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A Pretty Happy Home

Life, DIY and Random Things That Make Me Smile

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • Apparel and Shoes
    • Books
    • Crafts and Sewing
    • Decor
    • Furniture
    • Home Improvement
    • Kid Favorites
    • Kitchen
  • Projects
    • Cleaning
    • Clothing
    • Colonial Farmhouse
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY Projects
    • Holidays
  • Adventure
    • Moving to Ireland
    • Living in Ireland
    • Visiting Ireland
    • Travel
    • Family and Parenting
    • Humor
    • Learning
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • Apparel and Shoes
    • Books
    • Crafts and Sewing
    • Decor
    • Furniture
    • Home Improvement
    • Kid Favorites
    • Kitchen
  • Projects
    • Cleaning
    • Clothing
    • Colonial Farmhouse
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY Projects
    • Holidays
  • Adventure
    • Moving to Ireland
    • Living in Ireland
    • Visiting Ireland
    • Travel
    • Family and Parenting
    • Humor
    • Learning
  • Privacy Policy

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Family, junk

Happy Birthday Junk Whisperer

The Junk Whisperer had a birthday yesterday. She’s going to be SUPER glad I’m mentioning this milestone. And she’s probably wondering if I’m going to share that EPIC photo of…

read more
August 3, 2016
cleaning, Crafts, decorating

Repurposing Denim Belt Loops to Hang Towels

I recently read a New York Times article entitled 5 Cheap(ish) Things That Could Disproportionately Improve Your Life. I’m ALL about improving my life on the cheap(ish). The author, Tim…

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August 28, 2017
DIY

Stone Carriage House Gym: Part 4, Pipes In Stone Walls

Our stone Carriage House was built in the late 1700s before indoor electricity and plumbing existed. Just think about that for a minute. If you had to do your business…

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May 14, 2025
  • DIY

    Kitchen Refresh Part 7: The Reveal

    May 27, 2015 /

    Have I kept you waiting long enough to see how our kitchen refresh turned out? I’ve been living with it in a final-for-now state for a little more than 2 weeks. Remember how it looked before? I know, I know. Try and contain your jealousy. Not everyone can have sticky, puke green-colored cabinets. Ready for the after? Here’s that same corner now. Much better, right? I’m so glad this house presented the opportunity to paint the bottom cabinets black because that might not happen again. It’s my favorite part about this little refresh. The black paint works like magic and almost makes my black appliances disappear! The other thing I’m so…

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    annisa 11 Comments

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  • Uncategorized

    Technical Difficulties

    May 26, 2015 /

    Of course the day I am away from the computer ALL DAY LONG is the day that the website goes down for who knows what reason. Thanks for hanging in there with me. After duking it out with our hosting provider, everything is back up and running now. I think. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with my regularly scheduled post because IT’S A GOOD ONE! I’m happily uploading photos now! Share this:

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    Memorial Day

    May 25, 2015 /

    To all who have served our country far and wide. To those who have stood by their side. To the souls who have ultimately died. Your sacrifice is held with great national pride. Let’s all take a moment on this Memorial Day to remember the happiness and freedoms we enjoy in the United States of America came at a great cost – one we should never take for granted. Share this:

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  • Family,  holidays

    A Simple, Yet Fun Birthday Tradition

    May 22, 2015 /

    My children are 3 years and 23 hours apart. One day I was at Chuck E. Cheese celebrating my daughter turning 3 and the next day I was told if I left the doctor’s office to go home, I needed to carry blankets in the car. Since they were being all melodramatic about it, I decided to go to the hospital. Turns out I really was having a baby that day. We’re long past the diaper and pacifier stage. This week, these two turned 5 and 8. Photo Credit: Meg Davidson Photography I haven’t quite figured out the “best” way to celebrate birthdays that are one day apart.  It seems we just go…

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  • decorating

    Joanna Gaines Made Me Do It – Wire Baskets

    May 20, 2015 /

    Have you guys seen HGTV’s Fixer Upper show? It’s my favorite. I truly hope Chip and Joanna Gaines are as kind, funny and down-to-earth in real life as they appear to be on the show. I was binge-watching Fixer Upper episodes on the HGTV site while painting my kitchen cabinets when I saw Joanna hang some wire baskets on a wall. I know that, in and of itself, is not revolutionary. However, it inspired an “aha” moment. Or maybe that was the paint fumes… Anyway, I couldn’t find a picture of the actual image that got me motivated, but Joanna uses wire baskets often, so this is another instance of how she attached…

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  • Food

    4-Banana Banana Bread

    May 18, 2015 /

    Here’s the deal. I think I’ve said this before. Pardon the repeat. My family doesn’t tell me when they suddenly no longer like a certain food. All anyone will eat for breakfast for weeks is Rice Krispies. Then when I go and stockpile a bunch of Rice Krispies to prevent someone from snap, crackle and popping when we run out, of course, they decide they don’t like Rice Krispies any longer and only like Raisin Bran Crunch. This story could be told over and over in our household, just change the name of the characters for different foods. Apparently, I’m the only one who hasn’t caught on to the rules…

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    Things That Make Me Happy #1

    May 15, 2015 /

    Hello! I thought I would start a periodic series about the random things that are making me happy at one particular moment in time. Here it goes… 1. This powerful letter from a teacher to parents about THAT kid in the class. The one you are worried is going to disrupt your child’s learning process, take away from instructional time your child will get with the teacher or maybe even hurt your child. 2. This song “Beautiful Day“…about making each day beautiful and remembering you are alive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phAMNprBKY8 3. Another song by Rachel Platten! About those times you need to dig deep and be strong to reach your goals.   4. Watercolor hearts picture on…

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    My Favorite Corner – Living Room

    May 13, 2015 /

    I have a favorite corner of our living room. I don’t spend nearly enough time there. Ironic, much? Want to sit and enjoy the view with me? A little bit of water and a whole heck of a lot of trees. It makes me very happy! As a girl who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve seen my fair share of forest. When we moved to Georgia, I was surprised there were so many trees. I’m not sure what I was picturing. Cotton fields? Peach orchards? I still have not seen a peach orchard, by the way. Instead of focusing the furniture IN on the room, I turned the furniture OUT…

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  • DIY

    Kitchen Refresh Part 6: Hardware

    May 11, 2015 /

    Before I typed this post, I was working on the backsplash. No, really. I was genuinely working on the backsplash, which is the last part of this little project. I’m ready to wrap this thing up in the next few days. Not that I’ll get final pictures taken that quick! In the next two weeks we have birthdays for both of my kids, end of year parties, kindergarten round-up, sports and I’m sure I’m forgetting something else. In the meantime, I have some lovely, not-so-lovely iPhone photos to share. After I painted the cabinets, I reused the cabinet knobs to save some dough. Someone still makes these knobs, by the way.…

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    Mothering Without a Mother

    May 8, 2015 /

    When I was pregnant with my daughter, my first child, I sat alone on the exam table at my first ob-gyn appointment. My doctor’s office didn’t book initial pregnancy visits until somewhere near the end of the first trimester, so I had waited what felt like forever to get some clarity on this situation. Things like, were the first 15 home pregnancy tests I had taken accurate? Ha! Part of me really hoped I just had the world’s longest case of food poisoning because the enormity of what a pregnancy meant for our lives was just a little too new, a little too big to fully comprehend. Don’t get me wrong. I…

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Hi! I'm Annisa.

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