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All Things Home

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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All Things Home

the lost art of polishing & ironing

Last week, I took some time to pay a bit of attention to my pens and pencils.  If you use disposable ballpoint pens, that might sound like an odd task, but I primarily use fountain pens, refillable mechanical pencils, and even refillable ballpoint pens.  Several of my pens and pencils are silver or brass, which need to be polished now and then.  I realize not everyone would want to spend time out of their day to polish their pencils and fiddle with a clogged nib on a fountain pen, but I found delight in the chore. Even though we have more time-saving and labor-saving devices than ever, we use more disposable things than ever. I’m not judging anyone who uses disposable things for their ease.  I used disposable diapers for my boys.  I use paper plates and cups when we have a lot of people over, paper towels for rags

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1970 home renovation

2025 home project wish list

I was amused as I was putting together my wish-list projects for this post because I know my eyes are bigger than my stomach when it comes to my home project ambitions.  I always overestimate my energy and underestimate the time and money it will take to complete a project.  I don’t know if I’ll ever learn my lesson in this area because I am an optimist.  I did leave some of the more expensive projects off the list, like new windows and bathroom renovations because it’s doubtful those will be a financial priority this year, but we’ll see. Here are my hopes for 2025… Paint the trim and doors along the back of the house and paint and install the shutters.  I planned on doing this last year when the weather was warm and we just never got around to it.  I even have the paint and the shutters

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1970 home renovation

2024 home project recap

If you’ve ever lived in a house that needs some work, even if it’s just customizing it to suit your tastes, you know it’s important to stop now and then and appreciate how much you’ve done.  It’s easy to focus on projects still hanging out on the to-do list and lose sight of all of the ones that are crossed off.  So, around the end of one year or the beginning of the next, I like to reflect in a blog post.  You can find 2023 HERE and 2022 HERE. So, I had an ambitious amount of projects on my list for this year and many of them didn’t get done.  We’re in a season of life where we need to buy cars for teenagers, pay for their car insurance (yikes), and pay for college classes.  New windows and bathroom renovations got bumped down the list.  But, we still got

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All Things Home

the Repoussé pitcher

When I shared my Christmas dining room last week, I received so many comments and questions about the silver water pitcher on the table. It’s a sterling silver pitcher by Kirk Stieff in the Repoussé pattern that was first introduced in 1828.  I’ve shared about this silver pattern before since it is my family’s silver and it makes a regular appearance here on the blog. Four generations of my family have collected this pattern and a portion of the collection was passed down to me, including this stunning water pitcher. Some of the pieces I inherited date back to the mid-1800s. Since Marian is a family name, a couple even have my name on them. My Oma collected things she loved, including this silver pattern that was passed down to her and added to over the years. I know this pitcher was hers because it wears her monogram. It may

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a slice of life

top 10 posts of 2024

At the beginning of the new year, I always like to check out my analytics to see the list of the most popular blog posts from the previous year.  I don’t pay too much attention to analytics generally, because I write for people, not for algorithms and search engines, but it’s nice to know which posts were most visited, perhaps most helpful, timely, or resonating.  Interestingly, the top posts were rarely written in that same calendar year.  They are usually posts that have gained some traction on Google, Pinterest, or a social media platform.  For years, my top post was how to make a seat cushion!  (You can find that HERE if you need it.)  It has fallen off of my top ten list and other practical posts have replaced it. Here are the top ten blog posts from 2024… Salt dough, humble as it is, has been having 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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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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