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Room Makeovers

Decorating

Evolution of our Kitchen Makeover

Now that we’ve been living in our home in Minnesota for four years, I thought I would share how some of the rooms have evolved since we moved in.  I did an “evolution” series on my last home (you can see the kitchen evolution post of our previous home HERE) and received so many great comments and feedback in response.  It was fun for readers to see the transformation all in one place while also appreciating how long a real-world makeover can take.  Some rooms come together quickly, but most rooms in most homes just evolve over the years.  Room makeovers aren’t really a before and after, but more of a then and now.  They will continue to be dynamic and evolve.  So, here is our kitchen makeover as it happened over the past four years. This photo was taken the very first day we were in the house.  (You

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All Things Home

basement family room makeover | 1800’s chandelier

Nothing quite says “relaxed basement family room” like an 1800’s chandelier dripping with crystals.  Am I right or am I right? Okay, not really.  In fact, when I shared the very meticulous sketch for this particular area of the family room, I drew out what is clearly a lantern-style light fixture.  Not an 1800’s crystal chandelier. Clearly, a lantern fixture. Buuuut, I looked around online for a lantern-style light fixture I loved quite thoroughly and they were either more than I wanted to pay or not quite the look/style I imagined.  A couple of weeks ago, I shared this quote from on Instagram … I actually had a chandelier and I hadn’t even thought of using it! The main reason I hadn’t thought of using it is it wasn’t what I envisioned.  And, it seemed like sort of a crazy idea to try it.  Those of you who have followed

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All Things Home

four years…

July 24, 2021, was the four-year anniversary of the day we moved into our house in Rochester, Minnesota!  It was a whirlwind move that truly was an incredible story (you can read about it HERE.) On our first night in the new house, we just had the contents of our vehicles, a few new purchases (like a carpet cleaner), and some borrowed air mattresses.  All of our furniture was set to arrive the following day and not be fully unloaded until the weekend, so there was a lot of sitting on the floor or standing around bar when it came time to eat.  The tricky think about eating on the floor with a dog in the house is that he thinks the food is fair game!  So, for our first dinner, we ordered Fazoli’s (Italian fast food) and sat out on our deck to eat. We picked Fazoli’s because it

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All Things Home

basement family room makeover | the stairs

After reviewing a lot of your feedback on Monday’s post and thinking about it a bit more, I am pretty sure I know the direction I’m going to go with painting the trim in the basement family room.  Again, the good news is there is no rush and I can take it one step at a time, changing my mind as I go.  Thank you for all of your feedback, though.  It was all helpful! Speaking of changing my mind, I actually returned the checked curtains I bought from Target.  are the curtains I got… I don’t have any complaints about them.  They are great curtains for the price, the fabric looked good in the room, the size was right, etc.  I just wasn’t feeling them.  They seemed a little too light for the look I was going for.  I have some blue linen that I have draped from the

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All Things Home

Basement Family Room Makeover | Priming & Painting the Walls

I made some more progress on the basement family room makeover late last week and over the weekend.  It’s feeling good to see it come together, little by little. The first thing I did is I played around a little bit more with things I already had.  We’ve decided that we do like the arrangement of wing chairs, so I’m going to be on the hunt for a round pedestal table and a chandelier to hang over the table.  I had a dry sink that belonged to my Opa that was displaced in the furniture shuffle, so I tried it just to the right of the stairs.  I added a mirror and lamp from my stash and some old chairs from our last kitchen table (they belonged to Jeff’s grandparents.)  The vacuum, of course, balances out the arrangement. I would paint the dry sink, but the scale of everything is

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All Things Home

basement progress | removing & rearranging

Progress in the basement is slow and steady, which is becoming the norm for me when it comes to large projects.  I’ve learned the power of chipping away at something instead of tackling it all in one shot.  It removes so much of the overwhelm and it forces me to be more methodical with each step.  Instead of pushing through to get something done, I can take slow and careful steps, reassessing all along the way.  While it drags the project out, it does so in a way that is beneficial and I think the end result will be better for it.  I will say, though, it is against my nature.  I’m generally impatient and just want to check it off the list.  But, I’m getting a little older, a little wiser, and definitely a little slower! In the basement, we’ve been putting in about 30-60 minutes of work each

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All Things Home

organizing | ordinary, everyday makeovers

There are some makeovers that have more to do with how a room looks than how it feels.  It feels better; it feels more like “you”, but when it comes down to it, the makeover was cosmetic.  It was about preferences and aesthetics and taste.  Then, there are makeovers that are more about how a space feels than how it looks.  It’s more about function and practicality.  It’s not dramatic or beautiful to anyone but you. Here are your two beautiful photos for this post and then I’m going to share an ordinary, everyday makeover I’ve been working on.  It’s not beautiful or photogenic.  It just feels better, functions better, and, in its own way, it looks better, too. I’m talking about the storage room that is off of the guest room.  This isn’t officially a closet, but we use it as one.  It is a space that could be

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Decorating

design pivot & the entire family room

Let’s talk about those moments when design plans don’t work.  You buy something, order something, you put it in place, and then you realize it’s not going to work the way you envisioned.  You can ignore that gut warning and plow ahead or you can pivot.  I’m about to pivot. The fabric I ordered from arrived and it is beautiful.  I’m not disappointed in the pattern, color, or quality.  It’s just a little different than I imagined in my head.  The blue is more intense and the fabric is much thinner.  It’s even thinner than a typical quilting-weight cotton.  Could it still work for curtains?  Definitely, especially with a liner, but the color and weight made me rethink using it in this particular room.  These give off a more light and breezy summer vibe and the basement is going in more of a library/gentleman’s club sort of direction. The good

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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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