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All Things Home

All Things Home

HGTV Dream Home Tour

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by the   As always all opinions are honest and my own (and I would’ve written this post with or without the sponsorship!) From a young age, I would dream about houses.  I would style my dollhouse and rearrange the furniture more than I played with the dolls.  I would draw houses in church and floorplans on graph paper at the desk in my bedroom.  And as a teenager, I loved going with my parents and grandparents to look at model homes and show houses.  I can’t even remember why we did that other than to occupy a Saturday, but I soaked in all of the clever decorating ideas, thoughtful choices in the floorplans, and the combinations of furnishings and fabrics. Having the opportunity to tour the 2019 HGTV Dream Home this year in Whitefish, Montana, brought me right back to that place.  I was invited by

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a slice of life

nuts & bolts

I was putting together my list for Christmas brunch (flank steak, cheese for the cheese grits, fruit and gelatin for Rosa’s Fruit Salad, etc.) and I realized that I hadn’t even thought about making nuts and bolts this year!  It’s one of my favorite Christmas-time snacks and the season almost passed without me making a batch! Nuts and bolts started in our family with my Oma (also named Marian).  I have memories of her sitting in front of the stove, stirring the snack mix in a large roasting pan.  The smell of butter, season-all, and Worcestershire sauce would waft out of the oven and creep through the house before the door was closed again.  I could hardly wait for it to be finished and cool enough to eat.  I often wouldn’t wait and would snag a few pieces from the roasting pan while the mix was being stirred. She would

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All Things Home

the Carlisle & the Hanover

Remember the Dash & Albert rug design competition that happened back in the summer of 2017?  Well, samples of the rugs were made, approved, and now they are finally for sale on the Dash & Albert website! If you remember, both of these designs were based on elements of an antique coverlet I bought a few years ago. The Hanover rug is the all-over coverlet pattern in a repeat, simplified to work for a rug… …and the Carlisle is an enlarged section of the border. They are named after two towns in Pennsylvania –  Hanover and Carlisle.  I found the coverlet in an antique shop in Carlisle and I often frequented antique stores in Hanover, so those names seemed fitting. Here is the Hanover in my office… That was just the sample and I now have a smaller version of it in our guest bathroom downstairs. And here is the

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All Things Home

foyer & half bath updates

I think foyer makeovers are underrated.  It’s a space that’s often neglected or at the bottom of the to-do list because it’s just a passthrough.  You simply walk through it to get to a room where you actually spend your time.  The thing about a foyer, though, is it’s the first thing you see when you walk in your front door.  It’s the first thing guests see.  In our house, since it connects the dining room, home office, half bath, living room, upstairs, and basement, we walk through it multiple times each day. Before this makeover started, there wasn’t anything offensive or bad or dated or ugly about the space, but it didn’t flow with all of the other changes we have made in the adjoining rooms.  In that way, it felt disjointed and overlooked. The soft blue/gray on the wall, bright white trim, painted doors, and that beautiful slate

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All Things Home

the two gifts

First off, thank you so much for all of the beautiful comments on my last post.  Your stories and words were an encouragement to me.  There are definitely drawbacks to the online world, but there is also a lot of good to be found and this community of kindred spirits definitely falls on the good side. Today, I’m sharing two beautiful gifts I recently received. The first one was a complete surprise.  It was given to me by the owner of the Mercantile in Knightdale, NC.  Remember I taught a milk paint demo and did a book signing there over Thanksgiving?  Well, as I’m preparing for the demo, Jenny walked up to me carrying a large paper bag.  She handed it to me and explained it was a thank you gift and something she thought I would enjoy. When I pulled the gift out of its wrappings, I gasped.  This was

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All Things Home

Christmas Porch 2018

After a 3:00 am wake-up call and 9 hours of hopping onto three different planes, I arrived safely home from my excursion to Montana.  It was a great trip and I’ll be sharing all about it and the HGTV Dream Home soon. But today, I’m going to share the Christmas decorations I added to my porch this year.  It’s very similar to last year since I loved how it looked so much. I added a live garland and some white lights around the door.  You can find a tutorial on how I attached it HERE. On either side of the door, I filled the concrete urns with some fresh greens, twigs, lights, and sugar pine cones.  Last year I bought small evergreen trees, but I ended up neglecting them and pitching them in early spring, so that seemed like a waste of money.  This was more economical and the greens will still last

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All Things Home

Christmas Butler’s Pantry

I gave the butler’s pantry a makeover this summer, so this is the first time I get to decorate it for Christmas!  It’s a small thing, but I was excited about it none-the-less.  With that rich, green color, it’s just begging to be decorated for Christmas. And, I kept the Christmas decor very simple.  I just added some cinnamon sticks, nuts, pinecones, candles, and some faux greenery. The swag is hung from a 3m hook, so it can be removed after the holidays without leaving a mark. Now that the beadboard is contracting a bit from the change in humidity and temperature, I need to get in there and do a little touch up with the paint.  I’ll do that once the Christmas decorations come down. Well, tomorrow I am waking up at the crack of dawn to fly to Montana to tour the 2019 HGTV Dream Home!  I don’t

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All Things Home

Montauk Blue Slate Tile in the Foyer

The tile in the foyer is finished and we are one step closer to having the foyer and powder room makeovers complete!  So, there is still more to do before a reveal, but I thought I would share how this space is looking currently and also the details on the Montauk blue slate tile as well as our grout choices. I wanted to use a material that fit the traditional style of the house, but also worked with my aesthetic, which lands somewhere in an American farmhouse style meets European influence vein.  What came to mind to meld all of those styles AND to stand up to shoes and boots during a Minnesota winter AND a dog AND two boys were slate and brick.  I had considered a limestone, too, but I just couldn’t picture it. After talking to the professional who was going to install it and getting Jeff’s

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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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