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All Things Home

All Things Home

Christmas in the family room & a paper manger

I shared how our family room is looking these days a few posts ago and I thought I would share some of the details of my Christmas decorations.  As I’ve said repeatedly, I really keep things pretty simple when it comes to Christmas decorating.  It does still take a lot of time, but I have grown to love the look of fresh green garlands, wreaths and swags, and just adding a few key decorations to each room. In the family room, I added some fresh greens to the top of the antique pie safe by the side door… Again, I don’t do anything fancy, but simply tuck greenery where it fits and looks good, creating a sort of swag effect around the antique splint basket. There is an antique tote on the sofa table behind the sectional that is usually filled with a few faux sage plants from Ikea.  I just

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All Things Home

bay leaf christmas wreath

I had it in my mind that I wanted to use bay leaves in my Christmas decorating this year.  I wish I had it in my mind back in the spring, so I could’ve planted some…  But, anyway, I looked around for some bay wreaths that were fluffy and full and reasonably priced.   I ended up buying a pair on from to hang on the corner cabinets in my dining room. They are just the perfect touch and just what I had my mind set on. They came with a small hook that I was able to slip over the top of each cabinet door to hang them. And I’ll have plenty of bay leaves for soups, stews, and sauces this year! I’m just going to let them dry and see how long they keep. I also added a few Christmas touches to the home office. This room is a passthrough

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All Things Home

a grain bin turned coffee table

When I shared the industrial-style coffee table a few months ago, some of you called it.  It just didn’t work with my style.  While I like the table a lot and it was very functional, it was too large for the space and the longer I lived with it, the more it felt off with everything else in the room.  Great piece, wrong space. Since I realized that, I’ve been looking around at antique stores and craigslist for something to replace it, but pieces were either the wrong size, wrong style, etc. I finally came across an old grain bin on craigslist.  It was a little longer than what I was looking for, but otherwise the dimensions were perfect.  It wasn’t blue, either, but it was really old, had a lot of character, and, at $105, the price was right. After thinking if over for a few days (and seeing that

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All Things Home

my new creative workspace

Yesterday, I was a determined woman.  Despite the gloomy weather, I was in the mood to organize, purge, and get my creative space put together. We have organized and cleaned out the studio here and there, but we haven’t picked through each bin and each drawer, keeping only the things that are really used.  It was time.  It was long past time. Kriste and I worked together, emptying out the contents of bins, drawers, cabinets, and cubbies, and grouped like things together, so we could actually see everything and make more informed decisions about what to get rid of and where a group of items should be stored. We found all sorts of fun and useful stuff that I entirely forgot I had and we also found eight trash bags full of completely superfluous stuff that I gleefully hauled to the dumpster.  (We also found some things that other people might want that we’ll list

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All Things Home

decorating with gingerbread

When it’s rainy and glum, Kriste and I usually drag ourselves around the studio, giving ourselves pep-talks to get something accomplished.  For some reason, it’s harder to be creative and productive and ready to tackle the world when the weather is blah.  But, today was drizzly, cold, and gray, yet it was still, despite all odds, an amazingly productive day. I feel like celebratory hot chocolates are in order. Unfortunately, it was so dark outside that I didn’t take any pictures of what we were up to, but I will share what we accomplished in a post soon. Until then, I’ll share what I did over the weekend. I made gingerbread houses and ornaments for the first time last year and I absolutely loved the creative process and incorporating the gingerbread as a part of the holiday decor.  It smells amazing and, come on, what is more homey and sweet than gingerbread?

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All Things Home

Christmas Living Room 2016

I was trying to write this post last night and my mind was just mush!  I found myself in a mid-sentence daze and I finally surrendered and went to bed. So, now that it’s a new day, here is my living room dressed for the holiday season.  The living room is probably my favorite room to decorate for Christmas.  It has beautiful light and this is the room that is most “me”.  This is the room you’re greeted when when you first walk in the house and it’s one of my “pretty rooms”, meaning it doesn’t have to be as functional or hard-wearing as our family room.  I don’t have to worry about toy storage, accommodating wrestling matches, or housing a TV. So, other than the tree, I’ve decorated this room pretty much the same way I have for the past few years.  Ever since I chucked our artificial tree

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All Things Home

Christmas Master Bedroom 2016

Friday was a productive day working at home.  I had a lot of little things I needed to catch up on and check off the to-do list and I wanted to get some more Christmas decorating done.  So, I bounced between doing things I needed to do and things I wanted to do and was able to make some nice progress in both categories. One thing I completed was the Christmas decorating in our bedroom.  I used to only decorate the living spaces, but I’ve come to love bringing a little bit of the decor into the bedrooms as well.  I don’t go overboard, but I like adding some fresh greenery and a few decorations. I *needed* to get our bedroom decor done, because that is where our advent calendar is! The advent calendar is one of my favorite Christmas decorations.  My blog friend, Ann Drake (On Sutton Place), made those

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All Things Home

Noble Fir for the Living Room

I decided to get two Christmas trees this year. I have done just one large one the past few years, but I was really looking forward to Christmas decorating this year, so two trees seemed fitting! I got a 8.5′ Fraser fir for our family room from a local tree farm and I partnered with Green Valley Christmas Tree farm to get a 7′ Noble Fir for my living room.  I was excited to get a tree variety that I couldn’t get locally, so I picked the Noble Fir for that reason. I have ordered a lot of things online – bathroom tile, toilets, rugs, etc, but I have never ordered a live Christmas tree.    It arrived at my door Monday evening, in a long box.  It took me a second to realize, “Oh!  That’s the Christmas tree!” I popped the stapled end of the box open and there was

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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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