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Room Makeovers

All Things Home

Stonington Gray

After not writing for over a week, I feel like there is so much to write that I don’t even know where to start.  Really, I’ve been sitting here for about an hour… writing something, getting distracted, strolling Instagram, coming back to the post, deleting it, starting again.  It’s silly.  I think I’m just feeling a little rusty and I need to gather my thoughts.  So, I’ll get a blank piece of paper and do that.  Until then, I’m just going to share about the painting I did.  Well, some of it.  I sort of went on a tear.  And it involved Stonington Gray, as the title suggested. As I’ve mentioned before, and I’m sure you have experienced, decorating is like dominos.  A new mattress leads to a new bed frame (we got on clearance from ), which leads to painting a wall before the bed frame and mattress are

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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

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

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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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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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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All Things Home

my new creative workspace

Yesterday, I was a determined woman.  Despite the gloomy weather, I was in the mood to organize, purge, and get my creative space put together. We have organized and cleaned out the studio here and there, but we haven’t picked through each bin and each drawer, keeping only the things that are really used.  It was time.  It was long past time. Kriste and I worked together, emptying out the contents of bins, drawers, cabinets, and cubbies, and grouped like things together, so we could actually see everything and make more informed decisions about what to get rid of and where a group of items should be stored. We found all sorts of fun and useful stuff that I entirely forgot I had and we also found eight trash bags full of completely superfluous stuff that I gleefully hauled to the dumpster.  (We also found some things that other people might want that we’ll list

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All Things Home

QuickStep Flooring Review

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the QuickStep laminate flooring I selected to install in a corner of the studio to use for photo shoots.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time, not because the old floorboards in the studio aren’t cool, but because they are #1 – very orange and #2 – there was a large plywood patch on one side of the room.  If this was my house or a space that I owned, my approach may have been different, but for a rented space, floating a laminate floor in one area was the best option to address those issues.  It is now installed and looks gorgeous and I wanted to share a review about the installation process and show how it looks in the overall space. As I shared in the last post about the flooring, I selected the QuickStep French Country

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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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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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