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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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  • what we didn't anticipate when repointing our stone walls in the basement ourselves repointing stone walls takes a lot of time
    DIY

    6 Things We Found Inside Our Stone Walls

    April 24, 2024 /

    Oh, the interesting and downright horrifying things we’ve found INSIDE our stone walls will not be easily purged from my memory. Why would we be looking for things inside our stone walls? And why do we even have stone walls? These stone walls are, in essence, our foundation walls. The oldest part of our home dates back to the 1780s. The home was added onto a few more times and all of our foundation walls are built with field stone and lime mortar as shown in the photo below. We’ve been repointing the stone walls in our basement. Repointing means chipping out an inch or so of the surface layer…

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    annisa 2 Comments

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    6 Split Ceiling Medallion Installation Tips

    April 22, 2024 /

    If you’re considering installing a split ceiling medallion, I  have six split ceiling medallion installation tips for you! (Say that six times fast! Haha!) A ceiling medallion is that decorative circular ring on the ceiling above a light fixture. They used to have a practical use of helping to conceal the ring of soot put off by lighting that involved a flame, but today are mainly decorative. If you’re considering installing a split ceiling medallion (two half circles you put together) over a regular ceiling medallion, you probably have a very good reason for not wanting to take your light down to install a ceiling medallion. I had my reasons…

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    What We Regret About Our Laundry Room Makeover

    April 15, 2024 /

    It has been one year since we completed our laundry room makeover. One year? Already? It feels like forever since we completed that project. I suppose that means time does not fly by when you’re doing laundry every day. Shocking…said no one typing a blog post next to a giant pile of clothes to be folded. Don’t get me wrong. We love with a capital L how this space turned out. It is a combination laundry room and pantry and it flows so nicely with the rest of the house now, particularly the kitchen. It’s how the space always should have been. No matter how much you enjoy a room,…

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  • stone steps showing wear in basement in home
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    Foot Wear On Our Stone Steps and A Basement Mystery

    March 20, 2024 /

    I noticed an interesting thing while we’ve been repointing the basement. There is foot traffic wear on our stone steps. If you look closely, you can see the slight dip on the left side of the stairs closest to the handrail, especially on the fourth and fifth stairs down from the top. Fascinating, right? How old do stone steps have to be and how much foot traffic do stone steps have to receive before the treads start wearing down? I’m not sure. I went spelunking on the internet to try and find the answer to this question. There might be a mathematical way to solve this question but we are…

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    Filling Floor Gaps With Oakum: Update 2 1/2 Years Later

    March 18, 2024 /

    Two and a half years ago, I filled the gaps in our original wood floors with oakum. You can read more about that process here. This is a niche solution to a common problem with homes built in the 1700s and 1800s with original wood floors and gaps between those floorboards. Our house was built in the 1780s and later added onto in the 1800s. It’s time for an update on how that oakum has held up! First of all, what is oakum? Historically speaking, oakum is a combination of natural fibers like hemp or jute and tar or oil that was used to caulk wooden ships to make them…

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    May 14, 2025
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    June 2, 2021
  • what we didn't anticipate when repointing our stone walls in the basement ourselves repointing stone walls takes a lot of time
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    What We Didn’t Anticipate When Repointing Our Stone Walls

    March 13, 2024 /

    We live in a really old home with a stone foundation. We started repointing our stone walls in the basement because it was time to tackle that project. Read more about that here. Homeownership 101 says you have to take care of your foundation if you don’t want your house to develop a catastrophic issue. For a stone foundation, the outer layer of stone has to be repointed periodically – every 50 – 100 years. Repointing stone walls means you remove the old lime mortar that is failing and replace it with new lime mortar. You only need to chip out an inch or so of the old mortar to…

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    August 31, 2016
  • before picture of a stone wall that needs repointing stone foundation that needs repointing
    DIY

    Why We Decided To Repoint Our Stone Walls Ourselves

    February 26, 2024 /

    On our long to-do list when we bought this Colonial Farmhouse fixer-upper was to repoint the stone walls in our basement. To emphasize how important these stone walls are, they are not there for show. They are our foundation walls. The foundation holds up the house. Taking care of it is not an option unless you want your house to fall down. We decidedly do not want our house to fall down. That would be bad. (Understatement of the year.) How did we know our stone walls needed to be repointed? The little piles of sand at the bottom of the wall were our first clue. We didn’t need any…

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    annisa 2 Comments

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    5 Places Rechargeable Light Bulbs Won’t Disappoint You

    February 21, 2024 /

    If you’re contemplating using rechargeable light bulbs, then I know you have a lighting situation that’s dimming your spirit a little. Maybe a lot. If it was a hassle-free, inexpensive fix, and your best friend’s sister’s cousin is an electrician, then you would have already shone a light on your dark corner. Same. Or maybe you are renting and there’s no way your landlord is going to spring for more outlets and hardwired lights. Gives new meaning to the Dark Ages. Been there too. Couldn’t see a thing. Rechargeable light bulbs are not going to solve all of your life problems. Disappointing, I know. However, they have been improving in…

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    The Hidden Meaning Behind This Reclaimed Wood Tray

    February 19, 2024 /

    I never thought there would be a hidden meaning behind a reclaimed wood tray. Yet, here we are. To set the stage, we live in a colonial-era home that we’ve been restoring for the last four and a half years. Old homes should come with a warning. Not the “this house is a money pit” warning. Although, it will be. Not the “this house makes disturbing noises” warning. It does. Not the “people probably died here” warning. For sure they have. They were born here too. Not the “rodents have more entrances to your home than you do” warning. It’s infuriating. The warning old houses should come with is this…

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    How To Make Wood Heart Planters

    February 7, 2024 /

    Hello, Valentines! Would you like to see how to make the cutest wood heart planters today? You wood? Fantastic! I’m glad we’re all speaking the same love language here. Puns. I think puns are our love language. And DIY. But mainly puns. This planter is not going to make itself, so let’s get to work! Materials Needed: 1×6 or larger piece of cedar or other wood of preference wood glue small finish nails or brad nails jigsaw or bandsaw sandpaper Wood Heart Planter Dimensions: Opening: 4.5 inches Height: 5.25 inches (total, includes base) Width: 5.25 inches Base: 2.50 x 2.50 x .25 inches To print out a PDF of this…

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Hi! I'm Annisa.

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