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Decorating

a slice of life

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 A fall dessert using a fall favorite comes to life in this cookie. I don’t often think about cooking with pumpkin, but there is a lot of goodness pumpkins can bring to the culinary table!  I was in the mood for something chocolatey and cookies are always a winner at my house, so I made a variation of a Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I found on Taste of Home.  I made a few tweaks to the recipe, like adding salt, using old fashioned oats instead of quick-cooking, and used dark chocolate chips. I like the old fashioned oats vs. the quick-cooking, because they retain more of their texture once the cookie is baked. One tip when making cookies is to use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon to dole out the cookies on the baking sheet, so they are uniform.  If the cookies are all different sizes, you’ll

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All Things Home

selecting fabrics & paint colors

Picking out paints and fabrics can be hard.  I’ve painted and repainted enough rooms and made and remade enough curtains and pillows to know.  And I think the difficulty may have even increased with the advent of Blogs, Pinterest, and Instagram.  We can fall in love with a color or fabric in an online photo, which may not even be an accurate representation of what it looks like in person.  Or in your house.  Or with all of your other stuff. How many have bought a gallon of paint just because it looked amazing on Instagram? I’m raising my hand, here. And sometimes it works out and looks great and other times, it’s a fail.  It’s too bright, too pink, too green, it clashes with your sofa or curtains or it just doesn’t look great in the light in your north-facing room. Now, you know I’m someone who likes to

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All Things Home

studio transformation | part 4

We’re almost there!  The studio is nearing completion and I am so excited to be able to start using this space now that it’s insulated, climate-controlled, and the walls are back on! Today, the wall around the mini-split went up and it looks so good!  Of course, it still needs to be painted, but that will be happening this week. A few of you have asked about the mini-split.  It’s a Mitsubishi unit that heats and cools, similar to something you might find in a hotel room, except this one is actually quiet!  I have found myself putting my hand over it to make sure it’s working.  It is, though it’s just a quiet little thing.  It’s also a lot more not-ugly than I thought it would be!  I realize that’s a poorly structured sentence, but I was just expecting it to be an eye-sore.  It just blends in and

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All Things Home

hanging the pot rack

This kitchen still has a long way to go to make it really “mine”, but while my parents and brother were here, we were able to make a change that definitely started the ball rolling in that direction. The bones of the kitchen are really great, it’s just the finishes that I would like to change.  It’s not that they are bad, just not to my personal taste. So, the first thing I wanted to remove was those pendant lights.  They were way too modern for me and I had another plan for the space above the island. I bet you can guess what that is… Yes!  The pot rack!  (Well, the title of the post really gave that away…) I wasn’t sure if the pot rack would work in this kitchen, but I told Jeff I wanted to at least give it a try.  You see, I love my

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All Things Home

Around the World with Balsam Hill | Harvest Sunshine

Now that I’m living in Minnesota, the jokes about winter have already started.   My dad kept saying they were going to head back to PA the middle of August “before the pass is blocked by snow.”  I’m one of those people who actually enjoys snow and colder temperatures.  I like sweaters and boots and bundling up under blankets. But, I must admit, I am enjoying Minnesota’s summer and I want to relish it for a little longer – listening to kids biking in the cul de sac and the hissing of sprinklers, taking Sebastian out for lingering walks, and bringing in a harvest of sunshine with Balsam Hill. Wait, doesn’t Balsam Hill do Christmas trees!?  Yes, but they actually do more than Christmas trees.  They have home decor as well as beautiful faux topiaries and flowers.  And they do faux really well. It’s in the details – the thickness

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All Things Home

studio transformation | part 3

Today, I wanted to share more detail on the “window walls” of the studio.  I was so excited about all of the natural light that comes in from not just one, but two full walls of windows.  This room is flooded from sunrise to sunset.  Fortunately, though, it’s not direct light until late afternoon, so I don’t have to deal with sunbeams in my face all day. I will have to add some window treatments to diffuse the light, when needed, though.  I’m thinking I’ll make some simple linen shades that will just tie up. The old hardware store cabinet is really the focal point of the room.  I bought it off of craigslist earlier this year and it’s the one large counter I decided to keep from my last studio space.  It was tough to sell some of those beautiful antique counters, but I felt like this one was

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All Things Home

Cleaning behind the stove

Every time I move something from where it’s been sitting for a long time, I realize just how gross my family (myself included) is!  You know what I’m saying?  All of those spills and crumbs and dust-bunnies that haven’t seen the light of day and then they are exposed?  Even the cleanest, tidiest house has a few dirty secrets.  And one of the best hiding places for splatters, crumbs, and grease is behind the stove.  I mean, seriously, how often do we pull out the stove to clean behind it?  I don’t know about you, but in the 11 years I lived in my last house, I pulled out the stove three times – once for tiling the floor, once for painting the walls, and once for tiling the back splash.  Each time we moved it, I took a few minutes to clean the sides of the stove and all

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All Things Home

Painting the Studio Floor

So, let’s chat about the studio floor.  As a reminder, here is what the room looked like when we purchased the house…. I actually didn’t get to see the house until after we had made an offer on it and Jeff was the first one to see the pictures of this room (it wasn’t in the real estate listing).  Before he forwarded the pictures along, he warned me that I probably wouldn’t like it. He was just looking at the dark, cedar planking.  When I saw it, though, I questioned whether he really knew me at all!  My voice got high-pitched with excitement.  “It’s perfect!!  It’ll look amazing painted!” So, a couple of weeks ago, we primed and painted everything.  The ceiling, the walls, and finally the floor.  You can read about the ceiling and walls in THIS POST. To prime the floors, we used the same primer that we

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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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