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All Things Home
All Things Home

spring garden update 2019

Now that the kids are on summer vacation, spring is in full swing here in MN!  Seriously, that’s how long it takes!!  The garden is finally more than just a few sprouts.  It still has a ways to go, but I thought I would share how it’s coming along. The house finches vacated their nest on my Christmas wreath, so I was able to take it down and swap it out for a simple artificial boxwood wreath.  I know this wreath is boring, but I’ve used it for years and it gets me from spring to fall.  (I think I need to turn it or squish it or something to straighten it out…) I decided to try ferns in the concrete urns this year, instead of flowers.  They seem to be doing well so far. I filled the large concrete urn in the middle of the front garden with petunias

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June 12, 2019 49 Comments
All Things Home

sewing room fabrics

Before we dive into the fabrics for the guest room, thank you so much for all of your encouraging words about Mustard Seed Mentoring yesterday!  I am looking forward to working with those who signed up so far!  If you’re still thinking about it, I will be on Instagram Live and Facebook Live over the next couple of days to share more about it and I’ve also answered some FAQ’s at the bottom of this post. If you totally missed it, you can read all about it HERE. So, to the sewing room!  I shared my plans to drape the entire room in toile last week.  You can read about that HERE. Well, I received the fabric sample and it’s perfect!  It even works great with a woven stripe I already own, so I can use that as an accent. I like to get a visual (as best as I

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June 11, 2019 45 Comments
a slice of life

simple summer dinner

More and more, I don’t mind cooking dinner, but  I hate having to use creative energy to figure out what I’m going to make for dinner.  I do like meal services for that reason and we do those occasionally, but I’m on my own most of the time.  That means that I keep things pretty simple… naan pizzas, breakfast for dinner, soup, etc.  We also do the tried and true standby of chicken, veggies, and a starch. One of our favorites during the late spring and summer is asparagus and chicken.  It’s such a simple dinner, but it’s very tasty. Let’s start with the asparagus.  I prefer skinny asparagus since they are more tender, but I was only able to find the big boys when I was at the store this week.  In that case, I’ll cut them in half or quarters length-wise. I put them in a shallow pan

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June 5, 2019 6 Comments
All Things Home

lavender topiary & customized planter

The lavender topiaries, the ones I anticipated with eagerness each spring in PA, the ones I would stockpile in the back of my van, so I could sell them at Lucketts, have finally made it to Minnesota!  Well, maybe they were here before now, but now is when I finally found them! The only difference is that these are much larger than the ones I bought in PA.  It’s nice that they are so beautiful and big, but I didn’t have pretty containers for gallon-sized pots.  I don’t know about you, but finding planters that I like is a challenge for me.  They are all too modern or too bright or too plastic-y.  It’s rare for me to find exactly what I want.  So, I typically use antique finds, like olive baskets, buckets, crocks, grain measures, ironstone, etc.  I didn’t have something in my stash (that wasn’t already occupied) that

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June 4, 2019 41 Comments
All Things Home

sewing room plans

When we’re not doing fun summer stuff and when I’m not working at my desk or easel, I’m hoping to get some projects done around the house.  I’ll share my ambitious project list in another post, but one of the rooms on that list is our sewing room. One thing we love about this house is that we really use it.  We use almost every room almost every day…except for the sewing room.  It is a luxury to have a room for my fabric stash and upholstery supplies and it is nice to be able to close the door on a room carpeted in threads and fabric scraps when I’m in the middle of a project, but it’s not a room we regularly use. It is nice to have an extra guest room, though, should we have the occasion of hosting several people at once, but that hasn’t happened yet. 

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June 3, 2019 46 Comments
All Things Home

making your house smell nice

There have been a few times that I’ve been asked how my house smells so nice.  I was a little perplexed the first time I was asked, because I don’t use plug-in air fresheners and I rarely light scented candles.  I wasn’t intentionally doing anything. As I thought about it, I realized there were a couple of things I did that probably initiated that question and I thought I would share. The first one is obvious and you certainly don’t need to read a blog post to tell you this.  But, I think my house smelling nice is more about what they are not smelling.  I am a neat and tidy person and I do clean my house regularly and well.  In other words, I stay on top of things that cause odors.  I don’t let laundry pile up.  I don’t let trashcans overflow.  I clean up messes and spills

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May 30, 2019 43 Comments
All Things Home

the rug that ties the room together

Well, another layer has been added to our dining room and it’s just perfection!  The braided jute rug that was in the dining room worked because it was neutral, but it was a little bit boring.  If you’ve been with me on this blog long enough, you know that rugs are my nemesis!  It’s so hard to find one that works.  It’s not too loud, not too boring, it’s the right material, colors, patterns, etc.  And, rugs are typically investment pieces, so there is pressure to get the decision right. This rug is from the upcoming (June 2019) Mark Sikes collection for Dash & Albert and it is the perfect solution for my dining room… (I’ll share more about Mark’s collection in another post, but everything is so beautiful.  It’s traditional without being tired and there is lots of blue & white, so it is right up my alley!) Anyway,

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May 28, 2019 87 Comments
All Things Home

cherry blossoms

A couple of weeks ago, I went out on my deck to enjoy some fresh air and I noticed our two cherry trees were in bloom.  I hadn’t noticed it earlier, because they are each growing behind a much larger maple tree that hangs over them.  I immediately went out to the back yard with a pair of garden shears and trimmed off a few blooms. I was tempted to cut some bigger branches and maybe I’ll do that next year, but I wanted to leave as many on the tree, so I can have more cherries. I put the little cuttings in cups of water around the house to enjoy for a couple of days. And, once I saw them in the studio, I knew I had to paint them! So, I took some time to do that, too.  I am trying to use up canvases and boards in

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May 27, 2019 15 Comments

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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