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All Things Home

one brush. change things.

I’ve been sharing little sneak peeks on my Instagram feed and now it’s time for the official announcement… If you didn’t/can’t watch the video, the big announcement is that Shaunna West of Perfectly Imperfect and I have teamed up to create a brand – Parsons West AND our first product is a brush we developed just for paint-loving ladies like ourselves. This all started almost two years ago.  We kicked around the idea of partnering on the development of some products.  Shaunna and her son actually came up to PA to stay with us for a few days as we worked on some ideas. Love this girl @pishaunna A photo posted by Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed (@missmustardseed) on Feb 14, 2014 at 9:59am PS We had a pretty massive snow storm and she was stuck with us a bit longer than expected!  It was time well spent, though. And you

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All Things Home

hemp sheet slipcovers

One project that’s been on my to-do list for a couple of years was making new slipcovers for the wing chairs in the family room.  When things linger on a list that long, it’s because I don’t really want to do them.  I know how to make slipcovers and I love the results, but I make them out of thriftiness, not out of a zest for making slipcovers.  I usually do my slipcovering and upholstery in spurts, but between Lucketts and getting my house ready for this shoot, I’ve been on a sewing/stapling marathon.  I think I’ve done 20 chairs in the last 2 months.  Whew! These wing chairs might be in an important shot, so I really wanted them to look their best.  The drop cloth slipcovers have held up well for about 8 years, but they are examples of my “early work”and they were starting to look a little slouchy

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All Things Home

design ramblings | mixing fabric patterns

Once Lucketts was over, Kriste and I turned our attention to the finishing details of my house.   We have a big shoot coming up and I really wanted all of the half-done and 3/4-done and almost-done projects to finally be DONE.  I’m really enjoying having my house as just my house (now that we have the studio) and it’s helped me settle down a bit.  I’m not changing things up or moving furniture around so much, so I’m now ready to look at a room and call it finished.  Seriously.  (Well, ask me that again in a year and we’ll see how I’m doing!) So, a part of finishing has been sewing a bunch of pillows out of fabrics I picked especially for the rooms they are going in.  The pillows I’ve been using have been fine, but they weren’t intentional.  Now, they are intentional and I think that can

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All Things Home

bolster pillow cover

I said in my last post that I was going to be sewing up a storm and I definitely did.  I finished four accent pillows and two pillow cases and glued the welting on the second bergere chair.  A photo shoot is happening in my house next week and I’m using it as an excuse to get things finished that have been on my to-do list for a long time.  I’m going to start making new slipcovers for the wing chairs in the family room tomorrow.  I slipped those about eight years ago, in drop cloths.  They’ve held up really well, but they are starting to show the wear. So, one of the pillow covers I made today was for the bolster on the living room sofa.  It’s been hanging out naked for the past few months and it was time to get it appropriately dressed!    I’m working at such a

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All Things Home

reupholstery tutorial | French wing chair | part 1

It’s time for another upholstery series!  If you missed my last one, I showed how to upholster a wood-framed, French-style chair.  You can find it HERE.  If you’re scared of upholstery, you’re going to like the way I upholster and teach.  I’m a DIY, self-taught upholsterer, not a “professional.”  I started upholstering dining chair seat cushions and benches with a manual stapler and then graduated to simple slipcovers, such as they were, and finally dove into upholstering an armchair about five years ago. I took the chair apart and then had a little freakout moment.  What in the world have I done to this beautiful chair?!  I had read upholstery books, but I really wasn’t sure if I would be able to get it back together.  I worked through it step by step, just like putting together a puzzle.  It wasn’t perfect, but it actually looked okay!  That gave me the confidence to

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All Things Home

living room pillows | welting vs. gimp

In case you missed it, Kriste and I are heading to Wisconsin tomorrow!  We’re going to be in Milwaukee and Sun Prairie, on Friday and Saturday respectively, to teach workshops, demos and just hang out with blog readers, milk paint lovers and friends-we’ve-yet-to-meet.  You can find all of the details of our trip HERE. Between the long weekend and our trip, though, we’ve been trying to squeeze in some productivity.  I have a big photo shoot in my house coming up, which is a good excuse to get some finishing touches done.  Those are the things that linger on my to-do list and end up getting bumped when more exiting or pressing projects come around. This week, we’ve been finishing up the upholstered chairs in my living and dining rooms and making pillows.  Most of them are still in process, but we did get the living room pillows, for the bergere

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All Things Home

10 minute decorating | “antique” bread board

I was asked by one of my blog buddies, Laura from Finding Home, to join a “10 minute” challenge each month along with some other awesome bloggers.  I tend to take on projects that are more involved..refinishing, painting, upholstering, etc., so I like the idea of pinning myself down each month to do something simple and quick. The theme for this month is “10 minute craft”. As soon as I saw crafting was the theme, I went blank.  I’m not a crafter!  I know there’s a fine line between a DIYer and a crafter, but when I think about doing a 10 minute craft, my creativity just tanked.  So, I went back over things I’ve made over the past few weeks and I found something that was quick, great project… …”antique” bread boards.  I have been collecting bread boards and cutting boards for years, mostly from yard sales, auctions, antique shops,

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All Things Home

pedestal table & balloon back chairs

The Lucketts Spring Market is just days away and I still have things to show you!  I’m going to share more details about the sale, answer your questions and share pictures of everything all set up over the next few days.  Until then, here are a few more things that are coming to the sale… When I purchased this table a few weeks ago, it looked so sad.  With missing veneer, water damage, a wobbly base and a thick layer of dirt, it was hard to see potential, but the shape of that pedestal was irresistible! Here’s how it looked before…   I tightened down the top, so it was sturdy, and cleaned it up, but I left the other dents and dings alone.  The top was missing all of its veneer, but no one would ever notice that once I painted it. I applied a coat of MMSMP in a mix

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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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