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Room Makeovers

All Things Home

design plan for the family room

As I’ve been thinking about the basement family room, I’ve had this image sitting on my desk.  It was on the cover of a I received in the mail and it immediately became my loose inspiration for the family room, which already had blue and brown elements.  This was important because I want to work with the big pieces that are staying in the room – the built-in cabinets around the TV, the gray corduroy sectional sofa, and the cream, blue, and brown wool rug.  This room hit all of those notes and provided a good visual for me to use just as a jumping-off point. After playing with fabric and brushing out some paint samples, here is what I put together for the design of the room… As you can see, it’s lots of neutrals, a soft blue/green/gray, and punches of indigo.  I want to use lots of textures

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Decorating

family room makeover | plans & inspiration

Well, it’s time!  This summer is the summer I’m going to start working on the basement family room.  Well, we’re going to do some work on all the basement, including the playroom and the bathroom.  I’m also going to get the storage areas truly purged and organized.  I’ve organized them and tidied up, but I haven’t gone through everything in detail and it’s time.  It’s tricky when you move because you don’t want to get rid of things you “might use” until it feels like you’re done with the house.  But, there is plenty I can get rid of.  We also want to move our fitness equipment into the playroom, since the boys are getting older and rarely play in there anymore.  It’s time to pass the toys along and make better use of the space. The main goal in the basement family room is to make it feel like

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All Things Home

Montauk Blue Slate Tile Floors | Two Years Later

There are some projects that are completed, shared here on the blog, and then I don’t get asked about them again.  Then, there are others that surface over and over.  The Montauk blue slate tile floors were installed in our foyer are one of those projects.  I receive a few inquiries about them each month, usually from people who found my photos in a Google search or on Pinterest.  They want to know how the floor has held up as well as what sealer we used and how I keep it clean. Now that we’ve lived with the floors for over two years, I thought I would write a blog post to put all of these answers in one place and provide a review for others who are considering slate floors for their home. As a reminder, this is how the foyer looked before we replaced the tile and painted

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All Things Home

ensuite bathroom makeover progress

Before I get into the post about our ensuite bathroom (master bathroom) makeover, I wanted to let my blog readers know that I’m going to take next week off.  I have had a lot of work on my plate outside of the blog (all fun and exciting stuff that I can’t wait to share with you) and I need to take a week to put my work focus solely on those projects. I’ve really been trying to do too much simultaneously and I’m feeling a little scattered.  I know it’ll help me so much to set a couple of things down in order to do other work with excellence.  So, I’ll pop onto Instagram here and there, but I’ll be quiet here on the blog next week. Our master bathroom (ensuite bathroom) is finished, but I haven’t shared very much of the process here on the blog, so I thought

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All Things Home

make-do custom mattress for an antique daybed

Remember the antique Jenny Lind daybed I bought off of Facebook Marketplace a few weeks ago?  Well, I finally received the foam and batting I ordered to make a custom mattress for it. antique jenny lind daybed My plan is to make a french-style tufted mattress, but I starting wrapping the foam in the cotton batting I ordered and I realized I would need to make a cover to hold the cotton batting in place.  Poly batting is much easier to slide a fitted cover over, but I went with cotton because it gives a softer appearance to the cushion.  It was one of those afternoons when I was determined to get this done.  I knew it was irrational to think that I could finish an entire custom mattress in an afternoon, but I felt this push to try. I cut down the 3″ upholstery foam with an electric carving

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All Things Home

makeover in a month | home office makeover reveal

The makeover in a month is finished and it’s time for me to share the full home office makeover reveal! A few weeks ago, when I was planning out the projects to work on with my parents, my office wasn’t officially on the list.  I had written “home office – stripes?”  I was considering something like painting tone-on-tone stripes on the walls.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew it needed just a little something more.  I rearranged and fluffed the office a bit a couple of months ago (all with things I had on hand) and liked the result, but I wanted to make the walls more interesting and customize the desk chair.  Wallpaper and inexpensive 2/3-height paneling did the trick! If you missed the first few posts about this home office makeover, you can find them here… Installing the paneling Slipcovering the desk chair

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All Things Home

the painted bathroom shelf

Several weeks ago, I went antique shopping with my friend, Cheri, and I stopped at a local consignment shop on the way home.  I had found a few small things, but not any of the larger furniture pieces I was looking for in the antique shops we visited, so I was hoping I’d find one of those pieces at my favorite local consignment shop.  I didn’t have much luck finding a dresser or daybed (I later found both), but I did find a homemade secretary desk that I thought would make a perfect bathroom shelf.   It was a nice size, I loved the curved details, and it was inexpensive (around $30.) It also reminded me of something my Opa would’ve built.  He made a few small cabinets and shelves and this looks a lot like those.  There is a signature and date on the back, but I forgot to take

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All Things Home

antique jenny lind daybed

I think I’ve mentioned it a time or two that I was looking for a bench, settee, sofa, or daybed to put under the window in our master bedroom.  The hunt has been a bit harder than I expected.  Once I compared the measurements of my space (as well as the door leading into the bedroom) to pieces I was finding on craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, I realized that I was looking for something very specific.   It would either take just the right amount of thrifting serendipity or a willingness to splurge on a new piece or an antique one that would have to be shipped.  I found some online that I loved, but they were way outside of the budget I set for this piece. I found a new one that was the right size and within the budget, but I was afraid I might regret not waiting for

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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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