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Decorating

All Things Home

milk paint landscape mural

A few weeks ago, I shared my plan to paint a soft landscape mural in my dining room.   The dining room is one of the smallest non-bathroom rooms in the house and it’s square with a large window and two large doorways, making it a little awkward.  I feel like it needs something that is a show-stopper in order to make it a special room and I think a mural can be that show-stopper. When I shared my idea, I also shared my inspiration – Susan Harter Mural Papers.  Every mural that I found on Pinterest and Google image searches seemed to be by her.  I just love the soft colors and traditional style of her murals, so that was the direction I wanted to go. Well, one of her clients alerted her to my post and she reached out to me directly.  We got along like two peas in

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a slice of life

making ourselves at home

Before I get into today’s post, I want to encourage you to visit one of my friend’s websites.  Laura Dreyer is a talented artist and creative business owner (she is the creator of Little Clay Land), but is also a long-time friend and the designer of my logo and lot of the branding that became the cornerstone of my professional look.  She is publishing a series of interviews by creative entrepreneurs and mine is posted today. As a part of the series, she is including hand-drawn lettering of the creative’s business.  Here is the one she did for me… Anyway, just a little light reading, if you’re interested! A part of what makes me feel not-at-home somewhere that isn’t my home is that I don’t have a place for everything.  That might sound like a stupid and obvious statement, but hang in here with me.  I end up being a

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All Things Home

plan for the front garden

If you missed my garden post last week, you might want to take a minute to check it out.  The comment section is full of great advice, tips, and suggestions that are especially applicable and helpful if you live in zone 4.  Also, this post is a continuation of that one, so it might be helpful for context. To get this post started, I thought I would share the gardens that inspired me.  I love the look of the gardens designed and shared by Loi Thai of Tone on Tone.    His gardens are simple and beautiful, structured, traditional, and approached almost as interior rooms with focal points, layers, textures, and a clearly established color palette. Here are a couple examples… Now, I do realize my limitations.  I’m in a suburban home and some of these looks just might not work or make sense, but the overall approach can certainly apply.  If

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a slice of life

summer activity | fun with food

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Blue Apron.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own.  (Oh,, and the first 50 readers to sign up will get $50 off their first two weeks Blue Apron, so you might want to stick around.) Our vacations are behind us and now the bulk of the summer is ahead of us.  This is the first summer where my sons aren’t going to a day camp (or we’re not moving across the country), so we’re going to need to find lots of things to do to fill the long days.  Of course, the usual pastimes are on the list – playing with friends, swimming at the pool, outings to local parks, fishing, and bike rides.  But we’re also hoping to sneak in some learning, work, and other enriching activities. One of those enriching activities we did this weekend was cooking a

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All Things Home

eating area updates

Once we were unpacked and settled form back-to-back trips, I was ready to start working on the house again.  I am waiting to get into the summer rhythm before I tackle larger projects, like the butler’s pantry and painting the kitchen island, but I want to get smaller things done when time allows.  Organization of cabinets and closets is definitely on my list (there are still “lost objects” from our move), but I also want to hang more art and decor on the walls and fine-tune the finishing touches. When I had a little pocket of free time, I decided to try hanging a trio of antique blue transferware plates on either side of the arch that opens into the living room. I really like how they pull in the richer blues from the curtains and checked slipcovers, but it’s not too matchy-matchy. I originally hung some wooden cutting boards

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All Things Home

peonies

Well, we’re finally home for the summer.  We got all of our trips done back to back and I won’t have to pack a suitcase again until I go to France and Italy in the fall.  It’s so good to be home, although I loved visiting family and then unplugging (quite literally) with our church’s pastors and their families at a private island on Rainy Lake in Canada.  I’ll share more about that trip in another post, but I thought I would first share a nice surprise I found when I got home… The hedge of peonies planted by the previous homeowners (five bushes in all), had blossomed.  The bushes were dotted with fluffy pink flowers. Knowing that peonies are short-lived, I helped myself to a few of them for a bouquet. I even painted them for my oil still life series, but peonies have me beat for right now. 

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All Things Home

Braided Jute Kitchen Rug

One of the questions I’m asked most when I share my kitchen on social media is, “Where did you get the rug?” The answer is, it’s a braided jute I purchased from Joss & Main a few years ago.  It has worn really well and has even been hosed down a couple of times to remove stains and an unfortunate “stomach bug incident”. It did finally start to unravel along the edge, though, creating a loop that we all kept tripping over.  Jeff finally took a pair of scissors to the offending loop and then, well…it looked like this…   So, it was about time to get a new rug.  It was one of those things that hung out on my mental shopping list for a while, but I was never compelled enough to actually buy one.  It just wasn’t a big priority. When I was in Raleigh visiting Jeff’s

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All Things Home

new kitchen wall color

Well, we were home for less than two days and I already started painting the kitchen walls.  I had the paint (purchased for the hall and foyer), so it was easy to impulsively start painting.  It began as an oh-I’ll-just-paint-a-test-swatch and turned into painting half of the kitchen and eating area. The color really needed to be changed.  It was bugging me all the way on the east coast! So, here it is… The new color is a half-tint of Stonington Gray by Benjamin Moore.  As a reference, the door is the same color mixed at full strength.  It looks worlds better with the tile and counter. Here is the color before… It was Pearly White by Sherwin Williams.  I chose it, because I used it in the living and dining rooms of my last house and I always loved it.  It was a cooler off-white that worked well with

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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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