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Painting & Refinishing

All Things Home

Painting with White

When I see someone who doesn’t know what color to paint something, they almost always default to white. It’s neutral. It’s easy. Right? I will admit that it is hard to go wrong with white. I love white and mix a lot of different whites in my home. All three of the whites from the MMS Milk Paint line are represented. Ironstone on the dining table base and chairs… Linen on the jelly cupboard… …and Grain Sack on the 1800’s marble-topped dresser and Gustavian sofa frame to point out a few. So, I’m a fan. But, white is actually one of the hardest colors to paint with. It doesn’t matter what kind of paint it is, white just doesn’t cover as well and almost always requires more coats. This is especially true with milk paint, since it’s thinner than modern paints. Here are some tips and tricks I’ve

October 2, 2015 19 Comments

All Things Home

cleaning & sealing chipping antique pieces

Remember that awesome “cubby” I found a few weeks ago? I spotted it when I was out shopping once, but I passed it up, because it was a little pricey. I kept thinking about it, though, and decided if it was still there the next time I stopped in, I would buy it. Well, it was still there and I snapped it up. (It’s so funny that I get so excited about buying things I’m just going to turn around and sell!) The only problem with this piece is that it was shedding paint everywhere. If you would just breath near it, flakes would fall off. I love the “chippy look”, but I don’t want actual chips of paint littering the floor. So, I have a standard way I deal with pieces like this… Before I get into the process, please check the EPA website for safely dealing with lead-based paint

September 23, 2015 30 Comments

All Things Home

Megan’s office makeover | the chalkboard wall

We are so, so close to finishing Megan’s office! Megan and her husband, JT, came to pick up the furniture from my studio over the weekend. Moving that wardrobe was quite a job and it was even a little nail-biting seeing if they could get it in the space, but they were able to and it will provide loads of closed-door storage. They also picked up the rug, curtains, armchair, accessories, etc., so they could put them in the room. (Do you see the adorable antique trashcan that Carrie from Copper & Tin gifted to Megan?) Kriste and I drove down today to check out the space and work on a few things before the final reveal. If you ever paint a chalkboard wall (or anything in chalkboard paint, for that matter), you should season the surface. This accomplishes a few things. First of all, it takes the edge off the black

September 17, 2015 19 Comments

All Things Home

Pottery Barn Inspired Rustic Paint Finish

I’m often asked by readers and customers how to recreate a specific look they like on an inspiration piece. So, when Jeff and I built a trunk-style coffee table for HGTV.com, one inspired by a Pottery Barn trunk, I decided to try to replicate the finish as well. I came up with a look that’s pretty darn close, so I thought I would share how I achieved it… Here’s the inspiration coffee table from Pottery Barn… …and the one we made… …and a closer look at the finish… Can you believe that’s new wood? I was able to make the wood look older by beating it up, followed by a coat of Dark Walnut stain, a light coat of MMS Milk Paint in Lucketts Green, followed by distressing, and finished with Antiquing Wax. Here’s a quick video showing exactly what I did at each step… You can find the tutorial for how

September 1, 2015 43 Comments

All Things Home

painting tips that could save you $1000

Catchy title for a post, isn’t it? You’ll see why once you get to the bottom… I have done a lot of painting over the years…every wall, ceiling, piece of trim and cabinetry in my current house AND previous house. Some rooms have been painted multiple times. And I’ve helped a lot of friends and family paint their rooms. Not to mention all of the furniture… I know how to give a brush a workout. I’ve shared all kinds of painting tips on this blog, but I figured I’d share a few more. Megan and I were painting her office last week and, although she’s a proficient painter, she asked me to do the cutting in where the chalkboard wall met the Gray Owl (Benjamin Moore) wall. It’s definitely more pressure when there is a high contrast between two paint colors meeting at a corner, like in Megan’s office and

August 25, 2015 24 Comments

All Things Home

aging terra cotta pots

There are some people who like things shiny and new. They want to be the first person to own something. They like the smell of a car with 32 miles on it. They want their furniture to be delivered, tags still attached. I am just not one of those people. Unless we’re talking about electronics, mattresses or toilets, I want things in my home that have the patina that only comes with time. Or a bit of trickery. I have a few antique terra cotta pots and, while I’d love to fill my whole potting bench with them, that would get too expensive. So, I have some new ones mixed in. Can you tell which one is the new one? Yeah. It’s pretty clear and the new ones were bugging me a bit. While I had the Ironstone (white) MMS Milk Paint out to paint the sides of the potting bench, I decided

August 20, 2015 16 Comments

All Things Home

step-by-step dresser makeover

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful feedback on my very first MMS Milk Paint “commercial”. It was so fun to put together and I was proud of it, but your comments were a confirmation, so thanks! The bar has been set for the second one! Today, I thought I would share more about the dresser makeover and how we made the commercial. I was always planning to paint the dresser in Mustard Seed Yellow, but I only picked out the dress to create the “story” for the commercial the morning we filmed it. I also decided that day to shoot outside instead of in the studio…another decision that ended up being perfect. The feel would’ve been totally different if it was inside. We’re fortunate to have this amazing old mill right across the parking lot from the studio, so we could literally wheel the dresser over

August 17, 2015 21 Comments

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

July 29, 2015 441 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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