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All Things Home

a plush, pet-friendly wool rug

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Rugs USA.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own. Almost ten years ago, I wrote a blog post sharing my decorating nemesis – rugs.  I just always found them so difficult to get right!  There are size considerations, materials, durability, comfort, not to mention how they work with the decor style and color palette of the room.  After trying many, many rugs in several rooms, I decided I would stick primarily with neutral rugs and those made from natural materials.  Braided jute rugs are a favorite because they are inexpensive, forgiving, work well with my antique pieces and decorating style, and feel nice underfoot.  Our bedroom is a long rectangle and really needed a large rug to properly fill it.  When I couldn’t find just the right jute rug to fit the space, I tried pairing together two 6

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1970 home renovation

fencing day two & DIY cost savings

We finished installing the second side of the fence yesterday and I took the time to take a few pictures to share how we did it for those who are curious or considering a similar project.  You can read about our first day of “fencing” HERE. The fence really needed to be replaced from the day we moved in.  Pickets were falling off and it was only getting worse.  In fact, the gate used most often fell off one day shortly after we moved in.  I had a neighborhood dog wander to our front door a few months ago and I put her in the backyard to keep her safe while I notified her owners and waited for them to pick her up.  Well, a fence that held Sebastian just fine was no match for this escape artist.  The owner came to get her and she was gone.  It was

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1970 home renovation

fencing day one | 1970 home renovation

We were planning on rebuilding our crumbling fence a few weeks ago when the weather was still reliably cool and before the vines took off, but just as I went to order the fence pickets, Home Depot didn’t have enough in stock.  Someone else must’ve had the same idea because one day they were there and the next day, they were cleared out.  We already had sections of fence rebuilt with this style of picket, so we couldn’t just go with another option that was in stock.  We had to wait until we could source them. I called Home Depot regularly to check in on their next shipment and it finally arrived Friday and was delivered to us on Monday.  With the fence materials in our driveway and the weather cool and beautiful, we made the impromptu decision to start working on the fence right away.  Both Jeff and I

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1970 home renovation

edging the front walk

If you can’t tell by my blog posts, we’ve been focusing our efforts on the exterior of the house over the past few weeks.  I’ve been enjoying it and have some good momentum, but we’re also trying to get as much done before it gets uncomfortably hot.  Spring and fall are my favorite times to be outside, so we’re trying to take advantage of it before we’re in the dog days of summer.  We started working on our fence yesterday and got the section on the right side of the house finished (except for a few finishing details) and we’ll get the other side done over the next 2-3 days.  I’ll share that process and the result in another post.  Something we worked on last week, though, was edging the front walk. While the front of our house is very visible, the front door is rarely used.  Since the driveway,

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All Things Home

first willow garden structure project & an English dovecote

Several of you have asked about the English dovecote hanging near our front door as well as the willow garden support, so I wanted to back up a bit and share about those two pieces.  Since the English dovecote came first, let’s start with that. I was initially planning on making a trellis for this bit of wall that would complement the two larger trellises on the wall just around the corner, but I was wondering if that might be trellis overload.  This wall needed something, though. Maria of Dreamy Whites had sent me a dovecote from one of her shopping trips in England and Europe last year, but it had been waiting in the basement until we started working more on the exterior of the house.  I have long admired English dovecotes and knew I wanted to mount one somewhere in the yard or on the house, but there

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All Things Home

Ultimate Scallop Wicker Tray

Last week, I decided to play around a bit inside the house.  I’ve been spending a lot of time outside pulling weeds, hauling mulch, and planting and I haven’t been paying much attention to the interior.  Dust bunnies may have been involved.  Okay, they were.  They were involved.  But, I took a few hours to take care of the dust bunnies and things that needed to be addressed but I have learned that chores often lead to creative play.  In addition to running the vacuum, tidying up, and wiping down surfaces, I started fluffing, styling, and moving things around.  I had a few new goodies I purchased at Lucketts to play around with and I had a few photo shoots I needed to work on for clients, so it was a good time to make some small changes. One of the fun bits of styling I did was relocate this

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1970 home renovation

update on the back garden beds | part one

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] The areas that were always a struggle for me when it came to gardening were patience and planning.  For years, I would make a feeble attempt at weeding and planting, but I didn’t take any time to learn about the plants themselves or how to make weeds easier to control and maintain.  So, I would plant bushes, annuals, and perennials in totally the wrong places.  Plants that would eventually get huge were in front of others that were a low, creeping ground cover, plants were in the wrong soil, the wrong light, and I wouldn’t even bother to water or prune.  When what looked decent right after I worked on it looked terrible in a few weeks or months, I would shrug my shoulders in resignation.  Well, I’m just not good at gardening.  I’m a little older now, wiser, more patient, and willing

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All Things Home

living room lighting from Lamps Plus

This post is sponsored by Lamps Plus.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own. I shared the plug-in wall sconces from Lamps Plus before Christmas, but I never wrote about the details of the fixtures as well as another lamp we selected for the room.  So, that’s what this post is about!  Within the first few months of living in the house, we had recessed lights installed in the living room, my studio, and all the bedrooms.  There was no overhead lighting and we didn’t want to rely solely on lamps, especially during the winter when it gets dark so early.  So, we turn on the recessed lights and wash the room in light when needed, but we mostly like to use lamps in this cozy room for tasks and ambiance. For the chair in the corner opposite the sofa. we got the Antique Brass

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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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