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All Things Home

a slice of life

when plans change

As you might conclude from over 4,000 blog posts, in addition to books and articles, I don’t usually struggle with writer’s block.  But, every once in a while, I sit down to write a blog post, and, even though I have drafts ready, a healthy list of potential blog post ideas, and photos waiting to be used, it just doesn’t happen.  The drafts aren’t what I want to share on that particular day, the post ideas require too much lead time, and the photos aren’t inspiring.  Sometimes I can push out a post on those days because I buckle down and do the job, but on a few rare days, I realize I need to let it go and work on other things.  So, that’s what I did on Wednesday.  I worked on some other writing projects, finished an oil painting, cleaned up my e-mail inbox, and took some pictures

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All Things Home

antique French drawing box & other goodies

If you can believe it, I added a few antique art supplies to my collection earlier this year (timely happy-birthday-to-me purchases) and I haven’t shared them here on the blog!  I’ve been so busy with other things that I haven’t written about them even though I took pictures a while ago.  Anyway, today is the day I’m going to introduce you to an antique French drawing box I purchased from Julia of Ponder & Purchase.  I used to order a box of goodies from her a few times each year, but I was feeling pretty stocked with antique art supplies, so I haven’t ordered what we jokingly call my “P&P subscription box” in over a year.  I have some very nice art boxes, palettes, brushes, and all sorts of pens, pencils, and rulers that I’ve gotten very picky about what I buy.  This French drawing box was like nothing else

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All Things Home

cooking with propane

It’s been just over a year since our kitchen renovation, so I thought it was a good time to share a few updates.  To fully bring my vision for this kitchen to life, we either had to have the gas company run a line to the house or add a propane tank.  I received a lot of questions about this during the renovation, so I wanted to circle back to it and share the cost, process, why we chose propane, and how it’s been cooking with propane instead of natural gas. When we first looked at the house, I immediately noticed the stove was electric and I called the local natural gas company to see if there was a line run to the house (that perhaps wasn’t being used) or if a line could be installed.  The bad news is there wasn’t an existing gas line and more bad news

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Antiques

vintage ribbon & trim haul

Last Saturday, Jeff walked into the kitchen as I was making breakfast and said, “It’s too hot to do anything outside, but I don’t want to sit around the house all day.  Let’s go somewhere. Let’s check out some antique stores you’ve never been to.”  Now, I rarely sit around the house all day, so I already had plans of painting and working on this and that.  But, Jeff also rarely suggests going to antique stores, so even though I was mentally geared up for a day at home, I agreed to the proposed outing.  We went to Cumberland, MD, which is a beautiful area but practically the entire downtown area was a construction zone, so many of the stores we would’ve visited were temporarily closed or it was just too hot to do a lot of exploring on foot.  Fortunately, we had stopped in Hancock, MD first to check

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All Things Home

a plush, pet-friendly wool rug

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Rugs USA.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own. Almost ten years ago, I wrote a blog post sharing my decorating nemesis – rugs.  I just always found them so difficult to get right!  There are size considerations, materials, durability, comfort, not to mention how they work with the decor style and color palette of the room.  After trying many, many rugs in several rooms, I decided I would stick primarily with neutral rugs and those made from natural materials.  Braided jute rugs are a favorite because they are inexpensive, forgiving, work well with my antique pieces and decorating style, and feel nice underfoot.  Our bedroom is a long rectangle and really needed a large rug to properly fill it.  When I couldn’t find just the right jute rug to fit the space, I tried pairing together two 6

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a slice of life

bird bath happenings

I don’t have a lot of garden memories since I spent the majority of my childhood in military housing apartments overseas, but as I’ve shared before, the garden memories I do have are from my Oma and Opa’s garden.  We lived with them when I was very little and my dad was on a hardship tour in Korea for the Army and during some summers when I was older.  My Opa loved gardening and birdwatching.  He loved animals in general and we often referred to him as Dr. Doolittle.  I don’t know if I’ve shared this before, but my mom had a menagerie of unusual pets growing up like a pony (they paid $25 for it and drove it around in the back of the station wagon), squirrels, a goose, a raccoon, turtles, birds, a goat, snakes, a white rat named Pedro, and dogs and cats, of course.  My mom

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All Things Home

tips on hanging peel-and-stick wallpaper

Back in April, I worked on the boys’ bathroom to give it a little refresh until it reaches the top of the renovation project priority list and we can completely gut and redo it.  I actually liked the wallpaper and vintage blue accents in the bathroom, but after over 50 years of use, they really are tired.  The ceiling paint was peeling and stained, the wallpaper was peeling, grout was missing, and the original fan sounded like it was churning marbles when you turned it on.  It needed some addressing to make the room feel fresh until it could be renovated.  Instead of fighting the existing blue finishes and vintage feel, I decided to lean in and embrace it by hanging some fun peel-and-stick wallpaper that ties the beige and blue together. Here is a before picture of the bathroom… You can read about the makeover process in these posts

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1970 home renovation

fencing day two & DIY cost savings

We finished installing the second side of the fence yesterday and I took the time to take a few pictures to share how we did it for those who are curious or considering a similar project.  You can read about our first day of “fencing” HERE. The fence really needed to be replaced from the day we moved in.  Pickets were falling off and it was only getting worse.  In fact, the gate used most often fell off one day shortly after we moved in.  I had a neighborhood dog wander to our front door a few months ago and I put her in the backyard to keep her safe while I notified her owners and waited for them to pick her up.  Well, a fence that held Sebastian just fine was no match for this escape artist.  The owner came to get her and she was gone.  It 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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