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Antiques

All Things Home

progress on the craigslist counter

I did some work on the craigslist counter last week and I thought I would share how it’s shaping up. Now, I’ll be honest…I was planning on painting it. The wood was looking really red, the finish has some unsightly paint splatters, it was really dirty, and it seemed like such a massive black hole with how dark it was. But, I stripped a section of the side, I painted a swatch on the side and the back, and I even painted one drawer.  It just wasn’t working for me.  The paint was flaking a lot and I didn’t like the contrast of the dark wood and the pale gray paint.  I also felt like the piece might look ordinary painted. So, I took a step back and decided to give it a little spa day.  Buff it out, oil it up, and see how I felt about it then.

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All Things Home

the counter, portraits, and color wheels

Thanks so much for all of the feedback on my craigslist counter.  I know when I ask about painting or not painting a piece, I will always get a lot of comments and opinions!  I usually have a clear idea of what I’m going to do with a piece, but I just knew I loved this one and I would figure it all out later.  And your input has been helpful. I agree that it has some amazing charm, but there are a lot of issues that you can’t see in the pictures.  First off, here is what the missing side looks like… Obviously, something has to happen there and it’s not as simple as slapping on a piece of wood.  It looks like it was sawed off of whatever it was attached to, without a lot of precision, so some finagling is going to have to happen to make

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All Things Home

craigslist counter

Over my years of buying and selling furniture, I have learned to trust my instincts on pieces.  If I’m all a-flutter when I see something, I know I should jump at it.  If it elicits that response in me, it probably will in others, too. Such was the case with this antique hardware counter I spotted one night as I was browsing craigslist… It’s 7′ long and I knew it would be a beast, but I couldn’t shake it out of my head, so I e-mailed the seller and asked my dad if we could go pick it up in his truck. The piece is an antique counter out of an old hardware store in Resisterstown, MD.  The seller knew the owner of the store and offered to take the counter to sell when they were considering throwing it out!  So, it ended up on craigslist and then it ended

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All Things Home

Antique Crib Daybed

Years ago, I spotted an antique crib used as a daybed in a magazine, I think Country Living or Country Home, and I was immediately in love.  I hunted for one and finally came across an antique metal hospital crib for $50 at the Old Lucketts Fair (not to be confused with the Lucketts Spring Market). Here’s some retro Miss Mustard Seed… Just for fun, here is what that window looks like today… Oh, how things change, right? Anyway, that crib was one of my favorite I-will-never-ever-sell-it pieces.  We even used it as our “sofa” when we lived in Jeff’s parents basement as he worked on his undergrad degree.  Jeff loathed the thing, mainly because it made an entirely impractical and ridiculous sofa, but space was limited and it’s what could be wedged between his desk and the wall! When we moved into our townhouse, I used it in the guest

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All Things Home

French Daybed

If you’ve been coming here for a while, you’ll notice that things look a little different on my blog now!  I actually had this design created over a year ago, but it’s taken this long to get all of the technical ducks in a row to implement the new design and entirely rebuild the backend of the site for the sake of speed and efficiency.  We still have some minor tweaks and cosmetic changes to make, so hang in there if things are missing or a little off for the next few days. So, last week, I drove out to fellow antique dealer’s home to buy some ironstone, but I ended up buying an antique French daybed instead!  It was pretty much impossible to resist.  It does need some work, but I know it will be fabulous when it’s finished. Here is how it looks now… I will paint it, because

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All Things Home

white ironstone heaven

During my 15+ year love affair with white ironstone, I have come home with some pretty sweet ironstone hauls. Child’s play. Yesterday, I walked into white ironstone heaven at a local thrift store.  One of my “picker” friends tipped me off on the treasure trove and I couldn’t resist making the drive to check it out. My friends, what you are looking at is stacks and stacks of Buffalo China from the 1960’s at a thrift store and the picture above only shows a fraction of it.  (You can find .) So, a little lesson on Buffalo China.  It’s called that, because it was made in Buffalo, New York.  It’s marked on the bottom, usually with a green buffalo, and conveniently has the year it was made included in the hallmark, which is how I know these pieces are from the 1960’s.  Buffalo China is also called “restaurant ware”, because it

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Antiques

ironstone heaven

During my 15+ year love affair with ironstone, I have come home with some pretty sweet ironstone hauls. Child’s play. Yesterday, I walked into ironstone heaven at a local thrift store.  One of my “picker” friends tipped me off on the treasure trove and I couldn’t resist making the drive to check it out. My friends, what you are looking at is stacks and stacks of Buffalo China from the 1960’s at a thrift store and the picture above only shows a fraction of it. So, a little lesson on Buffalo China.  It’s called that, because it was made in Buffalo, New York.  It’s marked on the bottom, usually with a green buffalo, and conveniently has the year it was made included in the hallmark, which is how I know these pieces are from the 1960’s.  Buffalo China is also called “restaurant ware”, because it was used primarily in diners, restaurants, etc.

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All Things Home

cleaning a grubby piece of furniture

I have recently acquired quite a few awesome, but very dirty pieces of furniture and I’ve been asked how I clean them, so I thought I would share. I’m all for diving in with a brush and getting straight to the fun part, but grubby pieces really need to be cleaned first. (Just a note before we get started. This post is about cleaning pieces, not about dealing with chipping lead paint.  The pieces we worked on had old, worn paint, but they were not actively chipping.  For details on working on a piece that you think may contain lead paint, visit the EPA’s website.) So, the first step is to call your mom, who is amazing at cleaning and is a very hard worker and ask if she can clean a couple of pieces of furniture for you. Just kidding.  My mom actually did clean these pieces for me,

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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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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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