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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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  • Carriage House Interior Before Photos
    colonial farmhouse,  DIY

    Carriage House Interior Before Photos

    July 25, 2022 /

    If you follow us on social media then you’ll know I speak about our Carriage House fairly frequently, but I’ve not mentioned the Carriage House interior on the blog yet. We’ve owned this property for 3 years and this is the first time I’m addressing the Carriage House interior here. What have I been writing about?!? Hmm. That’s a good question. I have written about the new roof we put on the Carriage House and how snazzy that building is looking with its fresh exterior paint. The inside…well, it’s never felt done enough to write about it. It’s still not done, frankly. We put the slow in a slow renovation,…

    read more
    annisa 0 Comments

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    Colonial Farmhouse 3 Year Anniversary

    June 13, 2022
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    Stone Carriage House Gym: Part 2, Demo

    April 28, 2025
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    Which Category of Kitchen Art Do You Have?

    April 19, 2021
  • tips for refinishing a door with dog scratches
    DIY

    7 Tips for Refinishing a Door With Deep Scratches

    July 18, 2022 /

    Today I’m going to share 7 tips for refinishing a door with deep scratches. I can only assume deep scratches in a wood door come from years and years of a dog scratching at the door. My number one and most helpful tip for refinishing a door with deep scratches is for the love of your sanity, DON’T DO IT! Just pretend those scratches aren’t there. Or get a new door. Better yet, just move. It would be easier. I’m joking. Partially. I truly do believe it is worth the effort to save all the old doors, so let’s get down to my actual door refinishing tips because that’s probably…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    Reclaimed Wood Bench With a Story

    September 25, 2024
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    Basement Workshop Repointing: Part 7, Stone Doorway

    April 15, 2026

    House Number Sign From Wooden Spool

    June 28, 2017
  • how to hide cords on a standing desk standing desk cord hack
    DIY

    How To Hide Cords On A Standing Desk

    June 29, 2022 /

    Standing desks are great for many things, but hiding cords is not one of them. A standing desk is required to move up and down with the push of a button. This means any cords associated with your computer setup have to move too. This makes hiding cords a little trickier than usual. So how do you hide cords on a standing desk? We built a box to hold the cords and the surge protector and attached it to the underside of the standing desk. The box allows the cords to move up and down as the desk moves up and down from the sitting to the standing position. This…

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    annisa 2 Comments

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    Why You Need House Tools In a Distinct Color

    June 5, 2024

    DIY Wood Bench

    May 27, 2016

    Basement Workshop Stone Repointing: Part 4, Floor Joists

    March 11, 2026
  • Painted Chainlink Fence Hack
    DIY,  gardening and landscape

    Painted Chainlink Fence Hack

    June 22, 2022 /

    Need a painted chainlink fence hack? You’ve come to the right place. If you’re reading this blog post then it is probably because you have an ugly chainlink fence that is driving you batty. You’ve probably wondered a million times if you can paint that chainlink fence and how much of a pain in the paintbrush is it going to be? You can paint pretty much anything. The question is whether or not it will hold up. In a grand, tedious experiment, I painted our ugly chainlink fence one year ago and discovered a hack that might save your sanity and a whole bunch of wasted paint. Here’s the hack,…

    read more
    annisa 0 Comments

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    Basement Workshop Stone Repointing: Part 5, Foundation Wall Top

    March 18, 2026

    Arrow Growth Chart – ScrapMaster Project #1

    August 27, 2014
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    4 Places To Use Brush-On Hammered Copper Paint

    July 12, 2023
  • refinished wood mirror how to label diy furniture
    decorating,  DIY

    Refinished Wood Mirror With a Sentimental Twist

    May 2, 2022 /

    I love a DIY project with a sentimental twist. Don’t you? Today’s refinished wood mirror project fits that description to a T. We have owned this wood mirror our entire marriage, so over 20 years but the mirror is much older than that. It was made in the mid-1960s. I had never seen the frame unpainted. It was painted when Handy Husband carted it over from his dive of a bachelor pad (Hello, gross shag carpet!) to the place we rented together. It was painted several times by yours truly as my style evolved over the years. The most recent iteration was a chippy, distressed look. Since that’s no longer…

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    Our New Christmas Stockings

    December 11, 2015

    Our Best Hidden Storage Purchase

    July 26, 2017

    Cardboard Pumpkin Art

    October 16, 2015
  • small projects floor patch floor repair
    DIY

    Why Do The Small Projects Seem So Large?

