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My House
All Things Home

master bedroom curtains

I had lots of projects lined up for my mom’s visit.  We are both doers and thrive on productivity, so it suits us to have an ambitious to-do list.  As her 10 day visit was winding down, we had checked almost everything off my list.  My mom looked at the sad curtains in my master bedroom, a hold-over from the previous owners. “Let’s just take care of these curtains.” She knows that sewing is something I do, because I like the end result.  But, I don’t really like sewing.  I could completely do without it in my life.  I do, however, like expanding my options beyond curtains and pillows that are ready-made.  I believe that sewing is one of the best DIY skills you can have in your arsenal.  For that reason, I just suck it up, put on some good music, do it, and enjoy it when the project

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February 6, 2018 88 Comments
Guest Room

new house tour | the guest room

Today,  I’m sharing the last room that’s in the basement – the guest room. You can click these links to see the playroom and the family room/TV room. Now, there is a little guest room upstairs that is my sewing room, but I set the French daybed up there, so we could accommodate another person, if need be. The guest room in the basement is off of the “eggplant” wall of the family room.  It’s that doorway to the right of the picture below…   It’s another reason we loved this house.  We can stick our in-laws in the basement when they visit and hide out in our room until they leave.  Just kidding.  We have great in laws and my in laws let us live in their basement for two years (while Jeff finished his bachelors degree). All in law jokes aside, it is nice for guests to have

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January 19, 2018 29 Comments
Artistic Endeavors

through the lens of a camera…

I did a proper photo shoot in my kitchen last week and there was something therapeutic about it.  It was my first “real photoshoot” where I styled everything (removed the unsightly stuff like the toaster), used a tripod, tethered the camera, etc.  There is something about taking a picture of something that makes me love it more.  Well, maybe it’s more than just taking a picture, but taking my time taking a picture.  Or a few dozen pictures! I’m not sure how to explain it, but I have always felt that way about antiques I find, furniture I paint, places I visit, and the rooms in my own house when I photograph them. The process of making sure everything is clean and aesthetically pleasing, seeing it through a camera lens, capturing it from angles that I hadn’t noticed before, etc…  it just changes how I see it. I suppose I’m

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January 16, 2018 69 Comments
Family Room

new house tour | the basement family room

I showed pictures of our empty basement last week when I shared plans for the boys’ playroom.  I finally got down there with my camera and took some pictures of how the spaces look now. We’ll start in the main room of the basement – the family room.  (Not to be confused with the living room upstairs.  We decided to keep that room, the one off the kitchen, TV-free and just for human interaction!) The basement family room/TV room is for hanging out, TV watching, games, playing, etc.  At first, it felt odd not having a TV in the room right off the kitchen.  I think we’ve always had that scenario in our homes & apartments.  But, I love it this way.  It’s more peaceful upstairs.  The noise of the TV can be contained and conversations can take place in one area while movies can be playing in the other.

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January 15, 2018 50 Comments
All Things Home

hang your head in shame, faucet

The kitchen has come a long way since we moved in and, while it looks like a big overhaul, it’s really just involved paint, changing out the lights over the island, and hanging the pot rack.  The one big change we made was converting the electric stove to gas and replacing it with a beefy commercial-style range, which has been on my kitchen wishlist for over 15 years! One thing that’s a pretty easy fix, but we hadn’t changed, was the faucet.  I have seen worse, but this one was pretty sad.  It’s not that it looked terrible, but it was not functional!  Well, water ran out of it, I can say that.  The pull-out sprayer, though, was loose and it flopped around most of the time.  On top of that, the faucet was difficult to swivel.  So, you’d grab the neck to move the faucet from one sink to

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January 12, 2018 62 Comments
All Things Home

studio tweaks

When I moved everything into the studio, I knew that they might not stay that way.  I had an idea of how I would use the space, but that was based on the idea that the drafting table would be my primary work surface. Since I’ve been doing more painting than watercolors and drawing, I’ve been working mostly at my easel.  That puts the work/storage table that houses my palette, brushes, paper towels, etc., on my left.  As a righty, that means I’m reaching across my body constantly.  I haven’t thought too much about it, but it is awkward at times and not ideal. The postal sorter is also monopolizing quite a bit of surface space on the narrow table, so things are a bit cramped. So, I’m going to move the easel where the drafting table currently is and I’m going to hang the postal sorter on the wall,

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January 10, 2018 27 Comments
All Things Home

home progress in 2017

We’ve been in this house for just over five months and, with the turn of the year on the calendar, it seemed like a good time to share a recap of what we’ve accomplished. This house has been an interesting project for me, because it is beautiful as is.  It doesn’t need a major makeover.  Nothing is hideous or dated.  Even the plum-colored wall in the basement hasn’t bothered me enough to paint over it.  The nice thing is that there doesn’t need to be a sense of urgency to work on projects.  We can move at a comfortable pace as time and budget allow. These makeovers are about customization and making this house feel like ours. And that has meant buckets and buckets of paint!  Paint is always my go-to and it, once again, has proved its worth. In the living room we… Painted the walls in Whickham Gray

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January 5, 2018 48 Comments
All Things Home

open kitchen shelving

This week, I have felt even more motivated than usual to knock things off of my to-do list.  I was slowed down a little over the past couple of months with the holidays, an injured shoulder, and a chest cold.  The new year is underway, though, and I am feeling that energy that spurs us to collectively organize and plan.  Today was heavy on the organizing and planning and not the fun kind.  Just paying bills, catching up on e-mail, preparing paperwork for taxes (already), filling in my calendar, making a master to-do list for January, etc. But, yesterday, I knocked out something that’s been lingering on the to-do list for months – painting the open shelving in the kitchen… When we first moved in, this nook was just an open, underutilized space.  This house is designed very well, but we were scratching our heads at this niche.  Maybe for

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January 4, 2018 81 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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