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My House
Before and Afters

painting the living room built-ins

I knew it was going to happen.  Jeff knew it was going to happen.  YOU knew it was going to happen… And, it happened. Yep, buckets and buckets of paint happened in this room. So, let’s back up and chat about how I got from point A to point B. First, I painted the walls in Benajmin Moore’s Wickham Gray.  Yes, poor Mr. Wickham, that rake, has a delicious color named after him.  In my Jane-Austen-loving-world, anyway.  I used Benjamin Moore’s Aura paint in Matte, which is pretty much the only thing I will use for walls.  The coverage is great, it’s durable, and the finish is beautiful. For the cabinetry, I wanted a bright white and went for a custom-mixed, slightly off-white.  It still reads as bright white, but it’s not quite as stark as bright white out of the can, if that makes sense.  I used Benjamin Moore’s

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August 28, 2017 132 Comments
All Things Home

Painting the Studio Floor

So, let’s chat about the studio floor.  As a reminder, here is what the room looked like when we purchased the house…. I actually didn’t get to see the house until after we had made an offer on it and Jeff was the first one to see the pictures of this room (it wasn’t in the real estate listing).  Before he forwarded the pictures along, he warned me that I probably wouldn’t like it. He was just looking at the dark, cedar planking.  When I saw it, though, I questioned whether he really knew me at all!  My voice got high-pitched with excitement.  “It’s perfect!!  It’ll look amazing painted!” So, a couple of weeks ago, we primed and painted everything.  The ceiling, the walls, and finally the floor.  You can read about the ceiling and walls in THIS POST. To prime the floors, we used the same primer that we

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August 25, 2017 57 Comments
Dining Room

new house tour | the dining room

I still have more of the studio transformation to share, but let’s take a break from that and continue the tour of my new house. If you missed it, here are tours of the kitchen, living room, front porch, and my work spaces.   Today, I’m going to show you the dining room.  This is how it looked when we first moved in… It’s a bit of an oddly-shaped dining room, in that it is more square than rectangular, so it ended up being a good thing that I sold my old dining table.  It just would not have worked here. Changing that light fixture was at the top of my dad’s to-do list!  It was nice, but way too modern for me.  I also removed the drapes.  They were high quality and clearly custom-made for the room, but they were too formal (and beige) for my deign aesthetic. I

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August 23, 2017 55 Comments
All Things Home

studio transformation | part 2

I shared about priming and painting the studio walls and ceiling in PART ONE of the studio transformation and I shared about the oak hutch in yesterday’s post… Today, I am sharing my “working corner” of the studio… I purchased the drafting table off of craigslist in PA for $100 and it’s been a great work surface for art.  I clamped an old wooden lathe trip to it as a “shelf” to hold a palette, brushes, paper, etc.  The clamps are antique wooden canning clamps!  I picked them up any time I spotted them for sale, because they can be used for so many things! The drafting table does need to be refinished at some point.  I don’t ming it being splattered with paint and imperfect, but I don’t want a big water ring on it and it’s bringing a bit too much orange to the party for my taste.

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August 22, 2017 50 Comments
All Things Home

oak studio hutch

I have so much to share…  all of the work that was accomplished when my brother and parents were here, the goodies I found while shopping the Gold Rush Days in Oronoco and Rochester, a tour of the rest of the rooms in our house, tutorials & details, more of my plans, etc.  Lots to share.  But, today, I’m just going to share one piece. We’ll pace ourselves. (And, if you just can’t wait, check out my Instagram Stories.  I did learn that there is an extension for Google Chrome, so you can view them on your computer.  You can get it HERE.) Sooo…when I set out for the antique market this weekend (I’ll share more on Gold Rush in a later post), the piece that was at the top of my list to find was a storage piece for my studio.  I sold most of my counters and hutches

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August 21, 2017 52 Comments
All Things Home

spraying paint again…

When I first started my decorative and painting business, buying a paint sprayer was a no-brainer.  My pieces would have a smoother, more professional finish, and I could crank out pieces much faster than painting by hand.  I did a ton of research and ended up buying a Graco HVLP FinishPro.  (HVLP stands for high volume low pressure.)  I used that thing a ton and Jeff even built me a spray booth in the basement. (Man, I can’t believe I didn’t watermark that image.) I started working with different paints and finishes and found I loved the look of a piece painted by hand.  It was therapeutic for me, too!  I was painting so often by hand that we took down the spray booth to regain the space.  A gut instinct told me to hold onto the sprayer, though.  I thought about selling it many times over, but I could

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August 17, 2017 92 Comments
All Things Home

card room green front door

Well, it’s been a whirlwind few days!  My brother came into town to work on my new house along with my parents.  I love that my family is all about hard work and we can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.  We’ve been working at such a rapid pace that I haven’t even had a chance to post about all of the projects, but once things quiet down, I will take pictures and share.  It’s exciting stuff, though, and the house is already looking more like our home. When I last shared the front door, it looked like this… It just needed some color.  After holding many paint chips up to the pinkish-beige siding, I settled on Card Room Green by Farrow & Ball…   …and I had it mixed by Benjamin Moore in Rust Scat Semi-gloss Enamel. My dad and I took the door off the

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August 16, 2017 71 Comments
All Things Home

how to refinish a kitchen table | part 1

Before we even moved in, before we even knew this house was ours, I knew a new kitchen table would be on our list of furniture to hunt for.  We’ve been using a small pine table, which fit our last house well, but it’s always felt too small for the four of us at meals.  And it was definitely too small for this new space.  So, let me take you on the journey of finding a new table as well as how to refinish a kitchen table. (The current table was buried under there somewhere!) If the kitchen is the heart of the home, the table is heart of the heart.  It’s where the family gathers for meals, homework, crafts, household business, and devotions.  It’s an important piece of furniture and I wanted it to be solid, properly scaled for the room and how our family will use it.  I

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August 14, 2017 82 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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