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All Things Home

the packed-up art studio

I spent a couple of days last week packing up the art studio.  I have to confess that is the hardest room for me to pack.  I started packing in there a few weeks ago as I was selling a couple of large pieces, but I planned on continuing to use the studio, enjoying a few more weeks with it, between packing up the rest of the house.  But, sickness and a broken foot sort of through a stick in the spokes of that plan!  So, last week, I packed up more of the art studio.  While I miss all of my stuff that is now in boxes, I do also love the feel of a clean slate.  The room feels so open, bright, and inviting. I am setting aside things in bins and bags that I’ll want to take with me during our nomadic period.  I do still have

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May 16, 2022 20 Comments
Antiques

a new use for an antique typewriter table

When I hit the local antique stores last week, I shared this amazing antique oak Toledo typewriter table on my Instagram Stories.  I loved it immediately, but at $175, it was a bit more than I wanted to spend on this piece.  I was also wrestling with the fact that I just put “the last piece” of furniture in the studio, the antique post office register.  I made the decision that I couldn’t fit in another piece, even a small typewriter table with sides that folded down.  I passed it up. Well, all evening and into the next morning, I was thinking about that antique typewriter table and how absolutely perfect it would be as a side table for my easel.  I’ve used stools and other little rolling carts, but they were never quite the right thing.  This antique typewriter table would offer enough room for a palette, brushes, mediums,

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November 3, 2021 14 Comments
Home Studio

the rearranged studio

It’s amazing how much upheaval one little piece of furniture can cause in a room, especially when you are absolutely determined to make it fit and you know in your bones that it will fit.  Such was the case with the antique post office register I shared Monday.  It was just too perfect of a piece for an art studio for it to not find a home in mine. After scooting, rolling, and sliding some things around, the key to making the newly acquired cabinet fit was to swap the drafting table and easel.  And, actually, I like both of these pieces much better in their new homes.  The drafting table is a beautiful piece (it’s a reproduction you can purchase ) and it’s nice to have it be more of a feature when you walk in the room.  It also seems to fit better here than in the corner

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October 6, 2021 20 Comments
All Things Home

the antique post office register

As someone who enjoys unique antique finds and getting goodies in the mail, last week was a banner week!  I received several highly anticipated packages (I’ll share about those in other posts) and I made a trip to one of my favorite local consignment shops to pick up a vintage pond yacht I spotted and reserved on their Instagram stories.  Of course, while I was in the shop, I needed to take a look around and just a few steps in the door, I knew I was leaving with more than just the pond yacht when I spotted this amazing antique post office register… I had a silent dialogue with myself of how I didn’t really need this piece and I wasn’t even sure if I had room for it in my studio.  But, the price was so good for such a unique, quality piece ($228) and all of the

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October 4, 2021 41 Comments
All Things Home

French chair from Dreamy Whites

Disclosure: This post is a part of an ongoing collaboration with my friend and business owner, Maria of Dreamy Whites.  Over the years, I have promoted Dreamy Whites as a paying customer in addition to promotions in exchange for products.  All opinions, as always, are honest and my own. Any time I’m scooting furniture around in the studio, Jeff laughs and says, “Well, I’m sure you can figure out how to fit one more piece in there.”  My studio isn’t small, but it’s not big either and I ask it to be a lot of things.  I’ve learned that I need a ton of storage, lots of work surfaces, good task and room lighting, thoughtful solutions to things like drying wet paintings, and chairs/stools for several different activities. I had a desk chair for my desk, a stool for the drafting table, an architect’s drafting chair for my easel, a

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May 5, 2021 No Comments
All Things Home

newly organized studio reveal

As I shared on my blog last week, I took several days to continue the organizing efforts and focused them on my studio.  I had honestly been avoiding my studio the entire month of February.  I knew it would be tedious work and I knew I would have to dramatically rethink the way I purchased art supplies.  This wasn’t going to be about organizing things in neat piles, bins, and drawers with labels.  I already had that.  This was going to be about touching everything and considering the necessity of keeping it vs. selling or donating it.  This was about taking a good hard look at how I create and deciding which supplies are an asset and which ones were just clutter in my studio. I have to admit that I got off to a slow start, but once I started to feel the liberation that comes with letting go,

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March 15, 2021 40 Comments
All Things Home

reassessing the art studio

Every once in a while, I have to reaccess my art studio and how it functions.  For while, I have felt like I needed more flat work surfaces.  My primary work surfaces are tilted (the easel and the drafting table) and I just have the flat surface of my desk.  I found myself wishing the back wall of my studio was just about two or three feet wider, so I would have plenty of room to add a generously-sized, counter-height island right in the middle.  But, moving walls is complicated and expensive, so that will remain a wish and a note for any future studio. I decided to set my so it was level and used it like that for much of the week.  I think I would miss having the table titled, though, which I use for sketching and watercolor.  It’s not too hard to adjust, but it does

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November 9, 2020 34 Comments
All Things Home

picture ledges for pigment bottles in the studio

My studio continually evolves as I use and finetune the space.  A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some reorganizing and realized I could utilize the space to the left of the large hardware cabinet.  Some picture ledges would give me a little more storage and would also be the perfect place to display my bottles of pigment. What was hanging there before was a pinboard with color swatches.  While I enjoyed looking at them, I didn’t really use them, so changing it out made sense. Sienna Counterweight Studio Easel | | painted checkerboard floor | Hare art print I purchased shelves from Target for $15/each and hung them in that space.  The dimensions were absolutely perfect for my collection of bottled pigments. | | antique palette I bought the bottles from Hobby Lobby, but I wasn’t able to find them on their website.  They are in the glass

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October 6, 2020 25 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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