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All Things Home
All Things Home

plan for the front garden

If you missed my garden post last week, you might want to take a minute to check it out.  The comment section is full of great advice, tips, and suggestions that are especially applicable and helpful if you live in zone 4.  Also, this post is a continuation of that one, so it might be helpful for context. To get this post started, I thought I would share the gardens that inspired me.  I love the look of the gardens designed and shared by Loi Thai of Tone on Tone.    His gardens are simple and beautiful, structured, traditional, and approached almost as interior rooms with focal points, layers, textures, and a clearly established color palette. Here are a couple examples… Now, I do realize my limitations.  I’m in a suburban home and some of these looks just might not work or make sense, but the overall approach can certainly apply.  If

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June 25, 2018 65 Comments
All Things Home

clean slate in the garden

I was really getting the gardening itch in late May, but with all of the traveling we had coming up, it just didn’t make sense to buy a bunch of plants and start a project we couldn’t finish before we left.  So, I had to practice patience! Now that we’re home, we’re diving into some projects, including the front garden.  Monday of this week, we had some guys from our church’s youth group come out to help us dig up plants and bushes and move the rock out of the beds.  They were offering themselves for hire as a way to raise money for their upcoming service trip, so it was a win-win. The work was hard and, because of the rain the night before, it was muddy! Jeff and I worked along side them, so we could get as much done as possible. The boys even chipped in and

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June 21, 2018 156 Comments
a slice of life

summer activity | fun with food

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Blue Apron.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own.  (Oh,, and the first 50 readers to sign up will get $50 off their first two weeks Blue Apron, so you might want to stick around.) Our vacations are behind us and now the bulk of the summer is ahead of us.  This is the first summer where my sons aren’t going to a day camp (or we’re not moving across the country), so we’re going to need to find lots of things to do to fill the long days.  Of course, the usual pastimes are on the list – playing with friends, swimming at the pool, outings to local parks, fishing, and bike rides.  But we’re also hoping to sneak in some learning, work, and other enriching activities. One of those enriching activities we did this weekend was cooking a

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June 20, 2018 29 Comments
All Things Home

eating area updates

Once we were unpacked and settled form back-to-back trips, I was ready to start working on the house again.  I am waiting to get into the summer rhythm before I tackle larger projects, like the butler’s pantry and painting the kitchen island, but I want to get smaller things done when time allows.  Organization of cabinets and closets is definitely on my list (there are still “lost objects” from our move), but I also want to hang more art and decor on the walls and fine-tune the finishing touches. When I had a little pocket of free time, I decided to try hanging a trio of antique blue transferware plates on either side of the arch that opens into the living room. I really like how they pull in the richer blues from the curtains and checked slipcovers, but it’s not too matchy-matchy. I originally hung some wooden cutting boards

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June 19, 2018 53 Comments
All Things Home

peonies

Well, we’re finally home for the summer.  We got all of our trips done back to back and I won’t have to pack a suitcase again until I go to France and Italy in the fall.  It’s so good to be home, although I loved visiting family and then unplugging (quite literally) with our church’s pastors and their families at a private island on Rainy Lake in Canada.  I’ll share more about that trip in another post, but I thought I would first share a nice surprise I found when I got home… The hedge of peonies planted by the previous homeowners (five bushes in all), had blossomed.  The bushes were dotted with fluffy pink flowers. Knowing that peonies are short-lived, I helped myself to a few of them for a bouquet. I even painted them for my oil still life series, but peonies have me beat for right now. 

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June 18, 2018 28 Comments
All Things Home

the gift

When I was in North Carolina, Jeff’s mom surprised me with a gift.  We were sitting on the sofa one afternoon, chatting, and she leaned forward to get out of her chair.  “Come with me.  I have a gift for you.  It’s a thank you for helping Jeff finish his Masters degree.”  I followed her into her bedroom and she pulled an antique blue & white coverlet off of a quilt rack.  She folded it over carefully and handed it to me.  “I’ve always loved this and I know you’ll love it, too.  It has your name all over it.” In fact, I had always admired that very coverlet and it was such a lovely, thoughtful gift.  Maybe the best gift she could’ve given me. I realized later that Jeff’s mom giving me an antique textile when Jeff graduates has become a bit of a tradition!  She gave me an

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June 14, 2018 25 Comments
All Things Home

Braided Jute Kitchen Rug

One of the questions I’m asked most when I share my kitchen on social media is, “Where did you get the rug?” The answer is, it’s a braided jute I purchased from Joss & Main a few years ago.  It has worn really well and has even been hosed down a couple of times to remove stains and an unfortunate “stomach bug incident”. It did finally start to unravel along the edge, though, creating a loop that we all kept tripping over.  Jeff finally took a pair of scissors to the offending loop and then, well…it looked like this…   So, it was about time to get a new rug.  It was one of those things that hung out on my mental shopping list for a while, but I was never compelled enough to actually buy one.  It just wasn’t a big priority. When I was in Raleigh visiting Jeff’s

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June 12, 2018 18 Comments
All Things Home

Finds from my old PA honey holes

One thing I wanted to do when I went back to PA to visit my parents was visit some of my favorite antique stores.  I have found some nice things in Minnesota, but I really missed the antiquing back east.  No, that’s too general.   I really missed my stores – the ones that were on my regular route.  I knew many of the vendors and which booths were routinely my favorite and I was never skunked. So, my mom, Jenn, and I hit a few of my favorite places and I found some awesome goodies.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find the biggies that were on my list, like a mirror for the dining room, but I found one of my favorite things in spades – ironstone. As you may know, I love ironstone and have been collecting it as well as buying and selling it for many years.  Thousands and thousands

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June 11, 2018 59 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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