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home again

I rolled into my driveway last night around 11:00 pm, after teaching an 8:00 am class in Atlanta, GA, followed by packing the car, hanging out with friends, and finally an 11-hour drive home. I spent much of today in a post-Haven-haze that wasn’t helped by the fact that I’ve had a head cold for the past few days!  It was a great trip, though.  Busy, but great.  I’ll tell you more about it in another post. For now, it’s good to be home again. I spent most of my day doing things that needed to be done, like laundry and restocking the fridge, and spending time with my guys.  Calvin especially needed some “mommy time”.  I smiled and told him we “hugged our way through the grocery store” as we checked out, which was pretty much true. While we were out and about, running errands, I asked Jeff if I could

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All Things Home

what have you learned lately

I have been in good old hot and humid Atlanta, GA for the Haven Home Blogger’s Conference over the past few days.  I have a full schedule, but I find these conferences are always a good opportunity to learn and to allow others to build into me.  Sometimes we get too busy to do that, don’t we?  We just go, go, go and forget that we need to stop, sit in the student chair, and be the recipient. There were so many great classes that were offered, but the one I was most excited about taking was a watercolor class from Lucy of Craftberry Bush.  As you know, I’ve been more into painting lately, but I’ve always worked with acrylics.  I haven’t worked with watercolors since I was a kid.  I’ve been wanting to branch out to other art mediums, though, and this was a great opportunity for me to learn

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All Things Home

can you repaint over wax?

Yes. End of post. Okay, not really.  I will elaborate on this one. When I shared my Antiquing Wax tutorial, a reader asked if you can repaint over a waxed surface.  I have heard a lot of people say you can’t paint over wax, but I’ve painted over wax numerous times, so let’s throw the “can’t” word out the window. If you paint over wax that is “wet” (even though wax isn’t really wet) or hasn’t had time to cure, the chance of the paint resisting or reacting to the wax is greater.  This can be a positive thing with milk paint if you want chipping, flaking, crackling, etc.  If you want the paint to stick, though, it’s important to wait for the wax to cure. The standard cure time to almost all paints and finishes is 30 days and that’s true of wax as well. Once it has cured,

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All Things Home

This post was brought to you by the letter P…

Remember that linen tea towel I started cross-stitching back in June?  When I was at the beach?  Well, I finished it when I sat outside for a few hours, watching my boys at football camp, but I just got around to ironing the “hoop impression” out of it this week.  Yeah, that pretty much sums up what happens to things in my world when they just aren’t a priority.  Here’s the P cross-stitch pattern I created based on an antique monogram I found.  I was at the beach (without a printer, graph paper, etc), so I had to improvise with my pattern… I stitched the monogram on an antique linen tea towel that already had a simple border stitched on it.  I love it when half the work is already done for me! I was a little sloppy on this one!  I worked on it when I wasn’t giving it

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All Things Home

red & white grain sack chair

As I said last week, some things from our guest room will be coming up for sale, since we’re converting the guest room into a room for our youngest son.  It’s a little bitter sweet for me, since that room has always been one of my “pretty rooms”, but I’m so happy that both of my boys will have their own space.  My room was my haven when I was a little girl and I would play in there for hours.  If I had a mini-fridge and a microwave, my parents may have never seen me. One of the pieces I am selling is this French chair upholstered in antique grain sacks… I stripped this piece and painted the frame years ago and actually had it professionally upholstered.  There was a season when I was selling at Lucketts and just couldn’t keep up with the rate my stuff was selling, so I

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All Things Home

settee makeover | part one

Do you remember this settee I showed a few weeks ago? Well, it’s all stripped down to the bones now. I tell you what, I have never seen a sofa give up so much change.  We got at least a dollar out of this one when the final count was over. So, now that this one is stripped, I am feeling very intimidated. I know I managed to do a sofa with over forty tufts, but that gap in the padding has me a little stumped.  There were a few channels there, on each side, but I’m not sure I want to do channels there again. So I’m debating between doing one smooth back with two seams on each side or upholster the back, arms, and corners in sections.  Hmm.  Decisions, decisions. I feel like once I get working on it, I’ll have a better idea of what I want to do.

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All Things Home

How to Apply Antiquing Wax

I am always in a blue & white mood.  I have to work to step away from that color palette, but sometimes it just needs to be done!  I’ve been feeling a red piece coming on for a while now and this antique Eastlake-style oak dresser seemed like a good candidate.  And red wear antiquing wax so well, so I thought I would do an updated tutorial on how to apply antiquing wax. I painted it in Tricycle, which is the red in the MMS Milk Paint line.  It really is the perfect red. While we’re talking about reds…  If you’ve ever mixed Tricycle, you know it seems like it’s never going to come together!  Those red pigments resist the water and just float on top, but they will eventually soak up the water and you’ll get a nice mix. I painted it in two coats in order to get

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All Things Home

A & M cross-stitch patterns & Country Cottage magazine

I finally finished my “P” tea towel I started when I was at the beach.  I’ll take pictures as soon as I hire the “embroidery hoop ring” out of it!  I’ve had grand plans to get all sorts of cross-stitching done, but I just haven’t had the time.  I hope to get back to it, though!  I had a milk paint workshop today and even mentioned the idea of having a “stitching circle” workshop where I would provide the antique linen towels, patterns and floss and we can stitch and fellowship and, hopefully, take home a beautiful monogrammed towel. Maybe I’ll put that on the calendar!  I did say it would be “BYOM” (bring your own magnifier)! Anyway, today I’m sharing the patterns for the “A” and “M” stitched on the bolster pillow that’s on the bed in our master bedroom… Here is how the “A” looks on the pillow (which

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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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