Preorder Move Slow & Make Things, and enjoy a collection of thoughtful bonus content created just for you!

All Things Home

All Things Home

a curvy chair gets a makeover…

It’s really hard to turn down free stuff, especially when it’s a curvy chair that just needs a little cosmetic work to make it special.  So, when my friend Traer brought this to my studio, asking if I’d take it off her hands, I couldn’t say no. In the flurry of activity, I didn’t get a proper picture before we stripped off the upholstery that it was wearing.   It was black tapestry with some purples, creams and green in it.  Not my thing. So, we stripped off the old upholstery (Katie and I took turns working on it) and then I sanded the glossy frame and painted it in two coats of Farmhouse White. The paint adhered really well, even without the bonding agent, so I didn’t get a lot of chipping, which I was glad for.  There is such a large contrast between the dark wood and the

Read More
All Things Home

milk paint 101 | topcoats

I realized I totally dropped the ball on our Milk Paint 101 series!  I left you at the first coat and promptly forgot about you. So, you’ve applied the number of coats needed in order to get the finish as opaque as desired.  In most cases, two coats do it.  Sometimes more are required if there is a high contrast between the color you chose and the surface you’re painting. Once everything is dry, this is when I like to distress.  Some people like to apply wax or oil finishes first, then distress, then apply the finish again, while others like to dive right into the distressing.  I fall in the latter camp.  It’s one less step and it uses less product.  The advantage to waxing or oiling first is that it cuts down dramatically on the amount of dust that is produced. If you’re interested in my distressing tips and

Read More
All Things Home

making a “vintage” chalkboard with milk paint

As I shared yesterday, the past couple of weeks in the studio have been devoted to getting things finished that have been hanging around for way too long.  I’ve ignored some of them, because I knew they would be a pain-in-the-rear to work on, like the French chair with nailhead trim (yet to be revealed), and I ignored others because I just didn’t know what to do with them.  I knew they had potential and I wasn’t quite ready to give up on them, so they languished in “the stash”.  This oversized Eastlake mirror frame, minus the mirror, was one of those pieces, but it was a perfect piece to repurpose.  Here’s how I went about making it into a vintage chalkboard with milk paint. Before we get into the tutorial on making a vintage-style chalkboard with milk paint, a bit of history…  I picked it up at a yard

Read More
All Things Home

another pair of frenchies

There are some things that I hold onto for years.  They survive the purges and my “selling moods”.  I just know I will have the perfect use for them some day. Well, some day finally came for these linen grain sacks that I’ve been holding onto for years.  A reader, who lived in Europe, found them for me and sold me a few for a great price.  They were something like $5.00/each.  I think she was able to get them for $1.00/each out of an old factory.  I used a couple of them on a chair a few years ago, but have been saving the rest for just the right project. These chairs were that project… I got the chairs last Wednesday when another reader was delivering all of those ironstone bowls to me. She brought along some other things she thought I would be interested in, including this pair of cane-backed French

Read More
All Things Home

paint all the things white

One of the best parts of having a theme for a retail space, whether it’s a booth at a market or a small shop, is focus.  Your theme keeps the items you’re collecting cohesive, so they look better together in a display.  Better displays mean that customers can more easily envision items in their own homes, which will hopefully lead to better sales. With the theme of Farmhouse White, we’re painting a lot of things in…well, Farmhouse White.  But, we need to add some other whites in, so the booth doesn’t look flat.  As I’ve mentioned before, the key to white is layers, texture, and using many shades of white that all play nicely with one another. So, I’m pulling out the other whites in our line, Linen, Grain Sack and Ironstone, along with some custom-mixed whites.  And that means a lot of things are going to be painted some shade

Read More
All Things Home

Pine Cone Hill Giveaway

When I revealed my parent’s bedroom makeover a couple of weeks ago, I shared that I would be hosting a giveaway for some Pine Cone Hill bedding and here it is! Pine Cone Hill furnished the bedding for this room makeover and offered to give away one Boyfriend Matelasse Coverlet in the color and size of your choosing to one of my readers!  This coverlet is available in 13 colors from white and ivory to orange and peacock and all sorts of colors in between.  My mom has the matelasse in Sky, which is a beautiful blue/green.   In the picture above, the spread is folded around a feather comforter, so it’s actually thinner than it appears and has a little stretch to it.  My mom loves the weight of it at the foot of their bed, since it’s not too heavy. She loved it so much, in fact, that she

Read More
All Things Home

two farmhouse style tables…

My parents offered to have the boys over for a sleepover this weekend, so Jeff and I had some time to go out for a date night.  Jeff made reservations at a local farm-to-table restaurant and I asked if we could fit in a trip to a nearby antique shop while we were kid-less.  He knows how much I love it and agreed. Not only did he agree, but he carried my finds to the counter, loaded them all in the van and even helped me make the decision to buy two old hardware cabinets.  Flowers are nice, but carrying chippy old things to the van for me is definitely the way to my heart! One of those chippy old things was this coffee table on little casters, made out of old barn wood. I love how the boards used the make the table-top have some old white paint barely hanging on.   The

Read More
All Things Home

keeping & letting go

I was going to go shopping for more antique goodies today as well as some supplies for building pieces, but instead I stayed home to get some “stress-relieving stuff” done – computer work, e-mail, paperwork, cleaning & tidying up the house, etc.  It was all much needed. Unfortunately, in all of my tidying up on my computer, I somehow managed to remove all but 400 photos from my Lightroom software.  I would call it a disaster, but it’s not really a disaster in the grand scheme of things.  It’s an epic inconvenience, though.  I still have all of the photos, but they are in their RAW, unedited state, so if I need the photos, I need to edit them again.  All 8,000+ of them.  So, that stinks. I suppose it will force me to go through the pictures and weed out ones I won’t ever use again.  I am a

Read More

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.

next art sale

May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

Now Available for Preorder

Move Slow & Make Things

A book about creativity, intention, and making things with care. Sign up to receive updates, preorder details, and exclusive bonus content.

From the Studio

Artful pieces for your home and everyday life.

From original paintings and art prints to Pup Club releases and curated goods, each piece is created or chosen to bring warmth, creativity, and character into your home.

From the Studio and Home

Shop the Feed

A handpicked collection of items styled and shared throughout posts, projects, and social feeds. Every product is thoughtfully chosen to reflect a timeless, collected aesthetic.

Recent Video

Spring Posts

Explore the Shop

Explore the Blog

Categories
error: Content is protected.

Pin It on Pinterest