home improvement Archives | Miss Mustard Seed

home improvement

1970 home renovation

how to install vinyl shutters on brick | tutorial

Over the weekend, we installed shutters on the left side of the house. That was the last side of the house that needed shutters, so I can finally check that project off the list! This home had wood shutters on all the windows originally, but they had rotted and were removed. Before we bought the house, vinyl shutters had been installed on the front and right side of the house, but the windows along the back and left sides were left without shutters. We wanted to bring that architectural element back in, so we ordered, painted, and installed shutters this summer. You can find a tutorial on how to prime and paint vinyl shutters HERE. In this post, I’m sharing a tutorial showing how to install new shutters on brick. Let me start by saying we built this project up in our minds as one that was going to be

September 23, 2025 8 Comments

All Things Home

how to paint vinyl shutters

When I shared the installation of the new vinyl shutters along the back of the house, several people asked if I could share the specific products, tools, and techniques I used, so here is a post all about how to paint vinyl shutters. When we moved into our PA house way back in 2006, there were vinyl shutters on the front windows that were a faded country blue. Not long after moving in, I took them down and spray-painted them with exterior spray paint made for plastic. I don’t think I primed them or anything. When I look back at photos of those shutters, I can see the spray paint marks. Ooof. I’ve learned a lot about painting over the past 20 years, so now I use a combination of a brush and roller to apply a quality exterior primer and paint. I will say, though, that paint is still

September 15, 2025 8 Comments

All Things Home

proper heights for wainscoting

I don’t usually care for “decorating rules.” They are typically preferences and gimmicks more than actual rules. “Blue and green should never be seen.” is one rule that I threw in the garbage bin pretty quickly when I started decorating. I want to ask the person who came up with that adage if they ever stepped outside with their eyes open. The dominant colors in nature are undeniably blue and green, and it’s one of the most harmonious and beautiful combinations. Now that I’ve poo-pooed decorating rules, I will say that there are design principles that seem to be universal across all art forms. One of those principles is the rule of thirds. Trios are more aesthetically pleasing than duos when arranging a vignette. A photo or painting composition is stronger when the focal point or horizon line is placed following the rule of thirds. Eye makeup looks better if

July 15, 2025 11 Comments

1970 home renovation

how to remove carpet glue from concrete | part 2

I have had a lot of long, drawn-out projects in my DIY career, but I think removing the carpet glue from the concrete floor in the basement might take the cake. I haven’t been working on it consistently or faithfully. Instead, I will push now and then to make more progress but then I get tired of it and work on more enjoyable things. My mom is a great motivator when it comes to completing tedious projects I’m sick of, so she encouraged me to buy a second wallpaper steamer (which can also be used for the remaining wallpaper in the house that needs to be removed) and is helping me complete this project. Jeff and Calvin have both helped, but my mom is very determined and will be the best partner in this endeavor. In part one of this riveting carpet glue saga, I shared all the products and

February 26, 2025 12 Comments

1970 home renovation

removing carpet glue from concrete | part one

I’m sure you’re excited to see that this is only part one of removing carpet glue from concrete. That means there will at least be a part two and you’ll have more ugly photos and stories of slow and tedious DIY endeavors to delight you. As I shared in the initial post about the basement, home renovation isn’t always pretty. You can read that post HERE. In brief, the concrete basement floors are covered in a coating of old carpet glue and remnants of padding still clinging to said glue. Not only is it unsightly, but it’s impossible to clean properly, which drives me nuts. I’ve been nervous about this basement floor since we moved in, though. My fear was asbestos was lurking either in the glue or the pad and disturbing it would be a health hazard. If it did contain asbestos, we would either have to have it

October 15, 2024 17 Comments

All Things Home

tips on hanging peel-and-stick wallpaper

Back in April, I worked on the boys’ bathroom to give it a little refresh until it reaches the top of the renovation project priority list and we can completely gut and redo it. I actually liked the wallpaper and vintage blue accents in the bathroom, but after over 50 years of use, they really are tired. The ceiling paint was peeling and stained, the wallpaper was peeling, grout was missing, and the original fan sounded like it was churning marbles when you turned it on. It needed some addressing to make the room feel fresh until it could be renovated. Instead of fighting the existing blue finishes and vintage feel, I decided to lean in and embrace it by hanging some fun peel-and-stick wallpaper that ties the beige and blue together. Here is a before picture of the bathroom… You can read about the makeover process in these posts

June 17, 2024 14 Comments

All Things Home

cleaning ivy (roots & stains) off of brick

When I first shared about the back wall of our house, I thought aloud about allowing ivy to grow up in certain areas and just keep it trimmed so it didn’t take over. However, after pulling it from all over the yard and seeing it try to climb into windows (successfully in the case of a basement window that was left open), I decided against it. I do still love the look of ivy growing (thoughtneatly trimmed) on a building, but I realized it’s not as easy to control the growth as I imagined and the damage and discoloration it leaves behind on the brick is unsightly and I don’t want to accumulate more. So, English ivy has become another nemesis along with Bishop’s weed/goutweed and I’ve been scraping it off the house, cutting it off the fence (which we’re replacing this week), and pulling it out of the yard.

June 10, 2024 10 Comments

1970 home renovation

Building our new antique-style mantel

Several of you guessed we would build fireplace mantel option number one and you were right. All of the antique-style mantel options I shared in THIS POST were strong contenders, but I kept coming back to the first one. It was the first picture I saved as inspiration and the one that I imagined in our living room. I think the others would’ve worked, but there was something about this one that I just couldn’t shake. So, I went with my gut and this is the one we built. Photo via Becca Interiors Because our fireplace had three two-by-four supports for a mantel shelf built into the brick, it made the most sense to work around those. We could’ve simply cut them off and then build whatever mantel style we wanted, but having support foe a shelf built into the wall was a better option than trying to build up

November 27, 2023 49 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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