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All Things Home

Decorating

the fate of the dining room mural

Sooooo… remember the dining room mural? The one that I designed, hand-painted, and spent hours and hours on?  Well, I’m rethinking it.  Let me explain… First, let me say that I do love how it turned out.  I love the colors and style of the mural, and even though there are some areas I want to work on, I’m happy with the overall design and look.  I decided to call it “finished for now” as we went into the holidays, so I could step away and think about what I wanted to do next.  I knew I wanted to work a bit more on the distant trees and the foreground, and I was considering adding a glaze over the entire mural to mute the effect. Once I had some distance from all the work I put into it, I was able to get a fresh perspective.  There are things about

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All Things Home

the stuff threshold

Let’s talk about the stuff threshold.  I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like to refer to spaces as sparse or cluttered because I have seen rooms on both ends of the “stuff threshold” done very well.  Some rooms are perfectly edited, displaying just a few key things in harmony with one another.  Sparse seems too cold a word for those elegant rooms.  Other spaces are packed to the hilt, but everything is arranged and displayed so beautifully that applying a word with somewhat negative connotations, like cluttered, seems incorrect.  I think it comes down to the fact that everyone has a different stuff threshold. My own stuff threshold fluctuates and has since I was young.  I remember rearranging my room and wanting to put all of the decor and accessories away so I had clear surfaces and the room felt lighter.  One day, seemingly out of the blue, my mood

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1970 home renovation

2025 yard clean-up

In the final days of February, we kicked off the yard work season of 2025.  We had a few warmer days and wanted to be outside, so we decided to start cleaning up the left side of the house.  This is the side of the house we’ve avoided the last two Springs because it’s such a tangled mess and seemed overwhelming.  Jeff has wanted to rip it all out since we bought the house, but I’ve been protective of it and insisted it would be better to trim it all back.  It’s a nice hedge of beautiful bushes that would cost a lot to replace.  He was willing to leave them but was itching to cut them way back, so that’s what we did. As a reminder, this is what the house looked like when we bought it… And this is what it looked like last summer while I was

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Art

#indexcardartpoject 2025 | free oil painting video tutorial | card “c”

For those who have been waiting for another paint-a-long video, this post is for you!  I am going to film painting a few of my index cards since they are great little studies for beginners, those new to oil paints, or those who want to do a little painting exercise with me.  For this card, card “C”, I’m painting a quick and loose study of an Edward Seago painting. If you’re just hopping into the 2025 Index Card Art Project, you can get all of the details HERE. This is the Edward Seago painting we’re studying, although it becomes more of a loose interpretation and less of a study as I get going! I’ll be posting the exact colors on my palette in a separate video and blog post, but if you’re new to oils, this is the beginner palette I would suggest.  I do use a touch of red

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1970 home renovation

how to remove carpet glue from concrete | part 2

I have had a lot of long, drawn-out projects in my DIY career, but I think removing the carpet glue from the concrete floor in the basement might take the cake.  I haven’t been working on it consistently or faithfully.  Instead, I will push now and then to make more progress but then I get tired of it and work on more enjoyable things.  My mom is a great motivator when it comes to completing tedious projects I’m sick of, so she encouraged me to buy a second wallpaper steamer (which can also be used for the remaining wallpaper in the house that needs to be removed) and is helping me complete this project.  Jeff and Calvin have both helped, but my mom is very determined and will be the best partner in this endeavor. In part one of this riveting carpet glue saga, I shared all the products and

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Antiques

small business spotlight | my white porch shoppe

One of the things I enjoy about the online community is getting to know other creative entrepreneurs and business owners.  There was a time when starting a business meant one needed a physical place to sell from and a place to hang a shingle.  There was a time when one had to physically visit those stores in order to meet other business owners in their field or associated fields.  It’s pretty amazing we can do it online.  I remember when I first found the online world of home/DIY/decor bloggers and thought, I have found my people!  Grace Miller of My White Porch Shoppe is one of those people. We met on Instagram (you can follow her HERE) and she asked if she could select a few things from her shop to share with my audience.  Whenever I get these requests, I take a look at the shop to see if

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Artistic Endeavors

the ongoing battle in my studio

I love my studio.  It’s a little creative sanctuary for me.  But, in this sanctuary, there is an ongoing battle that followed me from my last studio.  It’s the push and pull between wanting a tantalizing buffet of books and art supplies in view and wanting room to work and white space to foster new projects.  This side that is almost always winning is the former and lately, I’ve been feeling it.  Maybe it’s because I wedge a cat tree in a free square foot of floor space next to my desk (the kitties do love it) or that I have piles of papers and books on most available flat surfaces, but it feels like a tidying-up is called for. Maybe even some rearranging, rethinking, and, yes, purging. It seems the more I embrace being an artist, the more I become an artist, playing right into the stereotype of being

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All Things Home

the antique swedish herbarium

As I shared this summer, I decided to start pressing flowers, herbs, leaves, and other interesting bits from my garden.  (You can read about that HERE.)  I thought it would be an artsy way to record what I’m planting and how things grow.  I also thought pressed plants might be a good jumping-off point for paintings, sketches, and pattern design.  Since I struggle so much with painting flowers, maybe I can paint them better if they are flat.  I knew pressing and mounting plants had been around for centuries, but I had never heard of a Herbarium until I got lost down the rabbit hole of record keeping.  If you’ve followed me for a few years, you know I am enamored with old journals, sketchbooks, diaries, sewing sampler books, and ledgers, and I have collected many fine examples of those over the years.  Now, I not only wanted to make

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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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