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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

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  • decorating,  holidays

    14 Beautiful Christmas Ornaments

    November 5, 2025 /

    Hold your candy canes, folks, because today we are dipping our toes in the sweet inspirational bliss known as beautiful Christmas ornaments. I haven’t started decorating for Christmas yet, but I have Christmas ornaments on my mind. It’s an actual treat for my brain to think about Christmas ornaments instead of what to make for dinner (again), work deadlines, the driver’s license I need to renew, anything on the news…you get the point. I love making Christmas ornaments, and I always buy or make a Christmas ornament for my kids. The “it” gift of the season comes and goes, but those Christmas ornaments last forever…because Mom stores them in her…

    read more
    annisa 2 Comments

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    Flower Basket Centerpiece

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    New Headboard

    April 18, 2016
  • mini kitchen makeover five years later how it held up farmhouse kitchen with stained black cabinets
    decorating,  DIY,  Food

    Mini Kitchen Makeover After 5 Years – How Has It Held Up?

    November 3, 2025 /

    Home makeovers are fun, but what I really want to know is how your makeover has held up over the years. That’s why I’m sharing how our mini kitchen makeover is holding up after 5 years of extreme use. It’s five and a half years, technically speaking, but that’s not as catchy. When I say extreme use, I mean this kitchen is put through the wringer. We rarely eat out. We work from home. We were holed up in this house during a pandemic. We’re still holed up in this house because we like it here. We do a lot of DIY projects, so we’re always tracking dirt in and…

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    annisa 2 Comments

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    Kid Craft: Tree Artwork

    December 18, 2015

    5 Easy, (mostly) Recyclable Halloween Decorating Ideas

    October 11, 2017
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    The Reason Why I Like Old Houses

    August 10, 2020
  • fall front porch with colored solar lanterns
    decorating

    Fall Front Porch At Night

    October 8, 2025 /

    Our fall front porch at night is one of the simple delights in life that I’m relishing right now. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy it during the daytime as well. But the glow of the porch at night is what’s really doing it for me. Full disclosure, it’s harder to see the dirt and cobwebs at night, so that’s another point in its favor. Did you notice the colored lanterns on the steps? I sure hope so because I don’t own a blog to be demure. Sharing evening photos of our front porch is a shameless opportunity for me to gush about my continued enjoyment of solar lids with…

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    annisa 5 Comments

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    Braided Denim Pumpkin

    September 13, 2017

    Scrapmaster Project #4: Dove

    December 14, 2015

    3 Walls That Have Me Stumped

    September 26, 2016
  • candle warmer lamps sitting on a table in front of a gallery wall great christmas gift idea 2025
    decorating

    Getting Cozy With Candle Warmer Lamps

    September 29, 2025 /

    Candle warmer lamps are the emotional support item getting me through the bumpy transition from summer to fall. Yes, lamps plural. I have two. Not only did I jump on the candle warmer lamps trend, but I also decided Big Candle could have all my money. Candle warmer lamps do exactly what they say. They warm up the wax in a candle vessel, allowing the smell to waft through your home without you having to light the wick. It’s brilliant. Now, friends. I am old enough to know that melting scented wax is not a new concept. In the late aughts, I had some Scentsy wax melts and a cute…

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    annisa 6 Comments

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    Why We Chose Double Rockers For Our Porch

    September 27, 2023
    modern country laundry room in a colonial farmhouse with wainscoting stained glass horse art basket wall and inset wall shelves

    In Praise Of: Unusual Stained Glass Art

    June 19, 2024

    Problem Room Update: Petite Fireplace

    October 17, 2016
  • diy floral witch's hat sitting on a pumpkin in front of a stone wall
    decorating,  holidays

    DIY Floral Witch’s Hat

    September 15, 2025 /

    Gleeful is the only word to describe how I feel about showing you the floral witch’s hat I crafted last week. I want you to like it as much as I do, but it’s just not possible. I’m so obsessed, you’d think I came up with the idea on my own. This is kind of funny because I’m not sure if there are any truly original ideas out there anymore. Adding flowers to a witch’s hat is definitely not original, but it’s the first time I’ve done it, so it feels brand new to me. We’ll call this craft an Annisa Original. I might fly in a little late to…

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    annisa 10 Comments

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    Collecting

    March 25, 2016

    Dining Room Hutch and Incorporating Kid Art into Home Decor

    September 16, 2015

    Lego Table

    February 16, 2015
  • pared down gallery wall gallery wall with a wall pocket wall vase and nature paintings
    decorating

