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All Things Home

All Things Home

furniture in waiting…

I know it’s only January, but I’m already starting to think ahead to the Lucketts Spring Market in May.  It’s my biggest event of the year and I work really hard to fill my booth with goodies. So, the shopping has begun. I was trolling craigslist this weekend, sending links along to my craigslist-shopping-secret-weapon (my dad.)  He contacts the seller, negotiates for me, picks it up in his truck and then delivers it to the studio. He’s probably for hire, but he’s ridiculously expensive for everyone but his baby girl. Anyway, I found a couple of really great dressers and, as soon as his driveway was plowed, he went to pick them up for me. This one is an oldie with amazing details. The hardware, the keyholes, the trim…and it’s actually on little wheels and it has a white marble top.  (It was just too heavy for me to lift on

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All Things Home

Successful Houseplants

As many of you know, I discovered the joy of houseplants in the spring of 2015.  I went a wee bit overboard and bought way too many plants for my house throughout the spring and summer, but it ended up being a good thing.  I was able to see which plants thrived in my house and which ones didn’t. Many were lost along the way. A moment of silence for those who fell. I learned that some plants just aren’t suited to live in my house.  Or in the place I put them in my house and, once they were moved, they really thrived. This is probably my biggest success story… This plant just loves my living room. Here’s how it looked seven months ago… And now… It’s taking over. It is potted directly in an ironstone tureen, but there is gravel at the bottom for drainage.  I usually water

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All Things Home

favorite things | primitive cupboards

Oh, I loved all of your comments on yesterday’s post.  I found myself smiling as I was reading the stories about treasured items with dings and dents.  I had planned on writing a lot more about how it applies to the way we view ourselves and aging and all sorts of things, but it felt right to leave the post where it was.  And we were all on the same page.  It was a pretty sweet thing. Anyway, I was planning on taking pictures of the dresser I painted for my mom’s room last week, but the roads in her community weren’t plowed yesterday, so I couldn’t get there to take pictures.  That will have to wait for another post… I scrolled through my pictures to see what I could write about and, as I was scrolling, I kept stopping and opening pictures of cupboards.  There are certain pieces of

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All Things Home

$100 Kohl’s Home Giveaway

You know me.  I prefer to buy old things.  They just speak to me in a way that new things don’t, but it’s not always practical to buy old.  Sometimes you need a chair that people can sit in without wondering if and when it might give way.  Right?  Sometimes new things can work really well with all of the old, making your home a bit more functional. When Kohl’s contacted me, asking if I would work with them on promoting their home department, I was honestly a little unsure.  I’ve bought towels and sheets and a frying pan there before, but I never thought of it as a place where I would buy a piece of furniture of a decorative accessory for my home. I’ve always loved shopping at Kohl’s, though, so I decided to look around and see if I could find things that fit my style.  I

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All Things Home

this sofa will be the death of me…

I don’t know about you, but I always start projects with great optimism and enthusiasm.  And most of the time things go smoothly. This is not one of those times. Stripping the upholstery was pretty easy, because three of us worked on it in turns… And painting the frame?  No problem. I added a layer of batting to the back, so it would soften the foam a bit…   And I used the pieces of fabric that were removed from the sofa as templates for the new fabric pieces. That back piece was huge!  I happened to have an antique hemp mattress cover (that would’ve been stuffed with hay or feathers, depending on how affluent the owners were) that was long enough once opened up. We pinned all of the pieces in place and cut them out.  I cut the back piece much larger than the fabric template, because of the tufting,

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All Things Home

farmhouse style sofas

In response to my post about Sally’s living room, I received this comment from my friend, Breida… “I have a hard time figuring out what kind of couch fits into the “farmhouse” style… I can’t wait to see what you find!” Good question!  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to answer it perfectly, but I’ll throw out my thoughts and you can, in turn, throw out yours and we’ll see where we end up. First of all, “Farmhouse” is definitely the trendy buzzword when it comes to home decor and I’m sure that comes as no surprise.  When a style becomes trendy, like country, primitive, shabby chic, French provincial and now farmhouse, the waters get really muddy.  Suddenly, everything is “farmhouse”, even stuff that really isn’t. To make the waters even muddier, there are many styles under the large umbrella of “farmhouse”.  There’s European farmhouse, prairie-style, shaker, New England, etc.

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All Things Home

tufting a sofa | fabric covered buttons

I totally understand that tufting is intimidating.  It’s tedious and it can look really bad if it’s not done well.  And, if you’re tufting from scratch, it involves math. Geometry at that. So, if you’ve shied away from tufting, that’s okay.  You are in the company of many, many other good people who would just rather buy a piece of furniture than deal with tufting. I generally don’t buy tufted pieces for this reason, but this one sort of fell in my lap.  It was a leftover from Lucketts last year and the dealer, my friend Edie, gave it to me for free. Who can say no to a free Belgian sofa, tufting or no? After eye-balling it for a few months, I finally mustered the gumption to tear the sofa apart and start putting it back together. I’m not a tufting rookie, which is probably why I’m not eager to tackle

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All Things Home

the little things | wooden spoons

I think it’s easy to be intentional when making choices about the big things you bring into your home.  The big commitment items like sofas and china hutches and statement pieces.  I don’t think it’s quite as easy to be intentional about the little things.  Things that are utilitarian and inexpensive. But, if you’re going to buy something, anything, even something little, relatively cheap, and utilitarian, why not buy something you love?  Imagine your home filled just with things you love. Well, that’s the goal, anyway. I’ll be the first to say that I don’t love all of my kitchen utensils, but I’m working towards it.  I feel very neutral about my can opener and pizza cutter, but I love my wooden spoons. I look for ones of different shapes, sizes and tone of wood, so they each have their own personality and I can justify having way more than necessary.  (There is an

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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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