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My House

Family Room

My upholstery machine & “the sofa”

With all of the slipcover and upholstery posts I’ve been sharing lately, I’ve received a lot of questions about the sewing machines I use.  I have two.  One is  $150 Kenmore machine that I’ve been using for about six years.  I have used and abused that poor little machine and it has done an amazing job and is still going.  I have never oiled it, never had it cleaned and have asked it to do way more than it was made to do.  One night, though, I was working on the channel back chair and the machine was choking on the layers of  thick, antique hemp fabric. I was working with grain sack and hemp more and more, so it was time to upgrade to an upholstery machine that was made for what I was doing. Enter machine number two – the Sailrite LS-1.  It’s on sale for $654 right now,

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Family Room

familyroomgallery

With all of the slipcover and upholstery posts I’ve been sharing lately, I’ve received a lot of questions about the sewing machines I use.  I have two.  One is  $150 Kenmore machine that I’ve been using for about six years.  I have used and abused that poor little machine and it has done an amazing job and is still going.  I have never oiled it, never had it cleaned and have asked it to do way more than it was made to do.  One night, though, I was working on the channel back chair and the machine was choking on the layers of  thick, antique hemp fabric. I was working with grain sack and hemp more and more, so it was time to upgrade to an upholstery machine that was made for what I was doing. Enter machine number two – the Sailrite LS-1.  It’s on sale for $654 right now,

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Decorating

Boxwood & My Christmas Tree

I just did a photo shoot today for the MMSMP color of the month, Boxwood, so I thought I would share.  I think this may be my favorite non-blue/gray color in the line.  It’s so rich and pretty.  I’ve sold all of the pieces I’ve painted in Boxwood, but I have a dresser in my son’s room that is just begging for it.  I was hoping to get to that this month, since it is the color of the month, but with slipcovers and upholstering and decorating for Christmas and the family room trim and all of that, I think it’ll have to wait.  Anyway, here are some pictures to give you a good sense of the color… Can you tell I enjoy these shoots?  I really do.  I think the photography/styling aspect of my job has become one of my favorite things to work on.  If you want to

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Dining Room

Dining Chair Slipcover Tutorial

I wrote a tutorial on making dining room chair slipcovers years (and several dining sets) ago when I was a contributor to Cottages & Bungalows magazine.    It’s so neat to see how far I’ve come in my sewing, photography, writing, styling.  I’ve really grown a lot.  Anyway, since I’ve improved in a few departments, I thought it was time to make a new tutorial as I worked on my last dining room chair slipcover.  The one I made for the tutorial looks like this… But you can also adapt this tutorial for a chair like this… The idea is the same.  Just create an extra slit for each arm and double the amount of ties.  You can also adjust the kind of skirt you have on the slipcover.  I like the ruffles, but you can do knife pleats, box pleats, no pleats…whatever floats your boat. I always use the

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Dining Room

missmustardseed-42 (640×352)

I wrote a tutorial on making dining room chair slipcovers years (and several dining sets) ago when I was a contributor to Cottages & Bungalows magazine.    It’s so neat to see how far I’ve come in my sewing, photography, writing, styling.  I’ve really grown a lot.  Anyway, since I’ve improved in a few departments, I thought it was time to make a new tutorial as I worked on my last dining room chair slipcover.  The one I made for the tutorial looks like this… But you can also adapt this tutorial for a chair like this… The idea is the same.  Just create an extra slit for each arm and double the amount of ties.  You can also adjust the kind of skirt you have on the slipcover.  I like the ruffles, but you can do knife pleats, box pleats, no pleats…whatever floats your boat. I always use the

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Before and Afters

family room gallery

 Before I show you the chair and the rugs, I had to share a sweet gift I received in the mail yesterday.  It’s an ironstone thimble! Look at the little mark inside.  And it was wrapped with a paper tape measure bow.  I swear, I have some of the best readers.  Thank you, Susan. Now, on to the slipcovered chair.  Any guesses which one I pecked away at over the holidays? If you guessed one of the green velvet chairs, you’re right! I know a lot of you loved them as is and I’ve used them that way for a while, but it was time to change them up.  I don’t mind a touch of green in the paintings and from the boxwood, but I’m trying to de-green a bit.  Here’s the result… I know you perfectionists are looking at that crooked piece in the front.  You know who you

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Before and Afters

Slipcovered Chair & Rugs for Sale

 Before I show you the chair and the rugs, I had to share a sweet gift I received in the mail yesterday.  It’s an ironstone thimble! Look at the little mark inside.  And it was wrapped with a paper tape measure bow.  I swear, I have some of the best readers.  Thank you, Susan. Now, on to the slipcovered chair.  Any guesses which one I pecked away at over the holidays? If you guessed one of the green velvet chairs, you’re right! I know a lot of you loved them as is and I’ve used them that way for a while, but it was time to change them up.  I don’t mind a touch of green in the paintings and from the boxwood, but I’m trying to de-green a bit.  Here’s the result… I know you perfectionists are looking at that crooked piece in the front.  You know who you

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Family Room

“If you give Marian a morning…”

Kerry from Home Sweet Organized Home left a comment yesterday about how I work and I just loved it.  It’s based on the adorable kid’s book If you Give a Moose a Muffin… “If you give Marian a morning, she’s going to go to the attic. When she goes to the attic she’s going to find a rug.  Finding the rug will remind her that she needs one in her bedroom.  When the rug goes in the bedroom, she is reminded that the room needed a little something . . . “ And that’s exactly how I work. So, if you’ve been following along, you know I’ve been rearranging the furniture in my family room to give myself a bit of a fresh start.  Since I moved the table out of the kitchen, that brought the kitchen into the shuffling.  I also removed the shutter that’s been leaning against the side of the

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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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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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