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Decorating

All Things Home

basement family room makeover | the stairs

After reviewing a lot of your feedback on Monday’s post and thinking about it a bit more, I am pretty sure I know the direction I’m going to go with painting the trim in the basement family room.  Again, the good news is there is no rush and I can take it one step at a time, changing my mind as I go.  Thank you for all of your feedback, though.  It was all helpful! Speaking of changing my mind, I actually returned the checked curtains I bought from Target.  are the curtains I got… I don’t have any complaints about them.  They are great curtains for the price, the fabric looked good in the room, the size was right, etc.  I just wasn’t feeling them.  They seemed a little too light for the look I was going for.  I have some blue linen that I have draped from the

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All Things Home

Basement Family Room Makeover | Priming & Painting the Walls

I made some more progress on the basement family room makeover late last week and over the weekend.  It’s feeling good to see it come together, little by little. The first thing I did is I played around a little bit more with things I already had.  We’ve decided that we do like the arrangement of wing chairs, so I’m going to be on the hunt for a round pedestal table and a chandelier to hang over the table.  I had a dry sink that belonged to my Opa that was displaced in the furniture shuffle, so I tried it just to the right of the stairs.  I added a mirror and lamp from my stash and some old chairs from our last kitchen table (they belonged to Jeff’s grandparents.)  The vacuum, of course, balances out the arrangement. I would paint the dry sink, but the scale of everything is

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All Things Home

basement progress | removing & rearranging

Progress in the basement is slow and steady, which is becoming the norm for me when it comes to large projects.  I’ve learned the power of chipping away at something instead of tackling it all in one shot.  It removes so much of the overwhelm and it forces me to be more methodical with each step.  Instead of pushing through to get something done, I can take slow and careful steps, reassessing all along the way.  While it drags the project out, it does so in a way that is beneficial and I think the end result will be better for it.  I will say, though, it is against my nature.  I’m generally impatient and just want to check it off the list.  But, I’m getting a little older, a little wiser, and definitely a little slower! In the basement, we’ve been putting in about 30-60 minutes of work each

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All Things Home

painted klompen shoes

When I organized the basement storage room, I made a use-it-or-lose-it pile.  I have been holding onto some decor pieces since before we moved and if they’ve been in a box, closet, or basement for 4+ years, then it’s time to either find a good spot for it or let it go.  The whole point of decor pieces is to be decorative!  They are not doing anyone any good if they are in a storage room.  Making some self-imposed rules and boundaries can sometimes sound silly, but they can be very helpful if you’re willing to be bossy and firm with yourself.  Creating this use-it-or-lose-it rule finally gave me the push to give these vintage painted klompen shoes a makeover. The small pair is a souvenir pair that we picked up somewhere…I’m not even sure where or when.  I just remember having them since I was a girl.  I would

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All Things Home

Feels Like Home | Work Spaces Chapter Preview

I’ve shared that the process of writing my new book, , was an easy one.  I mean, it was a lot of work, but it was one of those projects that felt life-giving.  It was exciting and fulfilling.  The words came easily and I was practically giddy during the photoshoots.  It was good work and maybe some of my best work. The hardest part of this process has been the waiting; waiting for September 7, 2021, to finally arrive so the book can be out in the world.  It’s a long breath of anticipation that happens between the creative work and getting to experience the results – to physically hold the book and to receive feedback from more than just a handful of select people who have seen it digitally. But, the official book launch is just eight weeks away, which will be here before we all know it.  Until

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All Things Home

organizing | ordinary, everyday makeovers

There are some makeovers that have more to do with how a room looks than how it feels.  It feels better; it feels more like “you”, but when it comes down to it, the makeover was cosmetic.  It was about preferences and aesthetics and taste.  Then, there are makeovers that are more about how a space feels than how it looks.  It’s more about function and practicality.  It’s not dramatic or beautiful to anyone but you. Here are your two beautiful photos for this post and then I’m going to share an ordinary, everyday makeover I’ve been working on.  It’s not beautiful or photogenic.  It just feels better, functions better, and, in its own way, it looks better, too. I’m talking about the storage room that is off of the guest room.  This isn’t officially a closet, but we use it as one.  It is a space that could be

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Antiques

“you don’t know what you’ve got…”

I bet you thought I would finish the post title with “‘…til it’s gone”, but I’m not.  While that’s the way the saying goes, I’m going to change it up a bit.  Here’s my version, which is a little less catchy and will never be a song lyric…   You don’t know what you’ve got until you’ve gone through it all. There is an assumption that we know about everything we have in our homes (other than critters/pests), but I don’t know if that’s 100% true, especially if you’ve acquired items from a family member or an estate or if you tend to box things up “for later.”  And who knows what your spouse and children might be bringing home!  I think a part of having a house full of favorites is truly knowing everything you have.  That means you don’t have too much stuff stored and what is stored

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All Things Home

putting furniture pieces together

The piece of furniture I’m asked about most is the large antique cabinet in my studio.  I totally understand why.  It’s an impressive piece and one I would ask about if I saw it!  If you read this blog regularly, you know its secret.  It’s not one piece, but two.  Not only is it two pieces married together, but two pieces that were found 1,000 miles and about three years apart.  The bottom piece is a storage counter out of an old hardware store in Maryland. The top is a bookcase from the Wilder School in Minnesota.  I bought it from a former student of the school who attended when it was just a one-room schoolhouse.  I assured him it was going to someone who appreciated that.  (The wood on both of these pieces was revived with Miss Mustard Seed’s Hemp Oil.  The interior of the upper cabinet was painted

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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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