    April 13, 2022 /

    Why do the small projects seem so large? This could be any project or task, not just the house-related ones. Most of the time the mental gymnastics I go through to avoid starting a small project are way worse than the reality of actually completing the small project. Why is my brain that? Am I the only one who does this? I’ve seriously spent more time obsessing over, whining about, or flat-out ignoring the five small projects we tackled recently around our house. Here they are in no particular order related to the time spent procrastinating before starting, the actual effort or time expended to complete, or the satisfaction gained…

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    What We Didn’t Anticipate When Repointing Our Stone Walls

    March 13, 2024
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    DIY Pest Control Tips For An Old House

    February 7, 2022
    DIY Cabinet Door Utensil Caddy

    Cabinet Door Utensil Caddy

    February 26, 2020
  • wood dice diy wood-burned dice
    Crafts,  DIY

    How to Make Wood-Burned Dice

    April 11, 2022 /

    I have the most satisfying project for you today. How to make wood-burned dice from wood cubes. Do we need them? Need is a relative term. Do we want them? Of course. They are so cool! Are they satisfying to make? Oh, heck yeah. And that, my friends, is the best part. It’s not so much what we create, but the act of creating that’s the reward. Let’s get started on how to make wood-burned dice. How To Make Wood-Burned Dice Step #1: Cut Cubes Cut cubes out of wood using a table saw. Our cubes are 3/4″ square, but you could adapt your size if you want larger or…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    Wrapped Wheat

    October 26, 2016
    a no sew denim heart bunting banner hanging above a monitor on a wood desk. The hearts on the bunting are made from denim and are 4 inches wide. They are hung on a red cord. There's a second denim heart bunting that has red pom poms in between each heart and hanging on the wall.

    No Sew Denim Heart Bunting

    January 28, 2026

    Reusable Lunch Box Notes – Free Download

    August 13, 2014
  • wood deacons bench makeover
    decorating,  DIY

    Wood Deacon’s Bench Makeover and a Tip for Disassembling a Bench

    March 14, 2022 /

    If you love a good furniture makeover then you’re in for a treat today! We recently completed a wood deacon’s bench makeover that was so satisfying. This makeover will probably be even more satisfying for you because you didn’t have to do the work! Ha! I found a wood deacon’s bench on Facebook Marketplace for $10. The listing said it was “priced to sell.” Talk about an understatement. Here’s how the deacon’s bench looked when we brought it home. At first glance, it doesn’t look too bad. Upon closer inspection, the finish was in rough shape and the legs were a little wobbly. However, at $10 this was a steal…

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    annisa 0 Comments

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    DIY Wood Acorn Wreath

    August 23, 2023

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    Golf Ball Pumpkins

    September 4, 2017
  • main staircase makeover curved stair tread colonial house stairs
    colonial farmhouse,  DIY

    The Most Satisfying Staircase Makeover You’ve Seen Today

    March 7, 2022 /

    There has been a major oversight on this blog documenting the fixer-upper projects of this money pit Colonial Farmhouse. I never shared the staircase makeover of our main stairs. Can you believe that? Me. A chronic over-sharer forgot to tell you about one of my projects in excruciating detail. You had one job, Annisa. One. Job. How is this even possible? Well, it’s possible (cue the justification) because I lumped the staircase makeover in with the music room makeover when I wrote about it two years ago. But that post just glossed over the details. You need the details to appreciate what will be the most satisfying staircase makeover you’ve seen today…or…

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    How to Fill Gaps in Wood Floors with Oakum

    May 10, 2021
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    Updating Our Home With Antique Hardware

    June 7, 2021
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    Colonial Farmhouse Kitchen Mini Makeover One Year Later

    March 29, 2021
  • colonial farmhouse in snow 2021
    DIY

    2022 House Project Goals

    February 28, 2022 /

    We’re a full two months into 2022 and I’m finally writing about our 2022 house project goals. Who’s on top of things? Not me, I guess. Ha! Here’s the deal. I feel like we’re in a bit of a rest period. Or perhaps a bit of a dread-the-rest period. Hahaha! We’ve spent the last two and a half years tackling the low-hanging fruit around here. There was a lot of it, so it kept us busy. That wallpaper removal alone…phew. The projects we need to tackle next get a little more involved than a can of paint on a Saturday afternoon. They require some planning, some budgeting, and some crossing…

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    Why We Decided To Repoint Our Stone Walls Ourselves

    February 26, 2024
    colonial farmhouse exterior april 2021

    DIY Pest Control Tips For An Old House

    February 7, 2022
    bedroom peg rail above a dresser in a colonial farmhouse with tiffany lamp

    Bedroom Peg Rail – One Entire Wall of Storage

    March 12, 2025
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Hi! I'm Annisa.

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