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All Things Home

Decorating

refreshing painted kitchen cabinets

Let’s talk about something that isn’t often talked about when it comes to interior photographs for magazines, online publications, social media, etc.  Yes, we all know about styling and filters, clever cropping, and fancy photoshopping.  But let’s talk about the fact that you just don’t get the full picture in a picture.  In some ways, you can see more in a photograph, like if something is crooked or if a space is too cluttered.  You just have more time to study it and see those things that are off.  But, in other ways, you see less.  You don’t see the little details that you see in person.  The little stains, chips, dirt, and imperfections that come with using a space every day.  So, let me give you a little peek to confirm that our house gets wear and tear just like any other house.  In today’s post, I’ll focus on

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All Things Home

antique french finds & handmade goods

I spent the morning packing up all of the paintings from Friday’s original art sale.  Thank you so much to everyone who shopped.  We had over 3,000 people on the site at one time, so if you had trouble getting the painting you wanted, that’s why!  I am also pleased to share that all of the paintings sold and I was able to donate $1250 to Samaritans Purse for their field hospital in Ukraine.  Thank you for being a part of supporting that.  So, I need to paint a lot more, which I’m not mad about.  I’m heading back to Isle of Palms later this week, so I hope to get in a lot of beach paintings while I’m there. I will be listing some of those paintings as prints in as well. I spent the weekend mostly on errands and this morning packing up the paintings to ship out,

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Decorating

elevating the look of an artificial plant

I haven’t taken much time to wander around in a store like Target for quite a while.  I’ve gotten used to placing online or curbside pick-up orders, which are convenient, but I’m realizing I really miss getting out and about regularly.  I’m a homebody, so it’s very easy for me to fall into a pattern of just staying home.  But getting out of my everyday environment (more than just going for a walk around the neighborhood) provides so much inspiration, even if that isn’t the intention.  I can’t help but see things that get the creative wheels turning – color combinations, textures, new products, and books naturally.  I ran a quick errand to my local Target and decided to mill around for a while, looking at things I wasn’t shopping for and didn’t need.  It felt good to not be purpose-driven but to just allow myself to stroll and browse. 

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Decorating

the sewing room makeover reveal

The sewing room makeover was another project I worked on specifically to share in my book – .  For that reason, I haven’t shared the full reveal on the blog yet, even though this room makeover was finished in 2020.  A few photos of the room are shared in the book, but it’s nice to share more detail about the makeover here on the blog so that I can share links to tutorials, projects, and sources.  It just tells more of the story for those who are interested! So, let’s start this room makeover by looking at what the room looked like when we moved in almost five years ago. It’s a pretty basic room with cream walls and trim and beige carpet.  We added the chandelier, swapping it out for a typical builder-grade fixture. I knew I wanted to make this room feminine and like a little jewel box,

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Decorating

built-in shelf styling

As Jeff and I have been working through the house, knocking out little projects and giving rooms a refresh, I decided to play around with the accessories a bit.  First of all, the shelves needed a good dusting and that’s best done properly when everything is removed.  Second, I was craving a simpler, cleaner look.  I’ve been this way since I was a teenager.  I will fill up a space, adding layers and little things that I find, and then I’ll swing in the other direction and be ready for a less cluttered look.  This behavior definitely displays the tension between the collector in me and the neatnik.  So, I thought this little refresh was a good chance to talk about shelf styling and to take a look at how this corner of our living room has evolved over the years. When we first moved in, I painted the living

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Antiques

antique traveling inkwell

You must permit me to get a little romantic about writing and art supplies now and then.  It’s hard to resist sharing about the delights of onion skin paper and Georgian brushes delicately made out of quills.  I appreciate the combination of form and function that is lost in the modern plastic disposable pen.  While my affection for writing and art supplies has been unearthed in just the past couple of years, I have appreciated beautiful, everyday antiques for years.  Since I was setting up my first apartment as a newlywed, I opted for using antique jars to store flour and sugar and traded out our matching department store bedding for a vintage creamy white coverlet.  I’ll always prefer old tools, wearing patina on their wood handles, to new ones.  And I’ll always appreciate the patches, worn, used, old, and loved over something shiny and perfect.  So, if a girl

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Bathrooms

the unimpressive, free, one-hour bathroom makeover

Blogging has been (and I’m sure will continue to be) a weird, wonderful job for me.  It has allowed me to roll the things I enjoy into my business and has helped me unearth and develop skills I didn’t even know I had.  Work for me can be anything from going to an antique store to making a slipcover to organizing a closet to drawing a pattern.  It is a strange job, but I really love it.  As with all jobs, though, there are perks and pluses and then there are drawbacks.  Some of those drawbacks are just embedded in the nature of the job, but some are definitely of my (our) own making.  One of those drawbacks is, over the years, I have built up this idea in my head that unless I’m really going to give a room a makeover, I mean, give it an overhaul worthy of

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All Things Home

collected & antique curiosities | allouette calandrelle

Being an artist changes you.  I don’t mean that in a snooty way or in a way that limits what art is.  Art can be painting and drawing, but it’s also music, photography, design, decorating, writing, engineering, sewing, stitching, gardening, growing, architecture, building…  That one small three-letter word encompasses so many endeavors.  And, when you start down a specific creative path, no matter how broad or meandering, you are changed by what you learn.  You start to see the world differently and things that once went without notice become curiosities, worthy of attention. When I look at photographs of artists’ homes, studios, and gardens, I get it more now.  I get the draw to nature.  I get the collections of textures, colors, shapes, and curiosities.  I’ve always been drawn to collecting natural items and making things with them.  I have vivid memories of picking daisies and making halos and crowns. 

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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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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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