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Secret Weapons

All Things Home

if you think a beautiful home is out of your budget…

…it’s not. When I asked for feedback a few weeks ago, some readers brought up how they “miss the days of me decorating on a budget.” To some, it felt like I’m dangling a home out there that is out of reach unless you’re “rich”. When I read those comments, I wanted to reach through the screen and hug the women who felt that way. I wanted to apologize for leaving them with the impression that you have to have a lot of money to create a beautiful home. I wanted to take them on a tour through my home and show them the things I got for free on the side of the road or dug out of an attic or picked up at yard sales or on Craig’s List. And I wanted to look them in the eye and tell them that I know exactly how they feel, because I’ve been in their shoes. As

August 7, 2015 84 Comments

All Things Home

one brush. change things.

I’ve been sharing little sneak peeks on my Instagram feed and now it’s time for the official announcement… If you didn’t/can’t watch the video, the big announcement is that Shaunna West of Perfectly Imperfect and I have teamed up to create a brand – Parsons West AND our first product is a brush we developed just for paint-loving ladies like ourselves. This all started almost two years ago. We kicked around the idea of partnering on the development of some products. Shaunna and her son actually came up to PA to stay with us for a few days as we worked on some ideas. Love this girl @pishaunna A photo posted by Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed (@missmustardseed) on Feb 14, 2014 at 9:59am PS We had a pretty massive snow storm and she was stuck with us a bit longer than expected! It was time well spent, though. And you

July 29, 2015 441 Comments

All Things Home

wing chair drop cloth slipcovers

I try not to get too engrossed in my blog analytics and all of the numbers, but it’s interesting sometimes to check them out…see what’s popular and what is most often pinned. One trend I’ve noticed is that my readers loved my drop cloth projects. I still get questions about which ones I use and how I bleached them. Well, I thought I would give an update on drop cloth slipcovers I made for a pair of wing chairs about five years ago… These chairs have a great story. This is what they (and my family room) looked like when we first moved in… Yes, they are the blue checked wing chairs. (Ha! I just noticed a bagel sandwich on the back of the sofa!) Anyway, the chairs were put up for sale by some friends at a yard sale and, believe it or not, they didn’t sell! So, I

January 5, 2015 22 Comments

Decorating

3 minute, no-sew bolster pillow cover

I was working this weekend on my guest room, getting it ready for a photo shoot. I was in a bit of a crunch, because of some unexpected delays, so I wasn’t able to put this room together in a leisurely way. The mattress was delivered and I had to put the room together in two days. I didn’t have time to shop, so it had to come together with what I had. It was like old times and I think it brought out the best in me. For years, I had to make my home look the way I wanted it to without buying a lot of new stuff. That’s how I learned to thrift, sew, paint and refinish in the first place! Now that I buy and sell things, have a home decor business and this blog, I’m able to constantly shop my own inventory to get what I

August 25, 2014 20 Comments

Hand Painted Furniture

painting a primitive cupboard

A week or two prior to Lucketts, I spotted an amazing primitive cupboard on Craig’s List. I intended to buy it to sell at the event, but I was absolutely smitten with it and decided to keep it. Believe it or not, I’m usually pretty disciplined about that sort of thing, but this piece was just so special and I could imagine it filled with ironstone and other pretty things. I actually bought the piece sight unseen. I was busy painting and I sent Jeff & my dad to pick it up for me. I gave Jeff “override authorization” if it wasn’t as amazing in person as it was in the pictures, but it was and he brought it home. The lady he bought it from was delightful and a blogger/photographer and was very happy it was going to a good home. I actually got to meet her at Lucketts

June 10, 2014 31 Comments

home improvement

French Style & a fabric wall

I received an e-mail a few months ago, asking if I would contribute to a new magazine, French Style. Well, that sounds right up my alley! Yesterday, I found the magazine in Target and snapped it up. First of all, it really is a beautiful magazine. I loved looking through it and I felt so proud that I was a small part of it and I was very pleased with how my article and photographs turned out. I always felt like my pictures in print looked yellowish and not as sharp as the other pictures in the magazine. I felt like these were my best and that’s a great feeling. You can find the magazine on newsstands now. One of the rooms featured in the article is my master bedroom and the fabric wall behind the headboard. Most people assume it’s wall paper, but it’s actually fabric! I used an old Army

June 2, 2014 63 Comments

Decorating

My Favorite Decorating Books

When Jeff and I were too poor to have cable, internet or dinner and a movie out, we would occasionally go to a book store and hang out for a couple of hours. He would wander off and look at…I don’t really know what he looked at, but I would make a bee-line for the home & garden section and camp out on the floor. I didn’t care that it might not be proper for an adult to sit on the floor in a store. I would sit there and look through all of the books until Jeff came to get me. I ended up leaving with a full creative tank and a list of books I wanted to ask for when Christmas or my birthday came around. Between those book store dates and book club memberships over the years, I’ve accumulated a nice library of decorating, home and DIY

January 26, 2014 54 Comments

Decorating

Hanging Plates on the Wall

Many of you have noticed the plates hanging on my walls throughout my home. If you haven’t noticed, plates, platters and lids are pretty much my go-to wall art. It all started because I could find plates at yard sales and thrift stores…sometimes for as low as 10 cents a piece. I ended up with enough plates to feed a small army, so I started hanging them on the walls. I first hung plates in the obvious place…the kitchen, but when I needed something to hang in the bathroom of our townhouse, I opted for an arrangement of silver plated platters. (They looked so good against the rich navy walls!) I always have a stack of plates and platters in my home, so when I’m moving things around, the plates are often the first thing I pull out to fill a space or round out an arrangement. When we hung

January 21, 2014 63 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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Secret Weapons

if you think a beautiful home is out of your budget…

one brush. change things.

wing chair drop cloth slipcovers

3 minute, no-sew bolster pillow cover

painting a primitive cupboard

French Style & a fabric wall

My Favorite Decorating Books

Hanging Plates on the Wall

next art sale

May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

Now Available for Preorder

Move Slow & Make Things

From the Studio

Artful pieces for your home and everyday life.

From the Studio and Home

Shop the Feed

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power washing the patio

painted garden obelisk

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