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Decorating

a slice of life

easy creamy potato & ham soup jars

We are just in one of those seasons of life when things are really busy.  I’m sure so many of you can relate.  You get a few months in a row when evenings and weekends are generally quiet and then you hit a stretch when there is something happening every single day.  Jeff has a meeting at church, the boys have climb team practice, I have a women’s event or a planning committee meeting, Jeff has a men’s thing, we have small group, Marshall has a 7th-grade boy’s hangout, the kids have tubing with the youth group…  It’s all good stuff and fun stuff, but it’s meant that we’re either eating early or late.   So, meal prep on the weekends has been key and a big part of that is making soup jars.  I cook one or two big pots of soup (usually a double recipe) and portion it out

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All Things Home

the (almost finished) studio floors & the evolution of a space

Well, it’s not a full reveal of the checkerboard floor, but I think you’ll get the idea! As I started working on this post, I realized I already said everything I needed to say about these floors in Part 1 and Part 2 of painting the checkerboard floors.  I shared the why and the how, the sources, and colors.  And I showed the whole process in a tidy 3-minute timelapse video.   All I could think of to say in this post was, “Here they are!” So, I tried typing out more descriptions of the floors and more details about the process, but it felt redundant and like filler.  It was also at the end of the day when my writing starts to dramatically fall off a cliff. I decided to leave it until morning when I could approach the post with a fresh perspective and I had time to marinate

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All Things Home

painting checkerboard floors | part 2

When you last saw the floors, they were all taped off and ready to paint.  You can find that post HERE if you missed it. The taping was definitely the most time-consuming part.  After that, it’s pretty much smooth sailing for this project. I initially purchased the same color I used on my kitchen walls – Stonington Gray mixed at 50%.  I wanted the squares to be a very pale blue/gray, so the checkers would be subtle and not too high contrast with the bright white.  I painted the first row of squares, removed the tape and knew, even before it dried, that it wasn’t what I wanted.  The color looks very blue/gray in my kitchen, but in the studio, it looked like a pale beige.  I pondered it for a few minutes and decided I spent waaaaaay too much time and energy taping off those squares to settle.  So,

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All Things Home

Painting Checkboard Floors | Part 1

I’ve had the painting-checkerboard-floors itch for a long time!  Back in 2012 I was contemplating finishing my dining room and living room in a two-toned stained checkerboard pattern (you can find that post HERE), but Jeff didn’t love the idea and talked me out of it.  I was slightly relieved because the prospect of doing all of that geometry made me nervous.  I just wasn’t sure I had the patience or attention to detail to pull it off well. When we moved into this house, I knew the studio would be the perfect candidate to finally try a checkerboard floor, but there was just so much to be done that it seemed to be silly to crawl around on the floor taping off squares for an entire day.  I just needed to get paint on the floors and then deal with more elaborate ideas later. Can you believe this is

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All Things Home

reworking the office shelves

Buying used books on Amazon and regular visits to means that the bookshelves in my office and studio are always in flux.  I’m constantly having to arrange and rearrange to accommodate new acquisitions.  So, a couple of weeks ago, I took some time to get the shelves in both my office and studio tidied up. Yes, I organize my books by color and size.  It just looks neater on the shelf to me and I can still find what I’m looking for, because books that are similar in topic are stored on different shelves in different rooms.  All of my art and design books are in my studio and my home and business books are in my office.  This method isn’t going to work for everyone, but it works for me! I also decided to hang my guitar next to the bookshelf.  I find that I’m more likely to pick

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a slice of life

quick turkey avocado burgers

Back in January, I started taking pictures of what I was eating through the day…mostly breakfast, lunch, and some snacks, and sharing it on my Instagram Stories.  I didn’t plan to continue doing it, but I’ve received so many comments from people who have found it inspiring and encouraging, so I’ve kept sharing.  As a side benefit, it’s helped hold me accountable, too.  I want to eat healthy, pretty meals that I’m proud to share. I have been making some progress in the weight loss department, but being sick has slowed down my weekly workouts.  I hope to get back to them consistently when I get back from my trip to Florida next week (to have a mini creative retreat with Shaunna.)  I haven’t been following any consistent plan, but have been trying to eat whole foods, more protein, healthy fats, and lower carbs.  I also try to “eat my

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All Things Home

restyling the dining room hutch

When I restyled the shelves in the living room (you can find that post HERE), I ended up raiding the dining room hutch.  Doesn’t accessory or furniture shuffling always cause a chain reaction?  One thing gets crossed off the list and you end up adding two or three more things to the list! Here is how the dining room hutch looked before I raided it… Since I removed almost all of the antique blue and white transferware, I was left with white ironstone and some reproduction jadeite pieces I purchased at Walmart (links are below). I knew I wanted to use those pieces, but mix in some other elements…perhaps wood, silver, or glass.  So, I started playing around, bringing in different elements and sitting them on the shelf to see what looked right to my design eye.  I wanted it to look harmonious, but collected.  I wanted these pieces to

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All Things Home

Fabrics & Wallpapers | Rochester House

I shared my paint colors last week and decided to share the fabrics and papers I’ve used so far in our MN house.  I’m not asked about them as often as the paint colors, but I probably get a question about my curtains or some other fabric about once a week. The fabrics in my living room and eating area are probably my favorites!  The large-scale check used on the sofa and bergere chairs is Check Please in Lakeland.  I first spotted this fabric online, used on a reupholstered chair, and it was love at first sight.  When we moved, I knew I wanted to use it in our house.  I bought it first to use on a pair of chairs I purchased off craigslist that were upholstered in a red paisley fabric.  You can read about that makeover HERE. It was fortunate that had the exact fabric available as

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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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