Furniture Makeovers Archives | Page 9 of 110

Furniture Makeovers

All Things Home

milk paint landscape mural | reveal

Unless you follow me on Instagram, when you last saw the milk paint landscape mural in the dining room, it was just getting started with the watery Lucketts Green base for the land. Well, Friday it was hot as the blazes here in Rochester, MN (heat index of 104), so we all hung out inside and I had a lot of time to work on the landscape mural. I wasn’t planning on being able to finish it, but the work went quicker than I expected and the boys were content for long stretches, so I got it all done! And here it is… (Remember that the furniture isn’t done, yet!) (Or the butler’s pantry! You can see it finished HERE.) As I shared in my first post about the mural, this was inspired by Susan Harter’s mural style mixed with a hint of Rufus Porter in the folk-feeling of the

July 2, 2018 136 Comments

All Things Home

dining chair upholstery tutorial

I almost completely forgot that I left this chair makeover tutorial hanging after I shared how to make the slipcover for the seat! I was traveling and visiting family and wasn’t reminded about part two until someone mentioned it on Instagram. Anyway, I dusted off the video footage and got everything edited, so I could share how to strip and reupholster the back of a wood frame chair, like this one… It doesn’t matter if your chair has a different shape. If the back is framed in wood, this tutorial will work for you. If you’re new to upholstery, this is actually a great project to start with, because you don’t have any tricky places where fabric panels meet. Here are the supplies you’ll need… Upholstery Staple gun by Porter Cable Porter Cable Pancake Compressor 3/8″ staples Staple pulling pliers & Staple puller Fabric Foam/batting, if it needs to be replaced

June 10, 2018 15 Comments

All Things Home

kitchen chair makeovers

Remember the French-style chairs I purchased for our kitchen eating area last fall? Here’s a reminder of what they looked like… I knew when I purchased them that I would eventually make a slipcover for the seats and reupholster the backs. I can have some light-colored upholstery in the house, but I knew it was not going to survive in our main eating area long term. And it didn’t. Even Jeff pointed out how spotty they were getting and that’s saying a lot. They finally got so bad that it was time. I used a checked fabric called Zippy in the color Lakeland by P Kaufmann for the seat slipcover and the front of the back. The back of the chair is upholstered in an antique grain sack. Now, I goofed on the fabrics a bit. Not a big deal, but I was actually planning on using the larger scale

May 17, 2018 66 Comments

All Things Home

pine desk refresh

One thing that has been on my shopping list for a while is a desk for the master bedroom. Since Jeff has an office at the church, he doesn’t need one at the house. He occassionally does work at home and requested a desk in our room, since it’s a quiet room, pretty well removed from the rest of the house. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I would know it when I saw it. I was thinking it might be along the lines of a simple writing desk, but when I came upon this pine desk in a local antique shop a couple of weeks ago, it caught my eye and I thought it would work in the space… It had some short-cut repairs, was missing a knob, and it was dirty, but it was solid, had a nice shape, and a pretty

May 10, 2018 52 Comments

All Things Home

farmhouse table reveal & sealing chippy paint tutorial

The farmhouse table is finished and I’m so happy with how it turned out! If you remember, it was painted brown. I could see some original green paint showing through and I was hoping to reveal that through some chippy Farmhouse White MMS Milk Paint and that is exactly what happened. If you missed the other posts about this table transformation, you can check them out here… Prepping the table for paint Hemp Oiling the top & applying the second coat of milk paint Distressing & getting the “chippy look” Now, the table was distressed and ready for a finish. I chose Tough Coat, since that is our best finish for sealing in chippiness, so the paint doesn’t continue to flake. Here is a tutorial showing how I sealed the table base… This table was a great piece and I’m glad I was able to give it a fresh look

May 2, 2018 34 Comments

All Things Home

distressing the farmhouse table | all about the “chippy look”

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Jeff was on a backpacking trip, so I busied myself with the boys and doing some work around the house. The combination of warmer weather and creative inspiration from Junk Bonanza has me excited and motivated to cross things off the to-do list and start to add some more layers to rooms that have the “bones” in place. I’ll share more about what I’ve been working on in future posts, but today, I wanted to share the next step in the Farmhouse White table makeover. After the second coat of MMS Milk Paint in Farmhouse White (you can read about that HERE), I let it dry and waited to see if it would chip as I thought it would. It did! And the chipping was perfect, because it was pulling up the not-s0-pretty brown paint to reveal that yummy green, which looks to

April 30, 2018 9 Comments

All Things Home

farmhouse white table progress

Remember this table? Well, I got around to working on it again over the past couple of days. This is how it looked when I bought it… I knew that I wanted to paint the base, because brown-painted furniture isn’t really my thing. I also wanted to smooth out the top and hydrate it with Hemp Oil. I wrote about sanding and prepping the top in THIS POST. With the top smoothed out, I just applied a generous coat of MMS Hemp Oil to bring out the richness of the wood. Call me nutty, but I love all of the scratches and imperfections. You can tell this table has been a hard worker! Now, I needed to deal with painting the base. It’s wearing a drab coat of brown paint, but under that, I can see a yummy green. I was hoping I could apply a couple coats of Farmhouse

April 26, 2018 14 Comments

Before and Afters

Say Hello to Aviary & dresser reveal

Since the very beginning, I’ve asked you to say “hello” to each new color I add to the MMS Milk Paint line. Now, for the 27th time, I’m asking you to “say hello” to Aviary! Aviary is a smoky blue/gray with green undertones. It was designed to match the paint on an antique French birdcage I purchased a couple of years ago. It was a cool piece, but I bought it mostly because I loved the color. As I was thinking about a new color to add to the line, to replace Dried Lavender, I kept coming back to this one, knowing it would look lovely in milk paint. Like many of our colors, it’s a chameleon. It looks gray next to blue and blue next to gray. It looks light and soft next to darker colors and rich and smoky next to whites. Here is how it compares to

April 17, 2018 70 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.

next art sale

May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

Now Available for Preorder

Move Slow & Make Things

A book about creativity, intention, and making things with care. Sign up to receive updates, preorder details, and exclusive bonus content.

From the Studio

Artful pieces for your home and everyday life.

From original paintings and art prints to Pup Club releases and curated goods, each piece is created or chosen to bring warmth, creativity, and character into your home.

From the Studio and Home

Shop the Feed

A handpicked collection of items styled and shared throughout posts, projects, and social feeds. Every product is thoughtfully chosen to reflect a timeless, collected aesthetic.