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All Things Home

All Things Home

how to make a custom pleated lampshade cover | video tutorial

When I shared that I wanted to cover the lampshades in my family room, several people asked if I would share my method.  I have covered lampshades in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it the same way twice.  I’ve used peel-and-stick lampshades.  I’ve adhered fabric to a shade using spray adhesive.  I’ve hot glued fabric and/or trim, sewed lampshade slipcovers, and painted tired shades.  I feel like I might win at a game of DIY lampshade cover Bingo.  So, I’ve learned a lot along the way about what works and looks nice and what looks like a DIY lampshade cover.  Before getting to the family room lampshades, which are a bit of a tricky shape, I decided to test out some things on a couple of simpler lampshades.  I made a mini pleated cover for a drum shade and a wider pleated cover for an empire

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1970 home renovation

refrigerator shopping with forté

Disclosure: I am working with Ilve and Forté as a part of a long-term partnership on my kitchen renovation.  As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Now that the roof is done, it’s time to turn our renovating attention to the kitchen.  In fact, my renovating attention has been on the kitchen, but it’s just been sketches, ideas, and standing in the space staring at it for long periods of time.  It has been nice to use and live in the kitchen for a while before any firm plans are put in place, though.  I’m learning where I work, what I use most, how the light moves, and what I’m missing from my previous kitchen.  Since we intentionally looked at homes that needed a complete kitchen redo, I knew that I would be starting from a blank slate on everything, including the appliances.  So, as I started to

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Decorating

thrift store ribbon holder

In between the unpacking, painting, and projects, Jeff and I have taken a morning or afternoon here and there to hit a few local second-hand shops.  One afternoon, we made the rounds to a few of the thrift stores just a couple of miles from our house.  At one of those thrift stores, I spotted a wooden rack.  At first, I wasn’t sure what it was…a towel bar, maybe?  Whatever it was, I liked it and thought it was interesting.  It could have dozens of different uses and it was only $10, so I decided to pick it up.  When I got it home and interacted with it more, I decided it was a paper towel holder.  I could’ve used it as that, but I decided to have a bit more fun with it and make it a ribbon holder in my studio. I have some gorgeous ribbons that I’ve

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All Things Home

tour of my new art studio

It’s the room tour that many of you have been asking for – the art studio!  Of course, it’s not finished yet, as is the case with our entire house, but it’s getting there.  It’s settled enough and looks enough like an art studio to welcome you into the space and give you a little tour. As we were looking at homes, this was a big question that needed to be answered.  Where would my art studio be?  In some houses, there was an outbuilding that would’ve worked for a studio and/or workshop and in others, I’d have to appropriate a room originally intended for another purpose.  In some houses, there really wasn’t an option and those were crossed off the list.  It was a must.  I could be flexible with the size, location, and other details, but I had to have a space to work and create. When we

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All Things Home

decorating process

Of course, there are a million practical things to do.  Unpack, strip wallpaper, paint walls, clean, and organize, but I have to give myself the gift of unstructured time to just play.  So, I bounce between things that need to be done and things that are completely unnecessary but are creatively fulfilling.  It gives me the energy to push through the things that are a bit more mundane and not exciting. So, yesterday I gave myself some time to work on some decorating things.  One of the things that are both practical and decorative are curtains and I’m looking forward to getting them made and hung for the living room.  Right now, we don’t have window coverings for this room and there is quite a glare on the TV.  This gave me a change to play with fabrics, which is great creative fun for me. I have picked a blue

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All Things Home

the antique thebes stool

When Jeff and I went on an outing last Monday, we walked through an antique store to look for some of the furniture pieces still on my shopping list.  I tried to stay focused on my list, but it is hard to ignore pieces that speak to me.  Such was the case with this odd little stool.  I had never seen one like it, but after years of antiquing, I know when I see something special and this little stool was special.  Better yet, it was well priced at around $30 and was discounted even further.  I handed the stool to Jeff and he gave me a questioning look.  I know it’s not on the list, but there is something about this piece and I want to buy it.  He’s learned to trust me in such matters and carried it up to the counter.  I have since learned that the

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1970 home renovation

James Farmer Inspired Corner

There are times when a design I see in a book or online sticks with me.  I keep coming back to it again and again and I find myself imagining it in my own home.  Most of the time, it just remains an object of admiration.  I just don’t have the space or things to pull it off.  But, this design by James Farmer has stuck with me and it was something I could emulate.  I just needed the right place to do it. James shared this picture in a 2019 Facebook post and this is what he said about it, “When I graduated from Auburn, I started helping some of my grandmother’s friends rearrange furniture, recover a chair and of course, hang a plate or two or three… or twenty. I guess some things never change! In an entry for a client’s hunting farm, the combo of brown transferware,

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All Things Home

Lucketts Fall Market 2022 Recap

The last few days have been a whirlwind and I finally have a chance to sit down and write to share what I’ve been up to.  Some of it has been personal – attending a banquet, Jeff’s installation into his new pastoral position (which included a very warm welcome for our entire family), enjoying fall colors from a local overlook (Pen Mar), and finally unpacking my suitcase; and some of it has been in that strange hybrid world where my hobbies and business collide – attending the Lucketts Fall Market, moving things back into the rooms where the hardwood floors were installed, and shopping for more pieces to fill holes, and starting to put my studio together.  There is so much to share, but let’s start with the Lucketts Fall Market that my mom and I attended on Friday. On Thursday, I picked up a cargo van in the hopes

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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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