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All Things Home
All Things Home

Bunny Williams, the Southern Living Idea House, & Me

I learned a long time ago that checking my e-mail can be exciting at times.  Yes, usually it’s sorting through spam and questions and action items, but sometimes it’s an exciting opportunity, proposal or offer.  So, when I got an e-mail entitled “Southern Living, Bunny Williams & Miss Mustard Seed”, it immediately caught my attention.  I thought it might be a “which one of these things doesn’t belong in the title of this e-mail” sort of joke, but it was actually an e-mail asking if I’d like to interview Bunny Williams, the designer of the 2015 Southern Living Idea House in gorgeous Charlottesville, VA. Here’s a peek at the outside… photo via Southern Living I love how it’s styled after an old stone farmhouse and can’t wait to see more of the inside. If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know we love the Charlottesville area and have

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June 15, 2015 16 Comments
All Things Home

crazy plant lady

Between traveling last week and our photo shoot this week, Kriste and I weren’t able to get a Design Ramblings filmed for today.  We are getting back in the swing of things next week, though, so you’ll see us next week. A couple of months ago, I decided to buy some myrtle topiaries.  My house was suffering from a bit of “preserved boxwood overload” and some of them, after several years of being on display, were looking a little tired and fuzzy.  I was ready to make an honest effort at caring for live plants. I bought the myrtles from Terrain, which is the only place I was able to find them.  They were definitely an investment and I took that seriously.  I’ve watered, spritzed, turned, trimmed and even given them a pat of encouragement here and there and they have stayed alive and green and happy for two whole months!

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June 12, 2015 43 Comments
All Things Home

hemp sheet slipcovers

One project that’s been on my to-do list for a couple of years was making new slipcovers for the wing chairs in the family room.  When things linger on a list that long, it’s because I don’t really want to do them.  I know how to make slipcovers and I love the results, but I make them out of thriftiness, not out of a zest for making slipcovers.  I usually do my slipcovering and upholstery in spurts, but between Lucketts and getting my house ready for this shoot, I’ve been on a sewing/stapling marathon.  I think I’ve done 20 chairs in the last 2 months.  Whew! These wing chairs might be in an important shot, so I really wanted them to look their best.  The drop cloth slipcovers have held up well for about 8 years, but they are examples of my “early work”and they were starting to look a little slouchy

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June 8, 2015 38 Comments
All Things Home

design ramblings | mixing fabric patterns

Once Lucketts was over, Kriste and I turned our attention to the finishing details of my house.   We have a big shoot coming up and I really wanted all of the half-done and 3/4-done and almost-done projects to finally be DONE.  I’m really enjoying having my house as just my house (now that we have the studio) and it’s helped me settle down a bit.  I’m not changing things up or moving furniture around so much, so I’m now ready to look at a room and call it finished.  Seriously.  (Well, ask me that again in a year and we’ll see how I’m doing!) So, a part of finishing has been sewing a bunch of pillows out of fabrics I picked especially for the rooms they are going in.  The pillows I’ve been using have been fine, but they weren’t intentional.  Now, they are intentional and I think that can

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June 6, 2015 19 Comments
All Things Home

bolster pillow cover

I said in my last post that I was going to be sewing up a storm and I definitely did.  I finished four accent pillows and two pillow cases and glued the welting on the second bergere chair.  A photo shoot is happening in my house next week and I’m using it as an excuse to get things finished that have been on my to-do list for a long time.  I’m going to start making new slipcovers for the wing chairs in the family room tomorrow.  I slipped those about eight years ago, in drop cloths.  They’ve held up really well, but they are starting to show the wear. So, one of the pillow covers I made today was for the bolster on the living room sofa.  It’s been hanging out naked for the past few months and it was time to get it appropriately dressed!    I’m working at such a

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June 3, 2015 13 Comments
All Things Home

latest HGTV.com tutorials…

I’ve been cramming a lot of work into just a few weeks and I’ve only shared a part of it here on the blog.  It’s just the way deadlines, events, trips and things in my schedule stacked up, but I have one more big thing to get through and then my schedule opens up a bit.  Of course, I’m already planning to schedule more workshops and there are a few new projects I’d like to get off the ground, but I feel like I can go at my own pace.  How busy I am will be self-imposed! So, today I thought I would share a preview of some of the other things I’ve been working on as I was getting ready for Lucketts.  It was Christmas in the studio as Kriste and I worked on projects for HGTV.com‘s Christmas in July series… And Jeff and I wrote a tutorial on how to make

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June 2, 2015 9 Comments
All Things Home

decorating with plants | design ramblings

Yes, I know it’s not Friday, our usual Design Ramblings day, but our week was pretty out-of-whack with our trip to Wisconsin!  I was planning to edit and post the video on Friday, but… 1.) I was totally exhausted and had a 4:30 wake-up call the next morning, 2.) iMovie wasn’t launching, and 3.) I was using my hotspot, which isn’t high speed enough to upload a 1080p video to YouTube.  So, it didn’t happen.  I’m back home now and was able to get some rest, get iMovie working, and I have my lightning-fast WiFi again! We were hoping to film a Design Ramblings or two on our trip, but we weren’t sure what the topic would be.  As soon as we saw our host’s home, we knew.  Brenda, of Harvest Home, has an amazing gift with plants and plant decor.  She doesn’t just take good care of them, so

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June 1, 2015 No Comments

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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