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Decorating

All Things Home

lavender topiary & customized planter

The lavender topiaries, the ones I anticipated with eagerness each spring in PA, the ones I would stockpile in the back of my van, so I could sell them at Lucketts, have finally made it to Minnesota!  Well, maybe they were here before now, but now is when I finally found them! The only difference is that these are much larger than the ones I bought in PA.  It’s nice that they are so beautiful and big, but I didn’t have pretty containers for gallon-sized pots.  I don’t know about you, but finding planters that I like is a challenge for me.  They are all too modern or too bright or too plastic-y.  It’s rare for me to find exactly what I want.  So, I typically use antique finds, like olive baskets, buckets, crocks, grain measures, ironstone, etc.  I didn’t have something in my stash (that wasn’t already occupied) that

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All Things Home

sewing room plans

When we’re not doing fun summer stuff and when I’m not working at my desk or easel, I’m hoping to get some projects done around the house.  I’ll share my ambitious project list in another post, but one of the rooms on that list is our sewing room. One thing we love about this house is that we really use it.  We use almost every room almost every day…except for the sewing room.  It is a luxury to have a room for my fabric stash and upholstery supplies and it is nice to be able to close the door on a room carpeted in threads and fabric scraps when I’m in the middle of a project, but it’s not a room we regularly use. It is nice to have an extra guest room, though, should we have the occasion of hosting several people at once, but that hasn’t happened yet. 

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All Things Home

making your house smell nice

There have been a few times that I’ve been asked how my house smells so nice.  I was a little perplexed the first time I was asked, because I don’t use plug-in air fresheners and I rarely light scented candles.  I wasn’t intentionally doing anything. As I thought about it, I realized there were a couple of things I did that probably initiated that question and I thought I would share. The first one is obvious and you certainly don’t need to read a blog post to tell you this.  But, I think my house smelling nice is more about what they are not smelling.  I am a neat and tidy person and I do clean my house regularly and well.  In other words, I stay on top of things that cause odors.  I don’t let laundry pile up.  I don’t let trashcans overflow.  I clean up messes and spills

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All Things Home

the rug that ties the room together

Well, another layer has been added to our dining room and it’s just perfection!  The braided jute rug that was in the dining room worked because it was neutral, but it was a little bit boring.  If you’ve been with me on this blog long enough, you know that rugs are my nemesis!  It’s so hard to find one that works.  It’s not too loud, not too boring, it’s the right material, colors, patterns, etc.  And, rugs are typically investment pieces, so there is pressure to get the decision right. This rug is from the upcoming (June 2019) Mark Sikes collection for Dash & Albert and it is the perfect solution for my dining room… (I’ll share more about Mark’s collection in another post, but everything is so beautiful.  It’s traditional without being tired and there is lots of blue & white, so it is right up my alley!) Anyway,

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All Things Home

favorite things | ironstone molds

When I shared the ironstone mold I purchased at the flea market over Mother’s Day weekend, I received a few questions about ironstone molds, so I thought I would share more about them.  My collection started a few years ago with, of course, my love for anything ironstone.  That love even led me into buying an ironstone spitoon, which I wouldn’t do again because #1 what do you use that for and #2…ick.  Anyway, I came across an ironstone mold and at first debated buying it.  It had a beautiful design on the inside, but it looked a little clumsy and plain on the outside.  And what would I do with it?  Pitchers and bowls and plates and the like can all be used for something (even if they are mostly used for display.) The one I was debating, though, was a good size to plop a plant in or

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All Things Home

a little “spring cleaning” for my indoor plants

Just a quick bit of business first…  We were having some technical glitches with the Personal Retreat Guide for Creatives yesterday, but it’s working now.  If you were having that trouble, you can click HERE, enter your e-mail, click subscribe, and then you’ll get an e-mail to download the guide.  Sorry about that! I noticed last week that some of my house plants were looking a little sad.  It wasn’t that they were unhealthy, but they needed to be cleaned up a little…trimmed, have the dead leaves shaken out, etc.  So, I took a little bit of time to give them a little “spring cleaning”. Both of my indoor gardenia plants were holding onto a bunch of dried out and dead leaves inside their living foliage, so I took each one of them out on the deck and pick them all out.  I was nervous they would look naked after

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All Things Home

new pulls for my desk

I just can’t leave well enough alone.  That quality is what actually led me into decorating in the first place, so I am thankful for it, but it does mean I’m always looking for ways to customize and/or improve something even when they are perfectly fine as is. Well, one thing I wanted to customize as soon as it was delivered to my house was .  I love the shape, finish, and style of it, but I didn’t like the hardware.  Fortunately, that’s a relatively quick and inexpensive thing to change.  So, I did! Here is what it looked like before… …and here is what it looks like with the new hardware… I chose antiqued brass bin-cup pulls because they still work with the mission-style of the desk, but they look a little softer and less rustic than the original pulls. I bought THIS 10-pack of pulls from Amazon for

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All Things Home

studio closet reveal

The studio closet is finally finished!  I cannot express how awesome it is to have all of that functional storage in this space now.  It was one of my goals this year to make my workspaces more functional and that has been accomplished in my studio and home office. Previous Posts: If you missed any previous posts in the studio closet series, including plans and some process pictures of how the closet was built, you can find them here… studio closet: framing and shelves studio closet progress: building the doors studio closet progress: straightening warped doors with turnbuckles studio closet progress: building the 3rd door & adding catches So, this weekend, while everyone else in my family was occupied, I took some time to prime and paint the closet.  I used Smart Prime by Zinsser as the primer and then Benjamin Moore’s Aura in White Dove in an eggshell finish

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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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