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All Things Home

All Things Home

styling the jelly cupboard

I’ve been under the weather for the past few days.  I’m getting better, but hanging out in bed doesn’t make for very fun blog posts.  I checked out my draft folder to look for posts I started, but never finished or posted, usually because something more exciting comes along to write about.  As I was digging through the drafts folder, I found this one… I have written about styling before and I thought I would share the process I went through styling this primitive jelly cupboard I sold at the Chapel Market last October. I started out with a large market basket sitting on top.  I’ve learned when it comes to styling that a lot of little things can get lost in a picture.  It’s better to use pieces that make a bigger statement.  I think this can also translate to styling a piece for your home.  Imagine this jelly cupboard with

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All Things Home

how I hand painted the Mora dresser

I shared this hand painted dresser last week and, as promised, I’m now sharing more detail on the hand painted design.  First of all, I’m always asked if my hand painted designs are stencils.  No, they are hand painted.  I know that will immediately lose some folks when I say that, because a lot of people don’t feel comfortable with hand painting.  I get that.  The kind of hand painting I do is simple strokes, repeated over and over again until it makes an overall design. When you see it up close, you can see how simple and even a little messy it is.  I have learned that the less I overthink it, the better it looks. I always start out by chalking out the rough design.  That way, I know the design is going to look the way I want it to before I put a drop of paint

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All Things Home

workshop preview & farmhouse style ramblings

Today was a big day.  We hosted our very first workshop in the Mustard Seed Studio!  Twelve delightful ladies attended and I think it’s safe to say that we all had an amazing time.  Here are a few pictures as a preview, but I’ll be sharing more, of course.  For Design Ramblings this week, we decided to chat about another trend prominent on blogs, Pinterest and in magazines – Farmhouse style. Why do we think this is so popular and what are some ways you can bring that look to your house…

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All Things Home

say hello to “schloss” | sofa makeover

 This really could be two posts, but I decided to fit it all into one.  The truth is, after a week of hard work, I have a lot of things to share and I’m getting antsy to get them posted! First of all, here is another one of our new European colours in the MMS Milk Paint line…  It’s a rich greige that many of our customers have been requesting and it seemed fitting for the new line of subtle colors.  It’s definitely a chameleon color, as you can see in the collage above.  It looks more beige on the raw wood sample, warm gray on the side table (by Allison of The Golden Sycamore) and a richer gray on the settee frame. For those who don’t know, Schloss means castle in German. This color reminded me of the gray and beige variations in the stonework.  (This is the Marienburg

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All Things Home

design ramblings | contentment with your home

Kriste and I thought we’d mix up the ramblings a bit and talk about contentment and how it relates to our homes.  I’ve written about contentment before and it’s something I’ve struggled with off and on.  I’m sure it’s something we all struggle with, especially in the day of blogs, magazines, Pinterest, HGTV…there are so many sources of inspiration, but they can also make you feel like what you have isn’t good enough.  It’s easy to stir up feelings of discontentment when taking in so much eye candy! As we’re working in the studio, Kriste and I often talk about heart issues, so we figured we’d carry that over into our ramblings…

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All Things Home

distressing painted furniture | tips & techniques

I’ve shared a lot of tips about distressing furniture through the years, but I decided I would tackle the subject again.  I took pictures of the process as I worked on the Marzipan dresser I revealed yesterday for that very reason. So, here’s how the dresser looked once it was painted.  It has two coats of MMSMP Marzipan with some Ironstone (white) painted on the trim, handles and carved details.  Because I’m going to distress, I wasn’t too concerned with the white paint being perfect or completely opaque.  It actually looks a little sloppy at this stage.  Distressing serves a few purposes, then.  It hides the imperfections in the painting, but it also brings out the details of the piece and adds a sense of age to the fresh coat of paint. I’m going to start with the basics…what is distressing?  It’s more than just roughing up a piece.  It’s about removing

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All Things Home

more furniture to paint…

I have had a tough time getting back in my groove since the Christmas holiday.  It’s mostly because of this… No, not an amazing old mill.  The snow!  The boys keep having two hour delays and full days off from school for snow and ice.  I love my days off with them, but it’s tough trying to balance work with two boys home all day, especially on the heels of a long school break!  We’re managing, though.  There’s lots of Lego-building, movies, games, “guy battles”, snacks and lunches and I’m sneaking work in when I can.  I did get a few days in at the studio last week and I enjoyed them so much after my time away…    One of the top things on my to-do list is to finish introducing the European color line for MMSMP before they are released (Jan 24, 2015), so I’ve been stocking up on

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All Things Home

design ramblings | sliding barn doors, paneling & painted fireplaces

It’s time for another Design Ramblings…  I hope you’re all enjoying these, because we sure are! I think Kriste and I are both getting more comfortable chatting together in this format.  Since it is “design ramblings”, most of the episodes will be us talking about a specific design-related subject, but we already have some field trips planned as well as videos that are more instructional. In this episode, we answer three questions from our first “fan letter”, which we were pretty excited about.  We talk through the sliding barn door trend, what to do with a house full of paneling and should you paint a fireplace… Yes, “soundproof-ness” is a word.   So, I ripped on diagonal paneling in the video.  Then, as I was looking for a picture of beautiful room with unpainted paneling, I remembered the room by Amy from The Little Farm Diary that I featured a few weeks ago.  Lo

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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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