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home improvement

All Things Home

how to paint cabinets | prep

I have been sharing some snippets here and there of the process of painting my built-ins and kitchen cabinets on my Instagram Stories and I’ve been getting tons of questions about the process and products I’m using, so now I’m sharing the details on how to paint cabinets here on the blog. First off, I know painting cabinets is intimidating and understandably so!  They are a fixture in your home and costly to replace if you “mess them up”.  It is also a big project that causes upheaval in what is arguably the most used room in the house. Here are my tips on painting cabinets, starting with the prep work.  You’ll want to follow these steps if your cabinets have a poly or painted finish and no matter which kind of paint you’re using. how to paint cabinets | work in sections In my last two kitchens, I painted

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All Things Home

Painting the Studio Floor

So, let’s chat about the studio floor.  As a reminder, here is what the room looked like when we purchased the house…. I actually didn’t get to see the house until after we had made an offer on it and Jeff was the first one to see the pictures of this room (it wasn’t in the real estate listing).  Before he forwarded the pictures along, he warned me that I probably wouldn’t like it. He was just looking at the dark, cedar planking.  When I saw it, though, I questioned whether he really knew me at all!  My voice got high-pitched with excitement.  “It’s perfect!!  It’ll look amazing painted!” So, a couple of weeks ago, we primed and painted everything.  The ceiling, the walls, and finally the floor.  You can read about the ceiling and walls in THIS POST. To prime the floors, we used the same primer that we

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All Things Home

spraying paint again…

When I first started my decorative and painting business, buying a paint sprayer was a no-brainer.  My pieces would have a smoother, more professional finish, and I could crank out pieces much faster than painting by hand.  I did a ton of research and ended up buying a Graco HVLP FinishPro.  (HVLP stands for high volume low pressure.)  I used that thing a ton and Jeff even built me a spray booth in the basement. (Man, I can’t believe I didn’t watermark that image.) I started working with different paints and finishes and found I loved the look of a piece painted by hand.  It was therapeutic for me, too!  I was painting so often by hand that we took down the spray booth to regain the space.  A gut instinct told me to hold onto the sprayer, though.  I thought about selling it many times over, but I could

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All Things Home

how to fix “sticky” drawers

Have you ever had words with a piece of furniture that just would not cooperate? Well, I had to have a few words and get physical with this bottom half of a step-back cupboard yesterday.  The drawers that came out of it, so they could be cleaned, just would not go back in.  And, when I tried to force them in, they wouldn’t come back out.  This resulted in lots of grunting and “good griefs” and using my feet to steady the piece as I pulled with all of my might. Unless you’re a furniture dealer, I bet most of you haven’t had a piece this extreme, but you might have come across a few drawers that are sticky and stubborn. Here is how I fix them… #1 I figure out where the drawer is sticking.  This is sometimes easier said than done and can take a bit of trail and

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All Things Home

QuickStep Flooring Review

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the QuickStep laminate flooring I selected to install in a corner of the studio to use for photo shoots.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time, not because the old floorboards in the studio aren’t cool, but because they are #1 – very orange and #2 – there was a large plywood patch on one side of the room.  If this was my house or a space that I owned, my approach may have been different, but for a rented space, floating a laminate floor in one area was the best option to address those issues.  It is now installed and looks gorgeous and I wanted to share a review about the installation process and show how it looks in the overall space. As I shared in the last post about the flooring, I selected the QuickStep French Country

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All Things Home

kim’s coastal bedroom | the bedskirt & built-ins

I know lots of you are eagerly awaiting the reveal of my mom’s room makeover.  Trust me…she is, too!  My design services are free, but they aren’t fast!  We have been making some progress, though.  I mentioned before that I made a bed skirt, but I didn’t have a chance to get a picture of it, until this weekend.  (…when we watched the Redskins beat the Bears.  Just throwing that out there.)  Here it is on the bed… It really adds a finished look to the bed and a hint of color and pattern in the neutral space.  The fabric is Adelaide Mist from Sailrite. I wish I had made a tutorial of the skirt, but I flew through it to get it made for my mom’s birthday, so I could present it to her when I took her out to dinner a few weeks ago.  It involved lots of

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All Things Home

fixing a dishwasher, home hacks & a $200 Lowe’s giveaway

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Sugru.  It is a pretty amazing product that I thought my readers would like to know about.  All words and opinions are my own. I’m sure many of you can relate…  something breaks and you have no idea how to fix it.  You can’t glue, screw, nail, tape or tie it.  It’s just broken and that’s that.  I’ve had that happen to toys, tools and, most annoyingly, my dishwasher. The bracket that holds the top rack in place broke years ago.  The little plastic tab that is used to adjust the height snapped off.  So, that means the top rack of the dishwasher, on the left side, falls about 2″ anytime you look at it the wrong way.  I can’t tell you how often my heart has skipped as a rack full of ironstone bowls and glasses threatens to finally fall entirely. See where

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All Things Home

installing a stair runner

I shared several weeks ago that I wanted to add a carpet runner to our steps.  We have 1940’s stairs that are shallow, by today’s standards, and entirely wood.  That combination has led to more than one topple down the steps by pretty much everyone in our family.  Adding a runner wouldn’t help with how shallow the steps are, but it will at least cushion any future falls.  It also makes the pokey stairwell look more like an intentionally decorated space. I started with three Stockholm Dash & Albert 2.5 x 8 woven cotton runners.  They have so many beautiful patterns to choose from, but the colors in this design worked best in my space. I received the runners a while ago, but wanted to wait until the upstairs bathroom tile was completed before I installed them.  The weather was not being very wet-tile-saw-friendly, so the tile had to wait.

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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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