and snow, and tiring, but it was a wonderful weekend and a successful show.  We also had a strong turnout for all three of the milk paint demos. I showed our booth in THIS POST, but I wanted to share pictures from some of the other booths because there was a lot of amazing stuff. One

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All Things Home

junk bonanza 2019

I meant to write a post last night, but I just couldn’t.  It was taking forever to upload my pictures and I was tired and I knew I had three long days in front of me.  I just needed to get to sleep, so I did just that.  I have survived day one, though, and I have just enough in me to check in and give you an update. When I arrived yesterday (Wednesday morning) to set up, the roads were dry and the weather forecast looked promising.  The snow totals had been dramatically downgraded from 9-18″ to about 2″ and some rain and ice.  But, then it started snowing and the totals were bumped up to 12″ again and it has been a sloppy, snowy, icy, windy couple of days. We’ve been dry and toasty inside, though, working at the event. Late Wednesday morning, our space looked like this… Chris

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All Things Home

stuff I’m selling at Junk Bonanza

I sold a lot of pieces before we moved halfway across the country from PA to MN.  I knew that some of them just weren’t going to work in what would most likely be our new house.  And I don’t regret selling any of the pieces I sold.  There were a few things, though, that I didn’t know where I would put them or how they would work, but I just wasn’t ready to let them go. This step-back cupboard was one of those pieces. It’s been one of my favorite finds from the moment I found it lined up in a row of dusty furniture in a second-hand shop. It had a few different homes in my last house and I loved how versatile it was.  The base cabinet housed exercise weights, craft supplies, office supplies, and Legos at various times.  The top almost always showcased ironstone. But in

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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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