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All Things Home

All Things Home

cleaning a smoke smell out of wood furniture

When you buy used furniture sometimes musty, dusty, pet, and smoke smells come with it.  When it comes to severe pet and smoke odors, I’ll usually pass on a piece.  They are notoriously hard to completely remove from furniture, especially upholstery.  But, there are times when a piece sneaks through my filters or I’ll make an exception if I think I can remedy the issue.  Jeff picked up this Facebook Marketplace find for me and, while I told him to check for sturdiness and a few other things, I didn’t tell him to check for odors.  As soon as we brought it in, I would have to address the lingering stale smoke smell that came with this beautiful antique quartersawn oak table.  So, I thought I would take you along and share how I go about cleaning a smoke smell out of wood furniture. This is the table I spotted

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All Things Home

basement family room makeover | 1800’s chandelier

Nothing quite says “relaxed basement family room” like an 1800’s chandelier dripping with crystals.  Am I right or am I right? Okay, not really.  In fact, when I shared the very meticulous sketch for this particular area of the family room, I drew out what is clearly a lantern-style light fixture.  Not an 1800’s crystal chandelier. Clearly, a lantern fixture. Buuuut, I looked around online for a lantern-style light fixture I loved quite thoroughly and they were either more than I wanted to pay or not quite the look/style I imagined.  A couple of weeks ago, I shared this quote from on Instagram … I actually had a chandelier and I hadn’t even thought of using it! The main reason I hadn’t thought of using it is it wasn’t what I envisioned.  And, it seemed like sort of a crazy idea to try it.  Those of you who have followed

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All Things Home

four years…

July 24, 2021, was the four-year anniversary of the day we moved into our house in Rochester, Minnesota!  It was a whirlwind move that truly was an incredible story (you can read about it HERE.) On our first night in the new house, we just had the contents of our vehicles, a few new purchases (like a carpet cleaner), and some borrowed air mattresses.  All of our furniture was set to arrive the following day and not be fully unloaded until the weekend, so there was a lot of sitting on the floor or standing around bar when it came time to eat.  The tricky think about eating on the floor with a dog in the house is that he thinks the food is fair game!  So, for our first dinner, we ordered Fazoli’s (Italian fast food) and sat out on our deck to eat. We picked Fazoli’s because it

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All Things Home

basement family room makeover | decisions

Over the last few weeks, you’ve seen me meander through decisions about my basement family room makeover.  And, let me say, I am so glad I have given myself the freedom to change course and switch directions,  I believe that freedom – that relaxed, unhurried approach, will end up making for a better room.  Not that my initial plan was bad, but I needed to shift gears based on the materials I was able to source and what felt right in the room as changes started to be made. As a reminder, this was the plan at the beginning… And here is where we are now… The first photo was the inspiration.  It was theory.  The second photo is the reality.  It’s fabric I have in hand that is the right texture, color, and feels right for the room and the direction I’m heading. The best part is that these

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All Things Home

basement family room makeover | the stairs

After reviewing a lot of your feedback on Monday’s post and thinking about it a bit more, I am pretty sure I know the direction I’m going to go with painting the trim in the basement family room.  Again, the good news is there is no rush and I can take it one step at a time, changing my mind as I go.  Thank you for all of your feedback, though.  It was all helpful! Speaking of changing my mind, I actually returned the checked curtains I bought from Target.  are the curtains I got… I don’t have any complaints about them.  They are great curtains for the price, the fabric looked good in the room, the size was right, etc.  I just wasn’t feeling them.  They seemed a little too light for the look I was going for.  I have some blue linen that I have draped from the

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All Things Home

Basement Family Room Makeover | Priming & Painting the Walls

I made some more progress on the basement family room makeover late last week and over the weekend.  It’s feeling good to see it come together, little by little. The first thing I did is I played around a little bit more with things I already had.  We’ve decided that we do like the arrangement of wing chairs, so I’m going to be on the hunt for a round pedestal table and a chandelier to hang over the table.  I had a dry sink that belonged to my Opa that was displaced in the furniture shuffle, so I tried it just to the right of the stairs.  I added a mirror and lamp from my stash and some old chairs from our last kitchen table (they belonged to Jeff’s grandparents.)  The vacuum, of course, balances out the arrangement. I would paint the dry sink, but the scale of everything is

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All Things Home

how to clean & hydrate old wood | diy furniture cleaner

Several years ago, I wrote a post about how to clean and hydrate old wood and it was one of my most popular posts for years!  I decided it was time to do a refresher post on this DIY, homemade natural furniture cleaner and write an updated post that answered a lot of the questions asked on that original post.  I’ve also been using this recipe and technique for years, so I can speak to its efficacy and longevity. First of all, this DIY Furniture Cleaner will work on any old wood that has lost its luster and shine as long as the mixture can penetrate the finish.  If the piece has a thick polyurethane topcoat, the mixture will just sit on top and won’t be very effective.  If the wood is raw or the finish has worn away/evaporated, this DIY Furniture Cleaner will polish it up beautifully.  It is

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All Things Home

basement progress | removing & rearranging

Progress in the basement is slow and steady, which is becoming the norm for me when it comes to large projects.  I’ve learned the power of chipping away at something instead of tackling it all in one shot.  It removes so much of the overwhelm and it forces me to be more methodical with each step.  Instead of pushing through to get something done, I can take slow and careful steps, reassessing all along the way.  While it drags the project out, it does so in a way that is beneficial and I think the end result will be better for it.  I will say, though, it is against my nature.  I’m generally impatient and just want to check it off the list.  But, I’m getting a little older, a little wiser, and definitely a little slower! In the basement, we’ve been putting in about 30-60 minutes of work each

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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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