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All Things Home
Family Room

“the sofa” update & explaining my shop

Well, my new sofa was supposed to be delivered tomorrow.  I received a call from Pottery Barn today to get my “delivery time window.”  I answered the phone with bubbly anticipation.  Will it come early?  Will I have to wait all day?  Instead of getting a time frame, I received the disappointing news that they had overbooked the route for tomorrow, so they couldn’t deliver it.  Bummer.  Okay, well, when can it be delivered?  It seems they only deliver to my area on Wednesdays.  It quickly hit me that next Wednesday is Christmas and the following Wednesday is New Years.  I’m not going to get my new sofa for at least three weeks.  It’s not a big deal, but I gave away our sofa yesterday and we’re hosting Christmas this year.  I took a moment to remind myself that it’s a small thing.  Some people have to go through the

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December 18, 2013 29 Comments
Antiques

Ironstone & an Ektorp Sofa Review

I mentioned I got a new haul of ironstone last week.  Well, here it is… Not only is it a lot of ironstone, but a lot of really great pieces including this four piece tureen set with platter, lid and ladle. The details on the handles are really pretty.  I love this piece, but I already have a few tureens, so I’ll be selling it. Another stunning piece is this large compote.  It’s chippy, but I’m cool with that. …some sugar jars… …lidded casseroles, a couple of butter dishes, butter pats, pitchers, small plates… …platters… …and a huge footed bowl (behind the pitcher.)  Lots of ironstone goodness.  I need to figure out what I want to keep and put a collection together to sell.  I will list some in my online shop, but let me know if there’s something you’re interested in.  I am a little nervous about shipping ironstone,

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December 17, 2013 95 Comments
Decorating

Painting Trim, Sewing Pillows & More

 Between a sick boy and snow days, we’ve basically had a four day weekend, which is fun (aside from the sick kid), but it ‘s tough when I work from home and have things I need to do.  We snuggled, though, and went to see Frozen and built a snowman.  Today they were back in school and I was back to work.  My husband installed new trim in the family room yesterday, so I primed and painted it today… It’s just simple pine boards, but it ties into the 1940’s part of the house and looks a little beefier.  I like beefy molding.  Just putting that out there. We still need to add some shoe molding and 3/4 height wainscoting to finish things off.  This room is pretty big with a cathedral ceiling, so it would greatly benefit from some architectural detail.  I would love to add some wood beams

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December 12, 2013 30 Comments
Family Room

My upholstery machine & “the sofa”

With all of the slipcover and upholstery posts I’ve been sharing lately, I’ve received a lot of questions about the sewing machines I use.  I have two.  One is  $150 Kenmore machine that I’ve been using for about six years.  I have used and abused that poor little machine and it has done an amazing job and is still going.  I have never oiled it, never had it cleaned and have asked it to do way more than it was made to do.  One night, though, I was working on the channel back chair and the machine was choking on the layers of  thick, antique hemp fabric. I was working with grain sack and hemp more and more, so it was time to upgrade to an upholstery machine that was made for what I was doing. Enter machine number two – the Sailrite LS-1.  It’s on sale for $654 right now,

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December 11, 2013 No Comments
Family Room

familyroomgallery

With all of the slipcover and upholstery posts I’ve been sharing lately, I’ve received a lot of questions about the sewing machines I use.  I have two.  One is  $150 Kenmore machine that I’ve been using for about six years.  I have used and abused that poor little machine and it has done an amazing job and is still going.  I have never oiled it, never had it cleaned and have asked it to do way more than it was made to do.  One night, though, I was working on the channel back chair and the machine was choking on the layers of  thick, antique hemp fabric. I was working with grain sack and hemp more and more, so it was time to upgrade to an upholstery machine that was made for what I was doing. Enter machine number two – the Sailrite LS-1.  It’s on sale for $654 right now,

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December 10, 2013 51 Comments
Decorating

Boxwood & My Christmas Tree

I just did a photo shoot today for the MMSMP color of the month, Boxwood, so I thought I would share.  I think this may be my favorite non-blue/gray color in the line.  It’s so rich and pretty.  I’ve sold all of the pieces I’ve painted in Boxwood, but I have a dresser in my son’s room that is just begging for it.  I was hoping to get to that this month, since it is the color of the month, but with slipcovers and upholstering and decorating for Christmas and the family room trim and all of that, I think it’ll have to wait.  Anyway, here are some pictures to give you a good sense of the color… Can you tell I enjoy these shoots?  I really do.  I think the photography/styling aspect of my job has become one of my favorite things to work on.  If you want to

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December 9, 2013 56 Comments
Dining Room

Dining Chair Slipcover Tutorial

I wrote a tutorial on making dining room chair slipcovers years (and several dining sets) ago when I was a contributor to Cottages & Bungalows magazine.    It’s so neat to see how far I’ve come in my sewing, photography, writing, styling.  I’ve really grown a lot.  Anyway, since I’ve improved in a few departments, I thought it was time to make a new tutorial as I worked on my last dining room chair slipcover.  The one I made for the tutorial looks like this… But you can also adapt this tutorial for a chair like this… The idea is the same.  Just create an extra slit for each arm and double the amount of ties.  You can also adjust the kind of skirt you have on the slipcover.  I like the ruffles, but you can do knife pleats, box pleats, no pleats…whatever floats your boat. I always use the

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December 9, 2013 47 Comments
Dining Room

missmustardseed-42 (640×352)

I wrote a tutorial on making dining room chair slipcovers years (and several dining sets) ago when I was a contributor to Cottages & Bungalows magazine.    It’s so neat to see how far I’ve come in my sewing, photography, writing, styling.  I’ve really grown a lot.  Anyway, since I’ve improved in a few departments, I thought it was time to make a new tutorial as I worked on my last dining room chair slipcover.  The one I made for the tutorial looks like this… But you can also adapt this tutorial for a chair like this… The idea is the same.  Just create an extra slit for each arm and double the amount of ties.  You can also adjust the kind of skirt you have on the slipcover.  I like the ruffles, but you can do knife pleats, box pleats, no pleats…whatever floats your boat. I always use the

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December 8, 2013 32 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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