Before and Afters Archives | Page 19 of 51

Before and Afters

All Things Home

Megan’s office makeover | desk chair slipcover

Remember the “Franken-chair” I made out of two broken desk chairs for Megan’s office makeover? Well, it has a new dress. Here’s what it looked like before… The base is from the chair on the left and the seat is from the chair on right. And the slipcover is made out of Megan’s old cream cotton curtains! We’re replacing them with a pretty green buffalo check that works with the farmhouse style Megan is moving towards, but relates to the traditional style (and other greens) in the rest of the house. I am planning to make a small pillow for the chair, but threw one in there for the pictures. Ha, a little not-so-subtle branding. Actually, a very sweet reader made that pillow for me and it was the only one in the studio that was the right size. The ties in the back are decorative, a little

August 28, 2015 34 Comments

All Things Home

the antique, hodgepodge potting bench

Don’t you love it when projects come together perfectly? Such is the case with this hodgepodge of a potting bench. We just finished it today and it looks even better than I imagined. It’s especially exciting, because we already had the workbench in the basement (it was free with the house) and I bought the chicken nesting box without a solid plan on turning it into the top-part of the hutch. This morning, Jeff bought about $40 of pressure treated wood for this project, a couple of 2 x 12’s and 2 x 4’s. While he was out, I took care of the red overspray marks on the front of the work bench. It wasn’t a big deal, but they just bugged me. So, I brought out my big-boy sander, the belt sander, and I went to town. I really love how the paint looks distressed, with some of the

August 18, 2015 33 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

Before and Afters

the yellow dress & the dresser

I took a big step today. I’ve been talking about making a “commercial” for the MMS Milk Paint line for a long time. Over a year at least. When I talked about it in my brainstorming sessions, it seemed easy. When it actually came time to make one, it seemed hard. And I kept pushing it down the priority list, waiting for the “perfect time.” I’ve always let my business grow organically and I’ve liked it that way. I don’t push too hard for something. I let things happen naturally. The problem with that is, I never felt the need to set out a plan or specific goals. It’s time to be more strategic. A part of that was moving my idea of making a MMS Milk Paint promotional video to the top of the list. Finally, today, Kriste and I filmed it. My concept for the video was to

August 15, 2015 116 Comments

All Things Home

megan’s office makeover | part 3 | the plan

After a few weeks of marinating on things, sourcing, kicking around ideas, I have come up with a plan for Megan’s office makeover. If you missed the first two posts in this series, you can check them out here… part 1 | the before part 2 | the “franken-chair” And now, I’m finally sharing the plan, letting you know the direction we’re heading. Here’s what the office space looked like the day I made my house call. Please remember that Megan had the door closed and curtains drawn on this room, which was used to dump things in when she cleaned the house for my visit, and I stuck my nose in and then took pictures of it and then posted them on my blog. (Good friend that I am.) So, Megan is not really in love with anything in this space, but it does have great bones…windows that let in pretty

August 11, 2015 35 Comments

All Things Home

how to make a chair cushion | deck chair makeover

I’ve been working on my deck off and on throughout the spring and summer and it’s finally starting to come together. I know I’m not going to break any makeover speed records with this project, but that’s life, right? Spaces take time to come together. So, there is still more to do, but last week I jumped a big hurtle – I made new chair cushions for the vintage iron armchairs my mom passed along to me and I thought I would share a tutorial on how to make a chair cushion. They really, really needed new chair cushions. The old ones were deteriorated, mildewed, faded and ripped. They were beyond cleaning or recovering. I needed to start from scratch. The chairs are comfortable and in great shape, though, so it was worth the time to make new cushions. I actually tried to find pre-made cushions that were the right size,

August 8, 2015 26 Comments

Before and Afters

evolution of my home | part 9 | the boys’ room

And now it’s time for part nine of my in-depth house tour, showing how our home has evolved over the (almost) nine years we’ve lived in it. This is how the boys’ room looks today… We have two boys who are 19 months apart. They’re now 8 (Marshall) and almost 7 (Calvin, the one with type 1 diabetes). Yes, we have a lot of wrestling and have had many of trips to the emergency room that have involved staples, stitches and super glue. They are a huge part of my life, but not a huge part of the blog, since this is a DIY/home blog, not a mommy blog. But, here they are… They are getting to the age where they help out with my business a bit more and have some understanding of what I do, though the whole “my mom is Miss Mustard Seed as a job” thing is still

August 2, 2015 20 Comments

Before and Afters

megan’s office | part 2 |the “franken-chair”

Back to Megan’s office makeover… In case you missed part 1, you can find it HERE. Right away, we started talking about what she had in the space and in her basement stash that we could use an repurpose. There’s no sense in buying something new when you can shop your own house! Since this is an office, the desk chair is an important piece of furniture. I asked Megan how she felt about her current chair. Did she love it? Was it comfortable? She isn’t particularly fond of the chair, so we started talking about what she would like. She revealed that she had a chair that she loved, but the base of it broke. I decided it was worth taking a look at, to see if we might be able to fix it. Unfortunately, it was broken beyond repair. Two of the casters were stripped, so they wouldn’t

July 31, 2015 12 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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