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Room Makeovers

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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All Things Home

kitchen backsplash details

If you missed the reveal of my new kitchen counters, you can see them HERE.  In this post, I’m following up with some details about the backsplash. I thought it might take a few weeks to have it done, but I was referred to a local “tile guy” who was able to fit our project in around larger jobs.  I had considered doing it myself, but after installing the tile backsplash in my last house, I decided tile work was something that was best left to the professionals.  The end result looked nice, but let’s just say that grout covered a multitude of errors! I selected venatino marble subway tiles from Lowe’s.  It had just the right amount of gray in it, so it would add some texture and color, but would still be neutral.  I decided to have it installed in a 1/3 running bond pattern, with 1/16″ grout

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All Things Home

kitchen counters reveal

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by HanStone Quartz.  As always, all opinions expressed are honest and my own. I am so excited to finally share my new kitchen counters! More than one person thought I was a little crazy for replacing granite counters, but they weren’t my taste and we hope to live in this house for a long time.  The kitchen is the heart of the home and we want it to be “us”. And, I have to say, I am completely over the moon with how it turned out.  I have wanted white marble counters for as long as I can remember and now I have beautiful quartz counters (HanStone Quartz in Monterey) that give me the exact look I want without the concern about etching and staining.  They are perfect. Before I gush, here is how the kitchen looked when we first moved in…   What a

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All Things Home

small changes

I knew that attending Junk Bonanza would be fun, but I didn’t realize what a creative pick-me-up it would be!  (Well, after I slept for 12 hours and lounged around for half a day.)  Once I was rested, that creative spark got me going.  I was ready to rip up carpet and jack out some tile!  But, those are all pretty big projects that involve some amount of planning, a budget, and permission from my husband!  So, I figured I should take that energy and work on changes that were small and free and wouldn’t get me into any trouble. The first change I made was something I’ve been thinking about for a while… I swapped out Eulalie’s frame! She’s been in a gold leaf frame from the very beginning and that worked great in my last house, but it felt a little off in this room.  I think it

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All Things Home

counter selection | compromising nothing & gaining everything

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by HanStone Quartz.  All words and opinions expressed in this post are, as always, honest and my own. As I’ve shared before, replacing the countertops was on our to-do list for this house before we even bought it.  These are nice granite counters and they really don’t look bad at all, but they aren’t my taste.  We would also like to install a tile backsplash, which would look a little odd coming off of the little backsplash that is currently a part of the counters.  We plan on being in this house a long time, so we decided it would be worth changing them out. So, I had my heart set on marble.  I love the look of it and the “soul” of marble.  It’s such a beautiful material.  I know the issues, though, and I’ve spent months reading reviews and asking friends who have

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All Things Home

studio form & function & $200 arhaus giveaway

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Arhaus.  I have worked with this brand before as an influencer and a paying customer and I am an Arhaus fan.  As always, all opinions and words are honest and my own.  And, there is a giveaway, so you might want to stick around! As I’ve been using my sunroom-turned-studio space over the past few months, I have learned what’s working and what’s not and I’ve slowly been adjusting things here and there. One of the glaring pieces that needed to be addressed was the drafting table.  It worked okay, but it had been stripped for parts, so it was missing some key pieces for adjusting it and locking it into place.  I couldn’t adjust the height of the table and I had to rest the top on my legs while I was working.  The move from PA only made it worse.  I found that

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All Things Home

decorating dominoes

Yes, cleaning can be a drag.  I don’t always look forward to going through the routine of picking up, cleaning toilets, mopping floors, etc., but I have found that it can actually be very stimulating to my creativity.  I know it sounds crazy, but cleaning can be a good time to think and interact with my surroundings in a way that makes me look at them in a fresh way.  Sometimes I get my best decorating ideas when I’m cleaning!  Really! Last weekend, as I was cleaning, I started to feel that creative spark.  I was motivated to take care of some things that have been hanging out in corners since we moved here…  a stack of pictures, ironstone plates, a chandelier still swaddled in bubblewrap.  We’ve lived here for several months and it’s time to take care of some of this stuff.  Yes, it’ll probably change again down the

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All Things Home

hiding ugly office stuff & hanging sconces

Before I go into today’s post, I have some exiting news!  Free Spirit Fabrics has been acquired and that means my fabric lines will still be produced! That means I need to hunker down and start working on colorways for the second collection again.  I’m so excited that Bunnies Birds & Blooms will be available, but I’m even more excited for this second collection to launch.  The wheels are turning again… Now, onto today’s post… I’m still chipping away at my office here and there.  I have been looking for baskets for the top of the cabinet to use for storage and to raise the visual height of the piece.  I also wanted to hide the internet modem and Orbi unit. My no-spend February turned into a low-spend February when I bought the cabinet off of craigslist and since then, I’ve stuck to the spirit of my low-spend challenge.  I

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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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