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My House

Guest Room

Guest Bedroom Progress…

I spent some time in the guest room today, getting the space cleaned up, hanging up the lights and curtain rods, moving the furniture and hanging a few things on the wall.  Here’s how it’s coming along… I’m going to make a cover for the bolster pillow, but just wrapped it in fabric for the visual. I found a pair of pretty antique original German oil paintings on Ebay and knew they would be perfect for the space. I was a little nervous that the sconces from Pottery Barn would stick out too far, but they really look fine.  My only complaint about them is that the on/off switch is almost on the floor, so it’s going to be a pain to use them. They are so pretty, though. I cut the fabric for the curtains, folded the excess for hemming over and clipped them up…again, as a visual until

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Dining Room

Photo Shoot Pics

Thanks so much for all of the prayers and well wishes.  I am feeling sooooo much better today.  I was back in bed yesterday, but felt like myself today.  I still have to stop speaking when my eye twitches and a sneeze is building up and I’m going through tissues at a pretty impressive rate, but I feel better.  My mom and I spent the day shopping for supplies for some upcoming freelance projects and antiques for the Lucketts Spring Market (May 17-18, 2014.)  We also each got a hot stone massage.  That was pretty amazing.  So, it was a part-work, part-play kinda day.  I have all sorts of fun finds to share, but I need to unpack them first. With no other pictures to show today, I thought I would share some pictures of the photo shoot I did in my house on Wednesday.  (There was a wall of

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Before and Afters

Family Room Wainscoting

I spent all day in bed yesterday…down and out with a virus or something.  I was still dragging this morning, but was feeling well enough this afternoon to get my photo shoots done.  Unfortunately, a photo shoot is much more involved than just snapping a few pictures.  I had to finish some details in the room, clean and then style.  I just chipped away at it slowly to get it done. Get ready for a lot of pictures!  Here’s what the family room looks like now…   And here’s a look at how far this room has come since 2009…     I don’t have pictures of the other side of the room, because it had a the jump-a-roo and other baby/kids toys. We removed the fireplace a couple of years ago to make a space for a wall-mount flatscreen TV.  The fireplace was massive and didn’t work, so I

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Family Room

photo shoot, a fever & finds

We had less than half of the trim completed in the family room and I had a photo shoot coming up, so today, Jeff and I were determined to finish it.  Part of it was the deadline, but another part of it was putting ourselves out of our miserly.  Having a half-finished DIY project hanging over your head gets old.   So, today we worked on getting it done.  I woke up with a stuffy head and I was dragging, so I opted to give myself a day off of my workout and I dove into caulking and priming. This project took so much longer than I expected and at 1:30, I was just starting to paint the trim.  Cari was here for the day to help get ready for Lucketts.  Cari will henceforth be known as “the machine.”  She’s amazing.  She spent most of her time prepping four pieces

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Kitchen

Butcher Block Counters

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about my dream for our kitchen.  I wanted to do a little something like this… Now, I fully acknowledged then (and now) that there wasn’t a darn thing wrong with that kitchen.  The cabinets were a pretty hickory and the laminate counters were in great condition, the layout is awesome and even the linoleum floors were very nice.  It just wasn’t my taste.  I like cool colors…blues and whites.  And everything about this kitchen was earth-toned and beige and just didn’t feel like me. So, one day I got the paint and the hardware and started to transform the space. I got the paint and hardware through my partnership with True Value (it was my first year on their Blog Squad).  The floor was provided by Home Depot to promote the Dal-Tile line.  I was so happy with how dramatic the

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Before and Afters

updated kitchen pictures

Before we dive into the pictures, I had to share something funny.  My mom read my post from yesterday and immediately got her painting clothes ready.  You see, she helps me on Wednesday nights when the boys are at Awana and she knew after reading the post that we would be painting my guest room!  She knows me so well and was, of course, right.  We painted most of the guest room tonight.  I still need to do the dormer, ceiling and trim, but we made some good progress.  It’s coming together bit by bit. I also worked on some photo shoots today.  I have a freelance magazine shoot & article I’m working on as well as images for the look book and updated pictures for “my home” page on the blog.  I shot some of the kitchen today… The picture above was taken today and the one below was

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Favorite Finds

Guest Room & Ironstone

Last night I asked Jeff if I could leave early for handbell practice, so I could pick up some paint on the way.  He gave me a look.  “What do you need paint for?”  I answered casually, “The guest room.”  Usually me buying paint isn’t a questionable event, but I have a lot on my plate right now and painting the guest room doesn’t really need to be on that plate. It can be served with the cheese course or dessert if there’s room left when the entree is done. But, I really want to shoot the bed for the MMSMP look book and my in-laws would like to visit eventually (if it ever stops snowing around here) and I need to get the room put back together for them. There’s DIY shrapnel everywhere at the moment. Deciding to paint the room started with patching the walls.  This room was

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Family Room

Showing off the wainscoting…

I showed off my new family room wainscoting a few days ago, but the hutch in the corner was bugging me a little.  Even as we were moving the furniture back, I said to Jeff, “I think this hutch looks too squished into that corner and it hides all of the wainscoting.” “Oh no.  I think it looks fine.”  I think that was code for I don’t really want to move furniture right now. A few days later, I was ready to move the hutch and other things around, so he helped me. We moved the hutch by the front door in the living room and brought in the small MMSMP Grain Sack dresser that was under the living room window.  I topped it off with the small antique hutch.  I like how it opens things up more and allows the wainscoting to be seen and appreciated. I tried a

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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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