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My House
My House

Awkward Wall & It Never Gets Old

There’s a little piece of wall in my family room between a window and the side door.  It has a light switch in a totally rational place, but it messes me up when I try to figure out what to hang there.  For a couple of years, I’ve had a tall, skinny shutter there, but I removed it when I recently shuffled around the furniture. See the wall I’m talking about…? So, it’s just been naked for a while, but it looked naked.  I noticed its nakedness every time I looked that way.  Yesterday, when I was hit with inspiration, I grabbed some things from around the house.  As I was scurrying around, gathering plates and hangers and random pictures, my husband looked up at me.  “What are you doing?” “Oh, I’m just hanging some stuff on the wall real quick.” I think that dinner was on the stove at

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June 26, 2013 62 Comments
My House

Demo & More Shopping

We finally started work on our master bathroom this week.  We’re doing most of the work ourselves, but brought a contractor in to help with removing the old tub and installing the new one.  He’s also going to take care of the electrical stuff.  The awesome thing about working with this guy is that he’s letting us work with him, so it saves us some money. In case you missed it, this is the direction for the bathroom.  I go into more detail in THIS POST. I did make a last minute, cost-cutting decision.  I love the mini beveled subway tile, but it’s going to be labor intensive to grout, since the edges of the tile are beveled, creating deep grooves.  When you’re paying for the labor, labor intensive = expensive.  The tile was also about $10/sq ft.  I decide to go with the 3 x 6″ marble subway tile

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June 22, 2013 39 Comments
Before and Afters

Milk Painted Bar Stool

After a few years of leaving them as I bought them (I know, what is wrong with me?), I finally started painting my Target bar stools.  I actually just painted one to experiment, before I did the other two. I love how it pops against the white cabinets and wood counters now.  Before, the stools were blending into the counter and floors and felt a little “eh.” This stool was painted in two coats of MMSMP  in French Enamel and then heavily distressed with 100 grit sand paper followed by 180 grit to soften the scratches a bit.  I quieted the paint color and finished the chair with MMS Antiquing Wax, So even though there’s lost of visual texture, the finish is butter smooth.   I know my boys are going to help me with distressing these, so why not take it to the extreme?  I think it also gives these off-the-shelf

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June 13, 2013 64 Comments
Decorating

Better than Drop Cloths…

My family room has been undergoing some changes over the past few months…years, really.  It’s been one of those slow makeovers that has happened (and is still happening) as the money and time are available.  It started a couple of years ago when I painted the walls and cabinetry and made new curtains.  In January of this year, we installed new hardwood floors.  Since then, I’ve been waiting.  Busy with freelance stuff, busy with the Lucketts fair, busy with life…  and too tired to think of making new slipcovers, curtains, pillows, etc. Last week, I was walking through the family room and got a little distracted…and that led to rearranging the furniture and rearranging the stuff on the walls and making new pillows and slipcovering a small ottoman.  I can see the room taking shape.  It’s not drastically different.  The bones are the same and the main furniture arrangement is

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June 10, 2013 95 Comments
Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom Additions

 Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to get my house cleaned and back together post Lucketts.  While cleaning is sometimes a total pain for me and I am a part of the laundry-loathing club, most of the time cleaning is therapeutic in a strange way and gets my creative juices flowing.  I put on some good music, pick up the clutter, vacuum the fur balls (created by my wool rugs) and that almost always leads to rearranging something.  Or several things. When I added the child’s hutch to my desk a couple of weeks ago, that meant rearranging the pictures and plates above. That meant removing one of my favorite family photos and leaning it against a wall until I found a new home for it.  (The little girl with the big bow is my great-grandmother and my mom still has the rocking chair they are sitting in.)

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June 5, 2013 No Comments
Master Bedroom

chairgallery

 Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to get my house cleaned and back together post Lucketts.  While cleaning is sometimes a total pain for me and I am a part of the laundry-loathing club, most of the time cleaning is therapeutic in a strange way and gets my creative juices flowing.  I put on some good music, pick up the clutter, vacuum the fur balls (created by my wool rugs) and that almost always leads to rearranging something.  Or several things. When I added the child’s hutch to my desk a couple of weeks ago, that meant rearranging the pictures and plates above. That meant removing one of my favorite family photos and leaning it against a wall until I found a new home for it.  (The little girl with the big bow is my great-grandmother and my mom still has the rocking chair they are sitting in.)

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June 4, 2013 21 Comments
Before and Afters

Adding Details to Drawer Fronts with Paint

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post brought to you by Frog Tape. In the craziness of getting ready for Lucketts, I did manage to take some pictures, so I could go back and share how I did some things.  Now it’s time to start pulling some of those pictures out to put tutorials together. So, here are the details of the design I came up with for the Dried Lavender dresser. When I started working on the dresser, I wasn’t exactly sure how it was going to turn out.   For those of you who stress about a plan when you’re working on pieces…there’s no need.  It’s okay to plan, but it’s also okay to just start and let the pieces develop as you work on it.   I started out by stripping the finish and painting the piece in Dried Lavender, one of the new MMS Milk Paint colors that will

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June 1, 2013 35 Comments
Furniture Makeovers

Master Bathroom & About My Upholstery Skills

Now that Lucketts has past, I’m turning some attention to my next round of freelance projects, which includes giving my master bathroom a makeover.  (Insert girly squeal that occurs when makeovers are on the horizon.) So, this is the direction I’m heading…   It’s right off of the bedroom, so I want it to flow with what I have going on in there…   Here are some pictures of my bathroom that I dug up from the archives.  It basically looks the same today, except I changed the wall color and the mirror.  Sorry for the crummy photos.   Would you believe I have never painted that vanity or even replaced the knobs?!  I know…so unlike me!  I have basically written this room off.  It’s not worth trying to work around the almond fixtures, pinkish linoleum and things that are fine, but just not me. Since the bathroom is small (one sink,

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May 30, 2013 97 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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