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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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September 1, 2017 22 Comments
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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August 30, 2017 40 Comments
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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August 29, 2017 60 Comments
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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August 25, 2017 57 Comments
All Things Home

studio transformation | part 2

I shared about priming and painting the studio walls and ceiling in PART ONE of the studio transformation and I shared about the oak hutch in yesterday’s post… Today, I am sharing my “working corner” of the studio… I purchased the drafting table off of craigslist in PA for $100 and it’s been a great work surface for art.  I clamped an old wooden lathe trip to it as a “shelf” to hold a palette, brushes, paper, etc.  The clamps are antique wooden canning clamps!  I picked them up any time I spotted them for sale, because they can be used for so many things! The drafting table does need to be refinished at some point.  I don’t ming it being splattered with paint and imperfect, but I don’t want a big water ring on it and it’s bringing a bit too much orange to the party for my taste.

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August 22, 2017 50 Comments
All Things Home

studio transformation | part 1

Believe it or not, we’re not trying to get the entire house completed in two weeks!  We are making a push, though, to get a bunch of big things checked off the to-do list.  One of those big things is painting the studio…all of it.  The walls, the floor, the ceiling, the trim.  Buckets and buckets of paint.  And painting like that is better done with help. But first, this is a room that wasn’t insulated or climate controlled.  That’s just not going to work when it’s 2 degrees outside.  The climate control is coming, but earlier this week, we had it insulated.  The floor and ceiling were both easily accessed, but the walls under the window had to be removed, insulated, and replaced.  This may have been a more advanced DIY project, but we decided to hire it out, so it was done quickly and professionally. The wall on

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August 11, 2017 74 Comments
All Things Home

working with your house

Every home has a personality.  It might be quirky, conservative, playful, regal, humble, sleek…  The home brings something to the table.  While there are some homes that need to be stripped to the bones and entirely reworked, most homes just need for you to cooperate with them – let them be what they are and bring out their best qualities. As I’m working on this new home, first of all, I’m falling more in love with it every day.  I was admittedly a little disappointed that buying an old house wasn’t going to happen at this season of life, so this house felt like a compromise.  A really good compromise, but a compromise none-the-less.  As our family and belongings have populated the space, I have come to realize I was selling this home short…misjudging it simply because it was young. One of my wise readers put it well, “All old

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August 4, 2017 137 Comments
All Things Home

but first, toilets

Warning: This post contains pictures of toilets that some readers may find disturbing.  Reader discretion is advised.   If you know me at all, you know I am bursting to break out some paint in this new house!  But I’ve learned from a few moves that a place feels more like home once the toilets are cleaned to my satisfaction. Sooo, before we talk about all of the fun stuff, I’m going to share about these toilets!  Yep.  A whole new house to blog about and we’re talking about toilets. This house has hard water and it’s been vacant for a while, so there was an ugly build-up in all of the toilet bowls and who knows when they last had a good scrubbing.  Our last house had hard water as well, so I learned how to clean it up lickety-split and I thought that would be helpful information for

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July 26, 2017 215 Comments

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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