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All Things Home

the chair that didn’t need a makeover…

…but ended up getting one anyway. It took me months to get the nerve to rip the beautiful Pierre Deux fabric off of this chair… I loved the colors, the pattern and the upholstery was done very well.  There were a couple problems with it – it didn’t work with my Farmhouse White theme for the Lucketts Spring Market and the fabric was faded at the back and a little dingy.  You don’t really notice it in the pictures, but it looked tired. It was still hard for me to rip it off, so I had Kriste start on it while I worked on something else. When I started putting the chair back together again, with pieces cut from an antique hemp sheet and ticking, I was at peace with the decision. The chair is still its pretty, Frenchy self, but it feels fresher; less fussy. I finished it off

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All Things Home

a curvy chair gets a makeover…

It’s really hard to turn down free stuff, especially when it’s a curvy chair that just needs a little cosmetic work to make it special.  So, when my friend Traer brought this to my studio, asking if I’d take it off her hands, I couldn’t say no. In the flurry of activity, I didn’t get a proper picture before we stripped off the upholstery that it was wearing.   It was black tapestry with some purples, creams and green in it.  Not my thing. So, we stripped off the old upholstery (Katie and I took turns working on it) and then I sanded the glossy frame and painted it in two coats of Farmhouse White. The paint adhered really well, even without the bonding agent, so I didn’t get a lot of chipping, which I was glad for.  There is such a large contrast between the dark wood and the

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All Things Home

milk paint 101 | topcoats

I realized I totally dropped the ball on our Milk Paint 101 series!  I left you at the first coat and promptly forgot about you. So, you’ve applied the number of coats needed in order to get the finish as opaque as desired.  In most cases, two coats do it.  Sometimes more are required if there is a high contrast between the color you chose and the surface you’re painting. Once everything is dry, this is when I like to distress.  Some people like to apply wax or oil finishes first, then distress, then apply the finish again, while others like to dive right into the distressing.  I fall in the latter camp.  It’s one less step and it uses less product.  The advantage to waxing or oiling first is that it cuts down dramatically on the amount of dust that is produced. If you’re interested in my distressing tips and

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All Things Home

making a “vintage” chalkboard with milk paint

As I shared yesterday, the past couple of weeks in the studio have been devoted to getting things finished that have been hanging around for way too long.  I’ve ignored some of them, because I knew they would be a pain-in-the-rear to work on, like the French chair with nailhead trim (yet to be revealed), and I ignored others because I just didn’t know what to do with them.  I knew they had potential and I wasn’t quite ready to give up on them, so they languished in “the stash”.  This oversized Eastlake mirror frame, minus the mirror, was one of those pieces, but it was a perfect piece to repurpose.  Here’s how I went about making it into a vintage chalkboard with milk paint. Before we get into the tutorial on making a vintage-style chalkboard with milk paint, a bit of history…  I picked it up at a yard

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All Things Home

another pair of frenchies

There are some things that I hold onto for years.  They survive the purges and my “selling moods”.  I just know I will have the perfect use for them some day. Well, some day finally came for these linen grain sacks that I’ve been holding onto for years.  A reader, who lived in Europe, found them for me and sold me a few for a great price.  They were something like $5.00/each.  I think she was able to get them for $1.00/each out of an old factory.  I used a couple of them on a chair a few years ago, but have been saving the rest for just the right project. These chairs were that project… I got the chairs last Wednesday when another reader was delivering all of those ironstone bowls to me. She brought along some other things she thought I would be interested in, including this pair of cane-backed French

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All Things Home

tufted farmhouse sofa reveal

After much deconstructing, button-making, tuft-tying, fabric-stapling, trim-gluing, tack-hammering and cushion-sewing, the tufted farmhouse sofa is finally done!! I feel like some confetti should’ve fallen from the sky when Kriste and I put the final cushion in place.  It didn’t, but it should have.  This sofa has been the most challenging and high-maintenance piece of upholstery I have taken on to date,  but it is done and I finally get to show it off. There it is, all styled and pretty. And here it is without any pillows or props… Kriste and I were “oohing” as we were proofing the pictures.  It’s just such a pretty tufted farmhouse sofa! Here is how it looked when it came into my possession.  It was given to me last year after the Lucketts Spring Market for free.  Eddie, a photographer and fellow vendor, didn’t sell it, but really wanted to get rid of it, so she

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Before and Afters

tufted sofa reveal

After much deconstructing, button-making, tuft-tying, fabric-stapling, trim-gluing, tack-hammering and cushion-sewing, the tufted sofa is finally done!! I feel like some confetti should’ve fallen from the sky when Kriste and I put the final cushion in place.  It didn’t, but it should have.  This sofa has been the most challenging and high-maintenance piece of upholstery I have taken on to date,  but it is done and I finally get to show it off. There it is, all styled and pretty. And here it is without any pillows or props… Kriste and I were “oohing” as we were proofing the pictures.  It’s just such a pretty sofa! Here is how it looked when it came into my possession.  It was given to me last year after the Lucketts Spring Market for free.  Eddie, a photographer and fellow vendor, didn’t sell it, but really wanted to get rid of it, so she gave it to me.

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All Things Home

braided jute & tack trim

The body of the tufted sofa is finally finished!  This has definitely been the most challenging upholstery project I’ve taken on, but it’s shaping up nicely and now it’s all smooth sailing with the cushions.  (I feel like I need to knock on some wood or something now!) Here’s a peek at how the body turned out… Did you notice anything? Well, if you’re very observant, you may have noticed that there are two different trims.  Hopefully, you didn’t and my plan worked! You see, I had this beautiful jute trim… ..but I only had two spools of it and I couldn’t find more that was exactly like it.  I really wanted to use it, but I was about six feet short of having enough for the entire sofa.  I decided to use the trim, anyway, and figure out how to make up that extra six feet.  That stretch would be

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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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