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All Things Home

All Things Home

picture ledges & drying racks

One of the things I’m asked about most when I share pictures of my studio (this one and my previous one in Minnesota) is the picture ledges I use as drying shelves and to hold pigment bottles and other small art supplies I want to have on display.  The shelves I purchased to use as drying ledges were originally from Target several years ago, and they are no longer available, sadly!  They are solid metal, a nice size, and easy to hang.  Similar metal shelves I have found are much more expensive than these.  (I eventually replaced these with longer metal ledges I found for a good price HERE.) They weren’t even available when I went back to purchase more just a few months after I bought them.  So, I opted for other ledges from Target, but they’re also no longer available!  Like the metal ones, these have two keyholes

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1970 home renovation

new exterior lights | 1970 home renovation

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lamps Plus.  As always, all words and opinions expressed in this post are honest and my own. If you missed the post a couple of weeks ago, I shared the new lights from Lamps Plus we installed in our hallway.  You can find that post HERE.  As a recap, we swapped dated, single-bulb lights for THESE beautiful star-shaped lights with six bulbs each!  The difference was amazing.  You can never underestimate what good lighting can do for a space.  With that success under our belt, I was eager to change out the exterior light fixtures of our 1970s ranch house.  I know “original lighting” sounds charming, but these were builder-grade, cheap light fixtures that had lived a good, long life.  They no longer added to the beauty or charm appeal of the house but detracted from it. There were six of them to change,

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a slice of life

overwhelm & order

Yesterday, I worked on the things on my daily list to get done (I try to limit it to three big things, which you can read about HERE), but then I found myself shuffling around, a little lost at what to do.  There is just so much to do.  Do I paint more?  Do I clean?  Do I start on a new project?  I had hit the point that often happens when there are a lot of projects or events happening at once.  Overwhelm.  There’s so much to do that it seems like the best thing to do is get back in bed. So, after some floundering, I went to my go-to method for dealing with overwhelm – creating order.  All of the mess and stuff everywhere needed to be put into order so that it didn’t look and feel overwhelming.  In truth, while we do have a lot of

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Antiques

ironstone pitchers | which way should the handles face

This post has been sitting in the drafts for a while and I opened it up, looked at the pictures, and it made me smile.  So, let’s dust it off.  This post draft came from a few comments I’ve received over the years about the direction of the handles on the ironstone pitchers in my photos.  Obviously, I place things carefully and intentionally but had never thought about which way the handles should face.  I just arrange them in a way that looks aesthetically pleasing to me. Over the years, though, several blog readers have pointed out that most of my handles tend to point left.  Then people ask if I’m left-handed.  I’m actually right-handed, but I play several sports as a lefty.  I do left-handed cartwheels (when I did cartwheels), play mini golf, and hold a bat as a lefty.  I throw with my right hand, though.  All of

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1970 home renovation

front garden plans | 1970 home renovation

When we tell people that we moved to Maryland from Minnesota, the first thing they mention is the winters.  “Oh, I bet you’ll enjoy these winters a lot more!”  Well, actually, no.  I’m one of those rare people who prefer the cold.  I am pale, blonde, with light eyes, and I just melt in the heat.  I turn beet red, I burn, I break out in hives, and too much heat makes me feel nauseous.  I’m already missing the snow.  But, I am looking forward to having a longer growing season and a wider variety of plants when it comes to gardening.  Gardening in Minnesota was hard for me!  We had some particularly harsh winters that killed even hearty boxwood bushes.  Since I broke my gardening baby teeth just about 40 minutes away from here at our former PA house, I feel like I can make a pretty good go

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1970 home renovation

new lights for the hallway | 1970 home renovation

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lamps Plus.  As always, all words and opinions are honest and my own. As I shared yesterday and in other posts about our 1970s home, one of our goals is to brighten it up.  So far, we’ve removed unnecessary window coverings, added recessed lights in six rooms, and pulled out or trimmed overgrown landscaping that blocked natural light.  Little by little, we’re noticing a difference and the house is becoming well-lit, which is not only welcoming, but it’s practical.  We can actually see what we’re doing! An area that still felt so dark, though, was the hall.  It is the only space in the house (excluding parts of the basement) that doesn’t have any natural light.  It relies completely on the windows from the adjoining rooms.  My boys like to keep their blinds drawn and doors closed (they are teenage boys, after all), so

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Antiques

my favorite source for antique European antlers

I was at an antique store years ago with my mom and I spotted a pair of antique German stag antlers.  I immediately felt drawn to them.  I couldn’t express why at that particular moment, but I kept going back to them and finally took them carefully off the wall of the booth where they were hanging and claimed them by tucking them into a cubby by the checkout counter.  When I took time later to reflect on that purchase, I found vague memories of antique stag antlers mounted on beautifully carved wooden hangers in places we stayed when traveling around Germany and Europe.  I remember them hanging on the wall over corner benches, next to checked curtains.  I remembered them in restaurants and Gasthauses (a German “guest house” aka bed & breakfast that was often like staying in someone’s home.) I don’t remember taking great notice of them at

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1970 home renovation

the paint colors I selected | decorating

Several people have been asking, so let’s talk paint colors and which ones I selected for our house.  I didn’t feel much urgency for selecting colors since I had so much wallpaper to strip, but now that the job is completed, I am ready to get rolling.  It was nice to have that unhurried time, though, so I could firmly make my choices.  Paint is one of the most cost-effective ways to transform and update a room, but it still costs money and it still takes time and energy.  You want to get it right if you can! After living with paint swatches for a while (you can read about my paint swatches HERE), I selected Farrow & Ball’s Card Room Green for the living room.  Truth be told, that was the color I had in my mind the whole time, but I needed to live with it a bit,

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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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