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All Things Home

All Things Home

Savannah’s Awkward Kitchen | Decorating Dilemmas

In this Decorating Dilemma, we’re going to take a look at Savannah’s soon-to-be kitchen.   We’ll talk about working with dark granite that you might not love, but you don’t want to replace, unifying a disjointed space, adding shelving for style and storage, and more. Here’s what Savannah says about the space… “I need help! Lord willing, my husband and I will be moving into my parent’s old home when they finish building their new house.  But I have a serious decorating dilemma.  The kitchen has me stumped!” The kitchen was renovated about 10 years ago and Savannah was able to help with that process, so she’s not picking on her parent’s choices!  She’s just ready to take this look in a different direction when it becomes her home. These are the things Savannah wants to address… She doesn’t like the dark granite but, understandably, doesn’t want to spend the money

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All Things Home

stainless steel cleaner comparison

Before we enter the exciting and somewhat nerdy world of cleaner comparisons, I wanted to let you know that the tie-up shades I designed for Decor Steals are being offered as their steal today!  Some of you have asked me about them, so I didn’t want you to miss it.  Click HERE for the details… So, I did this comparison for my own sake because I was so frustrated with one stainless steel cleaner I bought.  Despite my cleaning and buffing, my appliances were streaky and it was driving me crazy!  I ordered two different stainless steel cleaners to see which one worked best.  Since I was making this comparison already, I thought I would share the results here. These are the products that are going head-to-head in this very unscientific, completely preference-based, nerdy test… The first one is Magic Stainless Steel cleaner.  This is the one that I want

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All Things Home

styling the living room shelves

As I was fiddling around with the accessories in the living room, I finally decided to rework the built-ins on the right side of the fireplace.  I painted them white shortly after I moved in and filled them up with one thing I have plenty of – .  (You can read about painting the built-ins HERE.)  It was just easy, pretty, and something I could call “done” when I had so many other things I wanted to work on in the house.  But, I wanted to revisit styling these living room shelves… I have wanted to add some warmth and interest there for a while, but even though it’s a fairly small project, it was too much to do when I was having issues with my shoulder.  Earlier last week, I started just moving things in the space…a few books, a couple of pieces of blue and white transferware, just

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All Things Home

fiddling in the living room

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been very productive in many ways, but I haven’t been able to work on some of the things I really want to work on like house projects and painting!  I try to plan my weeks, though, so they are “front-loaded.”  I have all of the meetings and heavy computer days at the beginning of the week, so I have the last half of the week for more creative pursuits.  It’s a strategy I’ve used for several months, but I am admittedly still finetuning it.  I’m still trying to figure out how to get all of my work done and have a life and quality family time and paint and workout and cook…  I know many of you get it.  Aren’t we all trying to figure out how to fit it all in? So, after hitting the gym this morning, I carved out

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All Things Home

last week’s antique finds…

Last week, I just needed to get out and away from my desk.  I had plenty of work to do and the weather was terrible, but I was determined!  I had planned it and I was going to stick to my plans.  I’m also finding that if I use “I have work to do” as an excuse, then I won’t ever leave the house!  There is always some sort of work to do. So, I went to my PT appointment to have my shoulder worked on (it’s getting so much better) and then I hit a few of my favorite antique and second-hand shops.  There is not a ton of antiquing right here in Rochester, but there are a few spots I like to hit every now and then.  I have been looking for a few things…a mirror for the living room, a large basket, and a buffet-sort-of-piece for a

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All Things Home

Reviving Hydrangeas

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up some hydrangeas and a few other flowers from Trader Joe’s to use in upcoming photoshoots I had planned.  Right after getting them home, I plopped them in a bucket of water in the laundry room sink and left them there until I was ready to arrange them the next day. The next day, though, three of the six hydrangea blooms were wilting!  Oh, the disappointment!  I love hydrangeas, but they can be unreliable sometimes.  I huffed about it a bit, but I needed to get the pictures done, so I used the good blooms and filled the arrangement in with some other flowers. But, I still was hoping to be able to use the wilted hydrangeas, so I put them in a sink filled with cold water.  I’ve tried this trick in the past and it works well if the flowers aren’t

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All Things Home

Arhaus Pillow Giveaway

Disclosure: furnished the pillows and throw featured in this post along with the prize for the giveaway.  I received no additional compensation for this post. While I was eagerly awaiting the delivery of the new sectional, asked if I would like to select a few and a throw to go with it.  I could imagine Jeff’s eye-roll at the idea of me ordering more pillows!  He just doesn’t get pillows!  I, however, love pillows and that the featured colors for the new Arhaus catalog were blue and white.  That sounds right up my alley! I do already have an ample supply of pillows, though, so I just picked three that I thought would look nice with the new sectional (the ) and one throw.  I also selected pillows that I can use in other rooms if I want to change things around. The first pillow I selected was the I

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All Things Home

Other Living Room Plans

Sometimes I have trouble sitting back and enjoying what I’ve accomplished in the light of the size of my to-do list!  I’m sure many of you can relate!  I realized as I was putting this post together that there is a to-do list a mile long made up of all the little and big projects I want to do in the house.  Some of them are as simple as repairing a tear in a cushion or slipcover (I have a few of those) or as involved as installing wainscoting and crown molding. But, I just need to remember that #1 – it’s not a race and #2 – that list will shrink one project at a time.  Little steps to get big things done. So, one thing that I want to do is change out the fabric on the backs of the French chairs.  The fabric worked great in my

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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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