• marbled faux easter eggs on the happy list
    happy list

    Happy List: #161

    How are you? We are wrapping up four weeks of everyone working and learning from home. My kids have today and Monday off for a shortened Spring Break. Instead of taking an entire week off, our school districted opted for a shorter break, which will allow the school year to conclude earlier. This week I shared a vintage step stool makeover using black stain. I also shared my attempt at a whimsical Easter wreath. Emphasis on the word attempt. We are looking forward to celebrating a quiet Easter at home. I’m hoping for nice weather because we have two acres to hide Easter eggs for the kids. I do not…

  • Grain Sifter Easter Bunny Wreath
    Crafts,  holidays

    Grain Sifter Easter Bunny Wreath

    Whimsical is not an adjective I would use to describe myself or my decorating style. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot with this Grain Sifter Easter Bunny Wreath. I figured isolating at home during a pandemic would be a good time to give whimsical a whirl. I’ve got to say, I can see the allure. This isolation creation is brought to you by items I already had on hand: a metal grain sifter, embroidery thread, hot glue, pale pink ribbon and plastic Easter eggs. I had the grain sifter because I dug it out of a dumpster when we lived in Ireland. By the way, a dumpster is called a…

  • Black Stained Vintage Stool Makeover
    decorating,  DIY

    Black Stained Vintage Stool Makeover

    Today, for your viewing enjoyment, I’m sharing a black stained vintage stool makeover. I’m definitely throwing around the word vintage pretty loosely. I’ve read that anything older than 20 years can be considered vintage. Anything at least 50 years old is true vintage. An item has to be 100 years old to be an antique. All this tells me is 50 is the new 20. Who makes up these rules? Not this vintage person. We had a sturdy stool with a great profile sitting in our garage. It was left here by the seller. If I had a nickel for every time I said an item I’d made over in…

  • spring blue flowers on the happy list
    happy list

    Happy List: #160

    Welcome back to another edition of the Happy List. How’s everyone doing? We had a virtual double date via FaceTime with another couple on Monday. A Monday night date! Who are we?! We had this date after the kids went to bed, so there weren’t any kid interruptions. We each brought wine and snacks. They had better snacks though. I did not stock up on chocolate because I didn’t think I should test my willpower during a stay-at-home order. I’m regretting my choice now. This virtual date definitely buoyed our spirits and I encourage you to give it a try. This week I shared everything you might possibly want to…

  • playground fun humor break
    Family

    April Fool’s Day Humor Break

    Does humor get you through tough times? It certainly helps me! Today I’m digging four years (!) into the archives to bring you an April Fool’s Day humor break. These stories, taken straight from the mouths of my little babes, still make me laugh. HUMOR BREAK #1: ACRONYMS ARE TOUGH (originally posted here) My daughter and son were playing some sort of game. I don’t know what it was. I just know they weren’t fighting and they had created costumes. These costumes involved using eyeliner to draw whiskers on their faces. The point is THEY WEREN’T FIGHTING. My son’s character (I’m fairly certain he was a cat) suffered a tragic…

  • shellac on pumpkin pine wood floors gaps in original pumpkin pine floors from 1780s
    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, I might have discounted the problems our Colonial Farmhouse had because those floors were the rose-tinted glasses through which I viewed this money pit. Can you blame me? Look at these floors! Hubba hubba. The oldest part of our Colonial Farmhouse dates back to the 1780s. Additional rooms were added on in the early to mid 1800s. I’ve been so used to living with modern (1930s and after) hardwood floors that I didn’t realize how much I had to learn about…

  • indian rocks beach florida sunset on the happy list
    happy list

    Happy List: #159

    Welcome to this Friday’s edition of the Happy List. Do all your days feel like Friday now? If they do, I’d say that’s a good thing. It is way better than all the days feeling like Monday! This week I shared my tips if you want to sell a live tree from your yard. That’s really a thing! If you’d rather cut down the tree in your yard, then you must have really liked my live edge side table post on Wednesday. Ha! I didn’t even realize until just now how I basically shared two sides of the same coin on this week’s blog post. There are times when I’m…

  • modern live edge brass side table target hack
    decorating,  DIY

    Modern Live Edge Side Table – Target Hack

    This story of how I created a modern live edge side table has the perfect old meets new plot line. Get ready to feel a flutter deep down in your sentimental soul. This story starts a long time ago in a land not so far away. A huge tree used to stand tall and proud about ten steps away from the front of our house. The diameter at the base of this tree was over 6-feet wide. Had this tree stood sentry over our house for one hundred years? Maybe more? Was it here before cars were mainstream and the county road was paved? I don’t know. I was told…

  • You Can Sell a Live Tree From Your Yard
    gardening and landscape

    You Can Sell a Live Tree From Your Yard

    Did you know you can sell a live tree from your yard? That’s a thing! Make sure it’s actually your tree growing in YOUR yard though. It might not be super common to sell a live tree from your yard, but it does happen. Determining if this is a viable option comes down to different factors. Is there demand for your tree? Is your tree healthy? Is your tree accessible or worth the effort of digging up? I recently embarked on a tree selling adventure, so I thought my experience might help you. We have a very mature Japanese Maple growing right next to our pool. The tree seems to…

  • diy rope planter on the happy list
    happy list

    Happy List: #158

    Hello! I truly hope you are all staying healthy. We have had an interesting week with everyone at home, but still trying to do work and school. While I am very much aware of and sensitive to what is going on in the world, the blog will continue with business as usual. This is my happy place. I come here because I enjoy writing, sharing our projects and engaging with you. I need that more than ever and I hope you do too. We’ll see how long I can keep things up if we run out of DIY supplies. This week I shared some updates we’ve made on cleaning up…