Thess Socety Blog

I love lighting!  Now that I'm about to start ripping walls down and expanding spaces (God help me!) I'm looking at picking up new chandeliers and ceiling lights for my dining room and home office and I've been exploring the different online shopping sites.   I love this traditional look: or maybe with the white shades... Read more »

Max's energy levels never seemed to wind down much. He was bright-eyed and bushy tailed and interested in EVERYTHING.  He spent a lot of time following me around.  If I made the slightest sound while in another room, he pounced.  He was quick to wake up and jump in with all four feet whenever anything might be going on.  This was cute for a short time but I am a DIY blogger and without DIY'ing, my blog would cease to exist.  Max was preventing me from getting any work done at all!! Read more »

Welcome to my little 'ol 1930s cottage bungalow!  I love the character of old houses but I don't love the lack of insulation. There are several ways to add extra insulation to old homes without having to tear down interior walls.  My solution is the least expensive and the cutest (in my humble opinion!) Read more »

I began September by working on a project to extend the eaves of my workshop so that the snow wouldn't settle at the foundation and flood the shop in the spring anymore. Since my goal is to clean out all the scrap materials I've been hoarding  storing in the shop, I decided to build awnings over the shop windows.  That fell apart pretty quickly when I realized the windows were not properly framed out.  Obviously they had been an add-on installed by someone who had no idea about framing. That project became a lean-to shed instead.  (I've always been a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl LOL!).  I had 7 old doors in my shed of various sizes and shapes and I thought they would make excellent siding, so I got cracking building a frame to attach all the doors to. Read more »

Every year when I take stock of my seemingly never-ending to do list on the house, I think I'm close to finishing the work. This year I KNOW I'm close!! I got so many of the little niggling things completed and took a big whack at a few of the larger things too! My goal this year was to create a larger opening between the living and dining rooms but a leaky front entry ceiling took precedence and the living/dining room opening will have to wait... Here is my new front entry complete with a new front door and storm door! Read more »

I've been using textured wallpaper lately to give the new addition on my home a cottage style boost to match the paneling in the old section of the house. This particular wallpaper is pre-pasted and super easy to cut into lengths.  It stretches a tiny bit and is a bit tricky to trim unless you have a super sharp blade and a metal wide putty knife.  Other than that it is awesome!  And you can paint it too! I got my wallpaper from  Graham and Brown , an online wallpaper supplier with a wide range of styles and types of wallpaper. Here are some of the ways I used their textured bead board wallpaper: I added a wainscot to my main bathroom: Read more »

It's no secret, I love vintage furniture.  I have several Ikea pieces purchased long ago and I've been changing up the look of those pieces with trim and paint.  During my bedroom redecorating project, I began a makeover of my Ikea Leksvik dresser. I like the look of the dresser but I was ready for a change.  And I changed it 7 times!  Take a look at all the different looks this dresser went through before I decided what to keep. Read more »