“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
~ Matthew 17:20
Marian Parsons, to her readers she’s know as Miss Mustard Seed. We spoke about design, sources of inspiration, and DIY decor for single women on a budget. Her blog: Miss Mustard Seed helps women learn how to move mountains in their home though do-it-yourself design. Here’s an excerpt.
Francesca: Where do you get your inspiration? Who, or what, inspires you?
Marian: I’m inspired by decorating books and magazines, other blogs, and Pinterest. But I think what inspires me most is what I find. When I go shopping and I see something I like I buy it. I get home and see how I will be able to use it or how I can customize it to work in my home. When I start decorating a room I might have an idea of “ok I want this room to be blue & white, or I want this room to feel this way”. I always go for the French Country, the Farmhouse look. So I’m really just inspired by what I can find.
Francesca: It sounds to me like your inspiration is very organic and spontaneous in how it happens.
Marian: Definitely and I prefer that. Whenever I have a specific plan for what I want to do, I have a hard time finding it. Instead I go with whatever I can find. It’s easier to do things on a budget that way too. I find what I love, what’s in my price range, and I make it work!
Francesca: When we chatted earlier about your primarily female readers, I was surprised to learn currently the largest majority are in the 55-65 age category. Do you think it’s because those women are in retirement?
Marian: I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because they’re going into the empty nest phase and they have more money and time to spend on their homes. Maybe my decorating style resonates with that age group more. But I have loads of younger women readers too.
Francesca: I’m wondering when you’re writing and doing pieces for people do you have a different focus for women who are already homeowners as opposed to women who rent?
Marian: A lot of the projects on my blog could go either way. I don’t do a ton of renovation type projects where you’re actually making changes to a place like you wouldn’t do in a rental. I think the biggest thing I do people who rent might not be able to do, is painting the cabinets or painting the wall. Because I paint everything so I can customize it to the way I want it. A lot of the tutorials on my blog are actually things that have to do with:
slip covers,
and
These are things people can do no matter where you are to make their home custom and beautiful. For example you can make curtains or pillows. It’s the same thing with renting. There are so many tricks you can do to make the space look really custom.
Francesca: Can you give me a couple of examples of what those tricks might be?
Marian: One tutorial I’m creating for HGTV is showing how to starch fabric to a wall. It’s something you can do in a rental. When you leave you just peel right off. It leaves the wall without any residue. You can get this beautiful wallpaper type look with fabric and it’s really easy to do. You can even peel the fabric off, wash it, and then put it back up on the wall. That’s a great tip. As far as for people who live by themselves: I work with my husband. He’s a woodworker. But I’m not a wood worker. I love DIY but I’m not one of these women who are super comfortable with every power tool. When we start working a project I always say “how can we do this so it’s really simple so that anyone can do it?” So we’ll do things like how to build a farm table with just a drill. I’ll walk through how you can get the pieces cut at Lowes or Home Depot and how you can buy pre-turned legs so anyone can do it.
For more information and tips from Miss Mustard Seed stay tuned as our interview continues.
EnJOY and blessings,
All photographs used by permission of Marian Parsons and Mustard Seed Interiors LLC.
