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Decorating

All Things Home

hanging the antique birdcage

Even if decorating comes naturally and you have a great space to work with, there is still the possibility of getting stuck.  It’s just normal and a natural part of the creative process.  Some things come easily and others take more thought, time, and discovery.  Such has been the case with this corner in my living room.  I think this wall is a little tricky because it’s a fairly small stretch of wall between a doorway and built-ins.  Whatever piece of furniture that is placed there needs to allow for the doors to open, work well with the built-ins, and also visually balance out the piece on the other side of the doorway.  In my case, that is an antique hutch… Shortly after we moved in, I hung a collection of ironstone plates over a wood dresser just to fill the space.  I always pictured hanging a mirror there that

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All Things Home

hanging a butcher’s rack over the stove

When I received another box of goodies from Maria of Dreamy Whites, one box contained a long metal rack with pointed hooks.  I wasn’t sure what it was, so I asked Maria and she told me it was a French butcher’s rack used when making sausages.  No matter what it was once used for, I could pretty quickly envision many different uses for it in our home. The most obvious one was hanging it above our stove.  It looked like it might be the perfect size and I have always wanted to hang something there.  It seemed like it needed something.  I’ve tried signs, ironstone platters, breadboards, a tole tray, and a large silver platter and none of them seemed to work right.  I had always wondered about the idea of hanging a small rack to hold a few small copper pots, but I wasn’t sure how I would mount

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All Things Home

Delta H2Okinetic® In2ition® Shower Review

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by .  As always all words and opinions are honest and my own. Last summer, I gave the boy’s bathroom a refresh.  It wasn’t a total overhaul, but simple, inexpensive changes that made a huge difference!  While I would love to do a custom-built tile surround, install a deeper tub, and a few other things, that isn’t where we want to put our decorating dollars.  Given that my middle school boys don’t really care about the state of their bathroom, I wanted to make high-impact changes that we could do ourselves. As a reminder, here is how the bathroom looked before… And here is how it looks now… …on a good day! We already changed out the crusted builder-grade fixtures with  Faucets and they might be my favorite part of the room.  I always admire the soft curves and cross handle accents when I clean

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All Things Home

tidying the sewing room

I was hoping to post about our cloud-painting class on Friday, but it is taking an eternity for the videos to upload and process, so that’ll have to wait until tomorrow.  We will be having another class this Friday and a special cloud-painting class on Instagram Live with Megan Gray Wednesday, April 22, 2020, at 2:00 CST.  I’ll share more details in tomorrow’s post. So, today, I’m going to share the tidied-up sewing room!  This was one of the projects I worked on last week to get ready to work on bigger projects over the coming weeks.  The sewing room, also known as the “cat room” and “Sebastian’s room”, had become a dumping ground.  We loaded up on kitty litter before Minnesota was under a stay-at-home order, so there was a healthy stay of litter buckets randomly placed on the floor.  While cleaning other rooms, stray home decor pieces were

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All Things Home

washing & mending

I have found the weekends during this time to be especially difficult.  I haven’t put my finger on exactly why.  Maybe it’s because there isn’t much distinction between weekdays and weekends?  We’re just all home all the time.  Safe at home.  Well and happy, but home nonetheless.  Maybe it’s because the week is too busy with work and school to have much time to dwell on anxious thoughts. Whatever the cause, I’m learning that I need to keep myself occupied.  There are a lot of things I can’t control, but I can do the next thing and then the next.  So, that’s what I did this weekend.  I wasn’t feeling motivated to start a large project, but I could knock out several smaller ones or do some prep work for larger projects.  I worked from one thing to the next and got a surprising amount accomplished. One thing that took

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All Things Home

“Boxwood” Green Studio Doors

Last week, I took some time to work on the studio doors.  It’s been on my to-do list for a while, but it’s one of those projects that isn’t urgent, so it kept getting knocked down the list in favor of more exciting or pressing endeavors.  With everyone home, trying to juggle school and work, feeding four humans and three animals all day, etc. it has been even more important for me to set out some small, tangible goals and get them done.  It’s good for my own mental health to celebrate small accomplishments! So, I worked on the studio doors.  I reinstalled the trim we removed to see if installing a new door was going to be a doable project, touched up the paint… …and then repainted the doors in the custom Boxwood green I used on my butler’s pantry, the kitchen island, and the cabinets in our laundry

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All Things Home

productive decorative play

I was in a real funk on Saturday.  I think it had a lot to do with the dreary weather.  It was gray and our daily walk was shortened by a cool wind and a spittle of rain.  (Jeff’s second walk with Sebastian was shortened by a downpour laced with hail!)  The weather was just not conducive to a cheery day.  On top of that, I was just feeling down.  I wasn’t focusing on gratitude. I did something I rarely do and just sat on the sofa and watched a movie on my iPad, tuning everyone else out with headphones.  I reconciled my bank accounts because it was something that needed to be done anyway.  And Jeff gave me precious time alone in my studio to listen to music and make color charts. It was just what I needed.  I focused on mixing colors and applying them to a grid

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All Things Home

make-do spring decor

As the seasons begin to change, you’ll typically find me perusing a few of my favorite stores, looking for new pieces to mix in with my everyday items or ideas to get my creative wheels turning.  Other than Christmas, I’m not big on seasonal decorating.   It can get expensive and, if not checked, you can end up with a lot of stuff that needs to be stored for 10-11 months each year.  I would rather focus my decorating dollars on things that are evergreen and, instead of hauling out bins of cliche decor, I’ll bring in a few fresh seasonal elements, rearrange, and utilize pieces that speak to the season.  A plaid throw can speak to fall.  Some pale green dishes can speak to spring and summer.  Pinecones in a wooden bowl speak to winter.  It’s just a simpler, more economic way to decorate. When I do buy or make

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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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