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All Things Home

All Things Home

tending to the back & side gardens

Let’s talk about something I’ve been largely avoiding since we moved into our house almost three years ago…  the yard.  We did do a massive amount of work on the front gardens a couple of years ago, because I didn’t enjoy being greeted by a weedy mess each time I came home.  The youth group at our church was hiring out labor for a fundraiser and we took that opportunity to get this job done and support them in the process. The greatest challenge for me was gardening in rock.  I had never worked with landscaping like this.  How do I plant my annuals in a layer of rock and landscaping fabric?  I just had no idea.  So, we removed buckets and buckets of rock and pulled up the landscape fabric… With a clean slate, I put in some new plants and mulched.  It’s still a work in progress as

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All Things Home

blue toile daybed makeover

I hope you had a good three-day weekend!  We ended up doing a lot of work in our yard when it wasn’t raining.  It was hard, muddy work, but we got so much accomplished!  We dug up a bunch of plants and bushes to replace with hydrangeas and hostas, we moved and raked out a big pile of gravel, we built up some areas that were eroding, and I transplanted some perennials to new locations.  I even took the time to sketch out a plan and make a list of the plants I need to transplant and purchase, so I won’t be overwhelmed when I go to the garden center.  I took a bunch of pictures of the before and our progress, so I’ll share those in another post.  Today, I’m sharing about decorating mistakes and the newly-toiled daybed. In decorating, mistakes are sometimes made.  It’s not a mistake in

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All Things Home

linen fabric swatches & master bedroom progress

Remember my design breakthrough in the master bedroom that I shared a few weeks ago?  Well, I’ve been moving forward…little steps to make the plan happen.  And it feels good.  It’s a room that’s had me stuck for a while and I’m glad to have a clear direction that I’m excited about.  It’s definitely been a lesson in patience and playing. Since I shared that plan, I ordered a few more yards of the Aviary Toile fabric (by French General) in order to make the bed crown.  I also ordered some pleater tape to pleat the checked fabric and give it a nice, finished look.  Now, I need to get some specific measurements to draw out a plan for cutting and sewing the fabric before attaching it to a plywood piece cut into a half-oval shape.  The plywood will then be mounted to the ceiling.  I also need to figure

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All Things Home

Live Painting Class | underpainting & tonal pear

Friday ended up being a crazy busy day.  It was one of those days when I was just a little bit behind from the moment my feet hit the floor.  I finished a business call and checked the time…”Oh my goodness!  It’s 1:45 and my painting class is in 15 minutes!”  I rushed to get set up, refill my water bottle, and grab a quick snack since I had completely missed lunch.  I turned my computer on just in time to start the live class.  I pressed the “Go Live” button as usual and received an error that the camera was not compatible.  This is the same camera on the same computer I’ve been using each week!  Gah!   After several failed attempts, I switched over to my phone.  So, the first few minutes on the Facebook Live recording are me getting the tripod set up, getting my palette, and putting

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All Things Home

parsons chair linen slipcover reveal

I know that my house usually looks clean and tidy in the pictures I share here and on social media.  And, I will admit, that I am a bit of a neat freak.  I generally like to clean and I love having a spotless, organized, and clutter-free home.  But, life happens here.  I have middle school boys, a dog, two cats, and a husband who has a higher mess tolerance than I do.  Trust me, there are parts of our house that are not pristine! One of the more visible non-pristine areas were the seats of the end chairs at our kitchen table.  These are well-loved and well-used chairs and they were looking pretty rough.  I was even a little embarrassed by them when we had people over because they looked so grungy.  That’s just my own silliness, though.  I doubt anyone ever really cared. The chairs are still in

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All Things Home

parsons chair slipcover tutorial | part 2

If you missed part one of this slipcover tutorial, you can find it HERE.  In part one, I show how to make the “body” of the slipcover.  This chair slipcover tutorial works for almost any armless chair, but is specifically for a parsons chair with small wings.  You can also find the link to the linen I used for this project in that post. So, in this post, I’m going to show how to make ties.  This tutorial can be used for pretty much any homemade ties.  They can be used on clothes, like aprons, accessories, slipcovers, etc.  I like ties for slipcovers because they add a “dressmaker detail.”  Since slipcovers are essentially dresses for furniture, it looks fitting to me.  If you want a more modern look and cleaner lines, you can always use buttons or even velcro. You can just cut the strips of fabric with scissors, but

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All Things Home

Live Painting Class | Still Life Pear

Friday, we did another live painting class!  In that session, we focused on still life painting and painted a Barlett pear with some leaves.  When I first started painting, I wasn’t interested in the still life genre at all, but after painting 100 landscapes off of pictures, I saw some of the issues of not painting from life.  Since still life is the easiest thing to set up and have readily on hand as a “model”, I decided to paint 100 still lifes.  I saw myself grow so much as an artist during that time.  It was overwhelming at first, trying to paint from a three-dimensional perspective instead of a flat image, but my eye was better trained through the process and I’ve grown to really enjoy painting still lifes. We started the class with an exercise – a 10-minute pear.  I could almost feel the panic when I said

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a slice of life

milk paint backdrops, blueberry ink, & creative community

Last week was the first week that I felt like I was settling into a new routine.  The previous weeks were about figuring out this new normal…the stress of feeling like I’m bringing toxic waste into the house when I order groceries or check the mail, the struggle of learning how to do school from home, the worry of the unknown, trying to sleep after reading the news.  I know so many of you can relate to the upheaval. But, I’m settling now, just as one would after a move or starting a new job, having a baby, or some other life-changing event. I’ve grown used to having groceries delivered and wiping them all down before bringing them into the house.  The boys have gotten into their own routine and have been doing schoolwork with more independence.  We’ve been able to treat ourselves with one outing to Home Depot to

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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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