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Gardening

All Things Home

cleaning cart turned garden cart

Remember the cleaning cart turned kitchen cart?  I found a pair of industrial cleaning carts on craigslist for a great price, so I decided to purchase both and turn one into a kitchen cart and give the other one a makeover to use as a garden cart. In case you missed the details of the kitchen cart transformation, you can find them HERE. Well, this is just another take on how these multi-functional furniture pieces can be used.   (I have two of them.)  Many of you gave great suggestions…a craft cart, laundry cart, toy storage, etc.  There are lots of possibilities. In this post, I’m showing it as a garden cart… I’m imagining it on a covered porch or in a potting shed. On one side of the garden cart, I put a pair of rain boots, broom & dustpan, and a wire basket.  It would also be a

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All Things Home

Successful Houseplants

As many of you know, I discovered the joy of houseplants in the spring of 2015.  I went a wee bit overboard and bought way too many plants for my house throughout the spring and summer, but it ended up being a good thing.  I was able to see which plants thrived in my house and which ones didn’t. Many were lost along the way. A moment of silence for those who fell. I learned that some plants just aren’t suited to live in my house.  Or in the place I put them in my house and, once they were moved, they really thrived. This is probably my biggest success story… This plant just loves my living room. Here’s how it looked seven months ago… And now… It’s taking over. It is potted directly in an ironstone tureen, but there is gravel at the bottom for drainage.  I usually water

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All Things Home

2015 gardening report card

This was the first year I gave gardening a good effort.  I started strong and I stuck with it.  And I learned a lot along the way about what worked, what didn’t and what I could do better next season. First off, I’ve learned to move plants around to find the light they like best.  This plant was looking sad in the kitchen… …so I moved it to the living room where the light is brighter throughout the day.  Here’s how it looked when I first moved it… …and now…   Yeah, I’m patting myself on the back for that one. Momma’s taking good care of you, isn’t she, sweet little plant?   I planted a small baby tears plant in the living room in May… …and here is how it’s grown… And this plant is loving life.  Here’s how he looked in may… …and now… I don’t have all

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All Things Home

vintage-style deck makeover

I’ve always been what you call an “indoor girl” when it comes to home decor.  When we put our house on the market (and ended up not selling it) last spring, our realtor put an “I’m Beautiful Inside” sign above the “For Sale” sign.  That’s realtor code for “It looks better once you walk through the front door.” It’s not that I didn’t care about the outside, but with two little boys, a business to run and a limited budget, we focused our attention on the inside and didn’t have much time, money or motivation to work on the outside. Now that the boys are getting older and we’re almost finished with the inside of the house, we’ve been working on the outside in bits and pieces.  We replaced the front door (you could actually see outside through some cracks in the old door), installed a new driveway (the old one was

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All Things Home

aging terra cotta pots

There are some people who like things shiny and new.  They want to be the first person to own something.  They like the smell of a car with 32 miles on it.  They want their furniture to be delivered, tags still attached. I am just not one of those people. Unless we’re talking about electronics, mattresses or toilets, I want things in my home that have the patina that only comes with time. Or a bit of trickery. I have a few antique terra cotta pots and, while I’d love to fill my whole potting bench with them, that would get too expensive.  So, I have some new ones mixed in. Can you tell which one is the new one? Yeah.  It’s pretty clear and the new ones were bugging me a bit. While I had the Ironstone (white) MMS Milk Paint out to paint the sides of the potting bench, I decided

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All Things Home

the antique, hodgepodge potting bench

Don’t you love it when projects come together perfectly? Such is the case with this hodgepodge of a potting bench. We just finished it today and it looks even better than I imagined.  It’s especially exciting, because we already had the workbench in the basement (it was free with the house) and I bought the chicken nesting box without a solid plan on turning it into the top-part of the hutch. This morning, Jeff bought about $40 of pressure treated wood for this project, a couple of 2 x 12’s and 2 x 4’s.   While he was out, I took care of the red overspray marks on the front of the work bench.  It wasn’t a big deal, but they just bugged me. So, I brought out my big-boy sander, the belt sander, and I went to town. I really love how the paint looks distressed, with some of the

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All Things Home

how to make a chair cushion | deck chair makeover

I’ve been working on my deck off and on throughout the spring and summer and it’s finally starting to come together.  I know I’m not going to break any makeover speed records with this project, but that’s life, right?  Spaces take time to come together.  So, there is still more to do, but last week I jumped a big hurtle – I made new chair cushions for the vintage iron armchairs my mom passed along to me and I thought I would share a tutorial on how to make a chair cushion. They really, really needed new chair cushions.  The old ones were deteriorated, mildewed, faded and ripped.  They were beyond cleaning or recovering.  I needed to start from scratch. The chairs are comfortable and in great shape, though, so it was worth the time to make new cushions. I actually tried to find pre-made cushions that were the right size,

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All Things Home

beginnings of a potting bench

This has been the year when gardening finally clicked for me.  I’m not saying I’m great at it, but I’m trying.  I’m working at it…learning, wanting to get better, turning a black thumb to green.  Along with the interest in the garden and plants, I decided to spruce up our outdoor living space as well.  It’s not much…just a deck off the back of the house.  It isn’t covered or screened-in.  It’s just faded deck boards, a simple railing.  I’m working on it bit by bit to bring more of my interior style to the outside. One piece of outdoor furniture I wanted to add was a potting bench.  I already had an old workbench that was in the basement when we bought the house.  It still wears some spray paint overspray, but I plan on introducing those unsightly patches of red to my belt sander.  They don’t stand a

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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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