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A Pretty Happy Home

Life, DIY and Random Things That Make Me Smile

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
  • Shop
  • 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
  • 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

No Widgets found in the Sidebar Alt!

DIY

The Case for a Hidden Bookcase Door

Hear me out. Our house *needs* a hidden bookcase door. Do you know what I’m referring to? A wall that looks like it has a gorgeous bookcase, but you pull…

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March 24, 2025
colonial farmhouse, DIY

All About Our 240-Year-Old Pumpkin Pine Wood Floors

I have been unabashed in my utter love for and devotion to the original pumpkin pine wood floors in our Colonial Farmhouse. It was love at first sight. In fact,…

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March 30, 2020
colonial farmhouse, DIY

Under the Stairs Closet Shelves

We now have under-the-stairs closet shelves, and I’m pretty darn happy about it. I’m also happy about “Clean Sheet Day,” a fresh jar of peanut butter, and no-show socks that…

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December 14, 2020
  • 3 horses hanging on a grey background that are wrapped with colorful thread
    Crafts,  decorating

    7 Lucky Horseshoe Decor Ideas for Your Home

    March 9, 2026 /

    St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, which means symbols of good luck are top-of-mind right now. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take all the good luck I can muster these days, so I’ve rounded up 7 lucky horseshoe decor ideas for your home. This isn’t a new theme for me. I decorated a good luck horseshoe ten years ago that I still love and hang in our house. You can get the easy directions for that here. Here are the 7 lucky horseshoe decor ideas for your home. You can buy these, of course, but some of them would be easy enough to replicate on your own! My…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    happy list

    Happy List: #426

    March 6, 2026 /

    Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m thrilled to see you here. This week on the blog, I answered the most frequently asked questions about lime mortar that I get from social media. Hyper-specific blog posts are my specialty, so don’t feel bad if this one wasn’t for you. I’m sure I’ll eventually get to something that’s right up your alley. I also shared the progress we’ve made on our basement workshop repointing project. There’s something about reaching the halfway point that makes you think you can make it to the end. Of course, we also save the hard parts for the end of the project, so there’s that,…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    Happy List: #390

    May 16, 2025
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    October 4, 2024
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    Happy List: #217

    June 18, 2021
  • stone foundation wall in a basement recently repointed with lime mortar using natural hydraulic lime
    DIY

    Basement Workshop Stone Repointing: Part 3, Halfway Done

    March 4, 2026 /

    Welcome back to our Basement Workshop Stone Repointing series. This is the third installment of this series. Part 1 and Part 2 are rock-solid bangers, so don’t miss out on that good time. Today, I’m happy to celebrate being halfway done with this project. *and the crowd goes wild* I was unhelpfully thinking the other day that we would have been done already if we had just put our lives on hold and devoted several solid days to the project instead of a few hours after dinner a few nights a week. That’s the kind of toxic thinking a DIYer doesn’t need to indulge. The project will get done when…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    April 22, 2024
  • DIY

    Lime Mortar FAQs for Stone Foundations

    March 2, 2026 /

    You’re a homeowner with an old house and a stone foundation, and you realize that the stone foundation needs to be repointed. Now what? We’ve been in your shoes. We are DIYers who were skeptical of the ‘advice’ we were getting and went on a mission to figure out the best way to repoint and repair our stone foundation. Whether you are hiring a mason or planning to DIY it, here’s what we learned that will help you get started on your repointing project.  Scroll through this blog post or use the table of contents to jump to the questions you want answered. Table of Contents What is lime mortar…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    March 4, 2026
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    Reclaimed Kitchen Bar From An Old Piano

    August 29, 2022
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    Building In Our Fridge: The Prep Work Is What Gets You

    January 13, 2025
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    Happy List: #425

