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Decorating

All Things Home

Tidying the Laundry Room & Bottling Cleaners

A few weeks ago, I was in a cleaning and organizing mood.  I am the sort of person who’s in that kind of mood pretty regularly, but this was on another level.  It started with getting all of my cleaning supplies sorted out and turned into reorganizing the laundry room shelves.  I keep cleaners, sponges, brushes, etc. all over the house, so that cleaning is easy.  Under the sink of each bathroom is a bottle of glass cleaner, toilet cleaner, a toilet brush, sponges, a couple of rolls of paper towels, all-purpose cleaners, scouring powder or paste, paper towels, a few clean microfiber dust cloths, and a small box of garbage bags.  (I share some of my favorite cleaners in THIS POST.)  In the master bathroom, I also have dishwasher tabs and a big bottle of white vinegar for cleaning the jet tub.  In a three-story house, this means I

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a slice of life

the first scratch in the hardwood floors

I think one of the reasons that I like old things is that they are already worn.  They wear scratches, dents, dings, chips, cracks, and crazing, and any new damage that is done to them will likely go unnoticed.  They are already imperfect and there is no pressure to keep them pristine.  Well, newly installed and freshly refinished hardwood floors do come with some amount of pressure to keep them scratch-free for as long as humanly possible. For me, that turned out to be less than 24 hours. I knew that these hardwood floors would scratch, because we have them on our stairs, in the dining room, my office, and 15-year-old floors in the kitchen and eating area.  All of them are scratched to some degree from the pets, from furniture scooting, from dropping things, from kids, from life.  I knew these floors, which are in the two most trafficked

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All Things Home

a new picture light & styling a buffet

A few of you noticed the new picture light hung above my Manet copy of Berte Morisot and I shared it on my Instagram stories last week.  I actually bought the picture light for the cow painting above my fireplace (Eulalie), but running the cord wasn’t going to work.  It’s a small shame that there isn’t an outlet on that wall for either a picture light, sconces, or a TV.  So, I decided to use the light over Berthe and it really is perfect. When shopping for picture lights, I learned that they can be very pricey!  I didn’t want to spend a lot, so I just kept an eye for one on and , and finally, one surfaced for $25.  It was the right size, style, and finish, so it was a win! Hanging the light started about an hour of decorative play…  bringing in plants from the deck,

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All Things Home

free wallpaper sample books & their uses

A couple of weeks ago, I drove over to the local paint store to pick up an order.  They are only serving customers curb-side, so I waited outside as they collected my paint cans.  As I was waiting, a pile of wallpaper sample books leaned up against the wall under a sign that read “free” caught my eye.  Hmmm…well, don’t mind if I do.  I figured the books would be filled with dated papers that would be of no interest, but I actually found two books with a lot of great patterns. One of them is filled with stripes.  I was particularly drawn to the grain sack stripes.  Aren’t they so cool? The second book is the real treasure, though.  It’s filled with grasscloth and paper weaves! I’m sure some of you can guess why I collected the books and put them in my van, but others might wonder what

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All Things Home

the $20 side table & master bedroom progress

Last week, while the floors were being refinished, I went out to a few antique shops with my friend, Cheri.  I’ll share some other things I purchased while I was out, but one of the things I found that was on my shopping list was a side table for $20!  I wanted one to put beside the chaise to hold a book or a drink and to bring some life to that corner with a plant.  This table ended up being the perfect find. It was actually sitting outside of the little antique shop, holding a bottle of hand sanitizer.  It didn’t have a price on it, so I figured it probably wasn’t for sale.  I’ve learned to always ask, though!  You never know.  I was already asking about the price on a sweet full-length mirror in a gold frame, so I asked about the side table as well.  The

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All Things Home

the process of living in a house while refinishing floors

Well, we’ve made it to the other side of having new wood floors installed in the living room while also refinishing the kitchen & eating area floors.  And, we were living in the house through the entire process.  In fact, every time we’ve either worked on floors ourselves or had them done, we’ve stayed in the house through the upheaval.  Several people asked if I would share the process as well as some tips for how we made it work, so that’s what this post is all about! DIY or pay the pros? The first big decision when it comes to installing or refinishing wood floors is figuring out if you want to tackle it yourself or hire it out.  We’ve done both and the decision was largely dictated by budget as well as the scale of the project and availability.  There is a small portion of it that boiled

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a slice of life

favorite recent online garden purchases (and savings)

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Wikibuy.  All opinions expressed in this post are honest and my own. I shared about Wikibuy a few weeks ago and have continued to use it while shopping online (which I’m doing a lot more these days!)  I say “use it”, but I really don’t have to do anything.  I simply shop and, when I’m checking out, the friendly Wikibuy box will pop into the top right corner automatically and let me know if there are coupon codes to try or if Wikibuy Credits are available with the purchase.   I am generally an online shopper, anyway.  It was a habit that was started when we moved to a two-stoplight town in PA that was 30-40 minutes from most stores.  But I’ve learned that it’s a quicker way to find exactly when I’m looking for.   And these days, we’re ordering almost everything online, even

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All Things Home

five tips on shopping for fabrics

As I’ve shared pictures of my inspiration board and sewing room, I’ve been asked multiple times where I shop for fabrics.  The short answer is everywhere!  Since that answer isn’t helpful at all to those asking the question, I decided to write a blog post about shopping for fabrics that is a bit more specific. First of all, I am a fabric hound.  If I see a fabric I like, I will sniff it out, track it, and hunt it down.  I will dig in the resource sections of books, follow brand tags, comb websites, and send inquiries to find out the name of the pattern.  Once I have the name of the pattern and the maker, I will run a good ole Google search to see where it is for sale.  This means that I don’t buy from one specific website when shopping for fabrics, but I buy from

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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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