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Tutorials

Art

oil painting video tutorial | white irises

After working on pet and animal portraits for most of this year, I decided to take a little break and paint some still life and landscapes.  First of all, I want the practice.  I don’t want to get rusty in those subjects, even though working on one kind of painting informs and often improves another.  These are also the most popular subjects for licensing, so I wanted to create some new works to submit and sell in my next original art sale.  I’ve been working on rural landscapes, oranges, and now irises.  While I’ve been painting, I set up my camera so I could make video tutorials for those who want to paint along.  So, here is a video tutorial on painting these white irises…   This painting is based on a photo I took while on a walk one morning this spring.  One of our neighbors keeps the prettiest

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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

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1970 home renovation

DIY custom A/C surround reveal

Jeff and I noticed a stretch of stifling days in the forecast, so that gave us the push we needed to get the DIY custom A/C surround installed and finished this weekend.  I shared the progress we made on building the surround a couple of weeks ago HERE. Since I had all of the pieces painted and two of the panels of the A/C surround built, it was pretty quick and easy to install.  We had a general plan of how to attach the pieces for stability and longevity, but we knew we might make some adjustments along the way since this is the first one we’ve built and installed.  It’s all finished and I am so excited with how it turned out! As a reminder, here is how the store-bought one we’ve been using for a couple of years looked… THIS is the one we had.  It worked pretty

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Art

#indexcardartpoject 2025 | free oil painting video tutorial | card “c”

For those who have been waiting for another paint-a-long video, this post is for you!  I am going to film painting a few of my index cards since they are great little studies for beginners, those new to oil paints, or those who want to do a little painting exercise with me.  For this card, card “C”, I’m painting a quick and loose study of an Edward Seago painting. If you’re just hopping into the 2025 Index Card Art Project, you can get all of the details HERE. This is the Edward Seago painting we’re studying, although it becomes more of a loose interpretation and less of a study as I get going! I’ll be posting the exact colors on my palette in a separate video and blog post, but if you’re new to oils, this is the beginner palette I would suggest.  I do use a touch of red

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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

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a slice of life

top 10 posts of 2024

At the beginning of the new year, I always like to check out my analytics to see the list of the most popular blog posts from the previous year.  I don’t pay too much attention to analytics generally, because I write for people, not for algorithms and search engines, but it’s nice to know which posts were most visited, perhaps most helpful, timely, or resonating.  Interestingly, the top posts were rarely written in that same calendar year.  They are usually posts that have gained some traction on Google, Pinterest, or a social media platform.  For years, my top post was how to make a seat cushion!  (You can find that HERE if you need it.)  It has fallen off of my top ten list and other practical posts have replaced it. Here are the top ten blog posts from 2024… Salt dough, humble as it is, has been having a

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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

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All Things Home

simple, natural fall mantel | autumn decorating

In the very early years of my blogging career, I connected with Layla of the Lettered Cottage.  I was smitten with her design aesthetic and eye for styling.  We both wrote tutorials for HGTV.com (you can find mine HERE) and wrote and contributed photography for several of the same editors and magazines.  We met at a few blog conferences over the years and even partnered on the very first Chapel Market hosted by her community in Alabama.  As another fun piece of history, one of the colors in the MMS Milk Paint line, Layla’s Mint, is named after her.  It was a color I custom-mixed for a secretary desk for her kitchen and we added it to the line soon after.  (That color is still available HERE.)  So, when Layla asked if I would like to team up to share fall decorating inspiration or a project with our readers, I

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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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