    February 27, 2026 /

    Hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am absolutely thrilled to see you here. This week on the blog, I shared the vintage crate that I turned into a spring wreath. I love reimagining new uses for old things. It’s a great creative exercise. I also received happy mail from a friend, and that led me down a rabbit hole of looking for cards that look like art and should be framed. That’s just how my brain follows the path of inspiration! It truly makes my day to connect with you. I work alone, except on snow days. It snowed here this week. It’s fun to talk to…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    Happy List: #218

    July 2, 2021
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    Happy List: #292

    March 10, 2023
  • laser engraved wood greeting card with heart cutout by etsy shop HereAfterLA
    Crafts,  gift and learning

    10 Greeting Cards You’ll Frame Because They Are So Pretty

    February 25, 2026 /

    Have you ever received a greeting card that was so pretty that you needed to frame it? The very thought of throwing it away or shoving it in a drawer just felt wrong. That has happened to me. Out of the blue last week, I received a postcard from a friend. A friend I’ve made because of this blog. (How lucky am I? The luckiest.) Her love language is making cards and sending cards and postcards to her friends and family. How great is that? Receiving her postcard got me thinking, “How is my stock of cards looking?” I usually keep generic cards on hand that will work for a…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    June 27, 2014
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    Five Ways to Decorate With Nuts for Christmas

    December 8, 2025
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    September 18, 2024
  • diy repurposed berry crate spring wreath using a vintage wood berry field flat or berry basket carrier. It's hanging on the wall with sprays of pink, yellow, and purple faux flowers attached to it.
    Crafts,  decorating

    DIY Repurposed Berry Crate Spring Wreath

    February 23, 2026 /

    Who says a wreath has to be round besides the dictionary? No one in this house! I decided my vintage wood berry carrier would be an excellent ‘vessel’ to refresh my mantel for spring. Making this repurposed Berry Crate Spring Wreath also refreshed my soul a little as I’m slogging my way through another winter storm. I’m ready for spring. The calendar doesn’t care. What is a berry crate? A berry crate, berry basket crate, berry field flat, or berry basket carrier is used by berry pickers to hold individual berry baskets full of berries. They use these as a carrier to shuttle their individual berry baskets to a check-in…

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    annisa 4 Comments

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    September 18, 2017

    Lettered Wall – Work in Progress

    October 6, 2014
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    Happy List: #424

    February 20, 2026 /

    Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am absolutely thrilled that you are here. This week on the blog, I shared the makeover I gave to a recent roadside find, and then I shared the makeover I’m thinking about giving our sunporch. The plants are taking over that space and need to be corralled. It truly makes my day to connect with you. I work alone. It’s fun to talk to kind and interesting people. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook. Here’s the Happy List! CEILING WITH A VIEW…

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    annisa 6 Comments

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    October 28, 2022
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    Happy List: #207

    April 2, 2021
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    Happy List: #430

    April 3, 2026
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    decorating

    Upholstered Stool Makeover – A Roadside Find

    February 18, 2026 /

    There’s a certain thrill to driving down the road and spotting free stuff sitting on the side of the road. I gave one such recent roadside find, an upholstered stool, a makeover with a sentimental twist. Of course, because this is me and I have a penchant for making things unnecessarily difficult, I didn’t spot the upholstered stool while driving by. I spotted the stool while out on a walk, and then proceeded to carry it a mile home. My neighbors probably think… Well, I don’t even want to speculate. But, hey. You have to carpe diem the roadside find when you spot it, or it might not be there…

    read more
    annisa 6 Comments

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    Living Room Curtains (It Only Took Me 4 Years)

    January 31, 2024
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    Unique Indoor Plant Displays

    February 16, 2026 /

    I overwinter many of my porch plants (ferns, geraniums, petunias) on our sunporch, and don’t have a great way of displaying the plants that makes it easy to care for them and looks aesthetically pleasing. First world problem, I know. My Current Plant Display Setup: The plants do seem to like it out here, and the photo below shows the best my current sunporch plant display has ever looked this winter. I have a couple of boards perched on top of a seed table that we don’t use for starting seeds. Because of these boards, I can rest three plants on top of the table, so I guess we do…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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Hi! I'm Annisa.

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