    Pared-Down Living Room Gallery Wall

    September 3, 2025 /

    The only constant in life is change, and this applies to our living room gallery wall, too. I had spent a few years creating a genuinely collected-over-time gallery wall in our living room. It had a nature theme because that’s the kind of art that makes my soul exhale. I love this nature-themed gallery wall. I was also ready for a change. Two seemingly contradictory things can be true at the same time. I didn’t want a drastic change, just something a bit simpler and more refined to feast my eyes on. My pared-down living room gallery wall needed to stick with the nature theme, though, because I haven’t changed…

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    annisa 8 Comments

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    Dry Sink Printer Stand

    April 15, 2020

    The Great Guitar Hanging Debacle

    March 29, 2017
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    Refinished Wood Mirror With a Sentimental Twist

    May 2, 2022
  • carriage house kitchenette with blue and white curtains to break up long narrow space
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    Carriage House Curtains For a Long Narrow Space

    August 11, 2025 /

    I recently added new curtains in our Carriage House to break up the long narrow space, and I’m going to have to file this under “things I should have done a long time ago.” Talk about a change for the better! Our Carriage House is roughly 9-feet wide by 30-feet long. Have you ever decorated a tunnel? That’s the situation with our Carriage House, and we have to fit a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and an office into the space. I have received many well-meaning suggestions to add wallpaper or wainscoting to this space to give the walls interest. However, because it is such a long space, those options will cost…

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    annisa 7 Comments

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    The 1971 MLS Listing For Our Colonial Farmhouse

    The 1971 MLS Listing For Our Colonial Farmhouse

    September 4, 2019
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    Why We Chose Double Rockers For Our Porch

    September 27, 2023

    Arrow Mantel Art

    October 23, 2015
  • vintage bottle bud vases on an antique radio
    decorating

    Vintage Bottle Bud Vases

    July 9, 2025 /

    A couple of months ago we dug up some vintage bottles from our backyard. Some folks have a garden in their backyard and dig up things like potatoes. We dig up vintage bottles. Perhaps we could trade? Anyway, it’s not that unusual to dig up “garbage” in the backyard of a really old home that existed before a person driving a big truck collected your bins of trash every Friday at 4 a.m. You can complain about a lot of things in modern society, but waste disposal ordinances seem like a good thing to me. The vintage bottles we found were in surprisingly good shape for having been buried for…

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    annisa 4 Comments

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    The Painting I Rescued From the Trash

    December 10, 2018

    Framing Art With Scrap Leather Instead of Using a Mat

    February 20, 2019
    The Doors of Our Colonial Farmhouse

    The Doors of Our Colonial Farmhouse

    July 8, 2019
  • farmhouse style plywood side table stained with paint dipped legs in black
    decorating,  DIY,  gardening and landscape

    Plywood Side Table Makeover

    June 11, 2025 /

    Some life lessons need reminders. Today’s plywood side table makeover is one of those reminders. (Yes, I can find a life lesson in almost anything.) I found what was clearly a DIY plywood side table at my favorite thrift store. It was $10. Do you think I overpaid? I never regret buying wood tables for $10 (maybe more depending on the table) because I know the lumber it took to make it, not to mention the time, costs more than ten bucks these days. Plus, side tables are one thing we are short on around here. I knew I was going to knock off the orange-y finish of the table,…

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    annisa 3 Comments

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    April 15, 2024
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    One Year Without Throw Pillows

    May 13, 2019

    Felt Wreath

    December 21, 2015
  • farmhouse front porch more seating with rockers and a light update
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    Front Porch – More Seating and a Light Update

    May 19, 2025 /

    It is front porch season in New Jersey. Finally! New Jersey likes to trick you a little on this topic. You’ll think it is front porch season and then one morning you’ll wake up to find everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, covered in a coating of yellow dust. Pesky pollen. I made the mistake of sleeping with the window open during this time and woke up to my nightstand, and I’m sure, all my bedding, covered in pollen. Is this why they call it spring cleaning? Because I had to do a BUNCH of it that day. Regrets. I have a few. Anyway, I cleared the front porch of…

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    annisa 2 Comments

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    8 Decorating Ideas From A Music Room

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    March 12, 2025
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    8 Fresh Ways to Repurpose a Piano

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