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Decorating

All Things Home

and at the house…

While all of the preparation for Lucketts has been going on, I’ve been working some on my house for an upcoming photo shoot as well.  (And 10 Christmas freelance articles, but that’s for another post.)  April and May are just busy months for me, as I’m sure they are for many of you as well.  It’s just how things stack up and it seems to happen this way every year.  So, we buckle down and push hard, knowing it’s just for a few weeks and then things will get back to a more manageable pace. I think spring is pushing along my desire to feather my nest, despite the pressing to-do list for work.  I have never been much of a gardener, but I think it’s because I never really put forth the effort.  I’m really trying this year…inside and outside the house.  I’ve brought in a few live plants

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All Things Home

design ramblings | decorating with vintage linens

When I was first married, I meandered into an antique store that was tucked behind a grocery store in the town where we lived.  I had never been in an antique store as an adult, buying things for my home.  I realized within minutes that I had found my kind of place.  The very first thing I bought was an antique piece of linen and my love for old textiles has never waned. I now use vintage and antique quilts, pillow cases, grain sacks, tea towels, tablecloths, napkins, coverlets, bedspreads and even petticoats all over my house. In this episode of Design Ramblings, we chat about buying, using, and decorating with vintage linens… I love my work, but we’ve been pushing really hard to get things done for Lucketts and I am so ready for the weekend.  I need some good sleep and a couple of days where I don’t feel like

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All Things Home

design ramblings |episode 18 | succulents

I turned the camera on and pressed record before Kriste and I even knew what we were going to talk about.  Kriste suggested something spring-related.  Something about flowers…  I chimed in, “Let’s talk about succulents.” So, that’s what we rambled about this week… (In case you haven’t been watching to the end of the videos, I’ve been putting the “bloopers” at the end instead of in a separate video.  Just an FYI for those who like that sort of thing.) Anyway, I know in the video, I was scratching my head a bit at succulents in wedding bouquets, but then I did a search on Pinterest for some and saw beautiful examples and I can see why it’s a trend.  Here’s one I thought was especially striking… photo source: Brandon Kidd Photography I think I like them when they are paired with flowers that are more delicate and feminine.  I also

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All Things Home

pennants + golf club = window treatments

I made a few updates in the boy’s room over the weekend.  All three of my boys (including Jeff) have been sick, so I’ve been playing nurse most of the time, but Sunday afternoon was so beautiful and the sunshine and warm weather gave me a boost of energy.  I threw open the windows, so my “patients” could benefit from it as well after hanging out under blankets in dark rooms for a couple of days.  So, with this boost of energy, I decided to do some cleaning and “playing” in the house (while movie-watching and napping was happening elsewhere.) I’ve been collecting a few things for the boy’s room and I decided to put them into place. I wanted some window treatments that would fit with the vintage sports theme I have going on, but it’s taken me a while to figure out exactly what I wanted to do.

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All Things Home

how to gold leaf a frame

 When I was out shopping for the upcoming Lucketts Spring Market last week, I was looking for artwork for my living room as well.  I was really hoping for a pair of charming paintings, but I didn’t have any luck.  I did find two vintage Currier & Ives prints, though.  They were sweet farmhouse scenes and I thought they would work well with a new frame and mat.  The frames they were in looked a little dated and didn’t showcase the prints very well. I had a couple of black resin frames I bought on clearance a few years ago that were the perfect size.  The black looked too dark for the prints (and my room), so I decided to gold leaf them. This is what the frames looked like before.  They were a bit dusty, so I cleaned them off to get them ready for the sizing. When applying

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All Things Home

swapping chairs

Sooo…I’ve been know to rearrange, trade and swap furniture in my house.  I’ve always done that, but it’s so much more tempting (and easier) when I have a steady stream of awesome furniture coming into my possession as I’m getting ready for an upcoming antique market.  Sometimes I need to love a piece for a while before I send it off into the world.  There are other times when I trip across something I’ve been looking for and I know right away that it’s coming to my house. That was the case with these chairs… I have been looking for end chairs for my dining room for a while…over a year, I think.  The current end chairs are almost exactly like the side chairs and it looked a little “one-note.”  I felt like some really great end chairs would add a lot more interest to the space.  It’s the kind of

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All Things Home

design ramblings | episode 17 | jessica’s canopy bed

In this episode of Design Ramblings, Kriste and I decided to answer a viewer’s question about her space.  Specifically, she’s stumped with what to hang on the wall behind her canopy bed. (At the end of the video, in the bloopers, I’m doing an impression of my friend Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect.  Just an FYI.) As I was editing the video and looking for some examples of decorating around canopy beds, I found this picture of Emily A Clark’s bedroom.  The arrangement of the bed and the windows is almost identical to Jessica’s, so I thought it would make a nice “inspiration photo.” I was thinking that having curtain panels on both sides of the windows would be too much, but I really like the softness they add in Emily’s room.  It works with the curtain rods hanging much higher than the bed, which could also be done in Jessica’s

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All Things Home

design ramblings | transitioning styles

In this episode of Design Ramblings, Kriste and I talked about transitioning decorating styles.  More specifically, we were answering a reader’s e-mail, asking how to transition from primitive to farm house style.  I felt immediately drawn to that e-mail, because I really love primitive pieces and am buying them more often and putting my spin on them. I think they are very well suited to farm house style, so I thought this was an easy transition that could be made by simple changes like thinning out accessories and changing a wall color. So, that’s what Kriste and I rambled about today… I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend with your families!  I’m going to hit the roller rink with the boys, do some antiquing with my mom, followed by a dinner at a nice restaurant with my family.  A day like that will be a nice break from upholstering and painting!

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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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