Thess Socety Blog

NEW GREENHOUSE After 6 years of using my baby greenhouse that was built from 3 old storm windows, it became apparent this year that it just wasn't big enough for my needs anymore. The biggest issue I deal with is the late spring frosts and early fall frosts that we are prone to at an elevation of 3700 ft (1125 m). What I need is a place where I can keep 2 full grown tomato plants all summer long and not have to worry about them getting killed by frost.  This new greenhouse also gives me plenty of room to store my planters in the early spring to keep them from overnight temps that could kill them. BABY GREENHOUSE Read more »

Welcome to my new cottage style, light and bright home office! I did some major purging of this space and I'm so glad I did. I have half the clutter I used to have and even that doesn't feel as oppressive as it used to feel.  And remember how I left that wardrobe?  When one of my readers mentioned the fact that it was such a contemporary piece I realized I had been taking the wrong approach to the makeover.  Now I love it! Read more »

I recently did a makeover of my home office (see Cottage Home Office Makeover HERE)  and to complete the look of the space, I created a filing cabinet from a set of desk drawers left over from an old metal desk I wanted to get rid of.  I disassembled the entire desk and used the parts for other purposes.  The front desk panel became a tabletop for a potting bench I have outdoors.  The old wood top became the sides and base of the washstand cabinet I built last year.                                          The drawers were turned into a tiny filing cabinet for my new home office. Read more »

Another day, another project!  This time I wanted to replace the gate hardware that I had installed on my old door gate.  The hardware I had been using was ok, but difficult to open from the outside so I installed a thumb latch style instead courtesy of D. Lawless Hardware . Here is the hardware I received: Read more »

Why do garden doors open outward???  I'm really not a fan but I'm not in a position to change the door out, so I decided to install a wind chain to keep the door from banging into the side of the house whenever I want to let some fresh air into the bedroom. My challenge?  This is a metal door so I need to learn how to work with metal to do this. My bonus?   D Lawless Hardware supplied the wind chain! Here is what I installed: Read more »

Remember last year when I installed a new front door and an old-style wood storm door? Well during a wind storm this past month, the wind whipped the storm door out of my hand and smashed it into the light on my front porch. I've since replaced the lights (of course both had to be replaced because my current light is discontinued) and added a door closer on the storm door to  make  sure this doesn't happen again. I ordered the parts from a website called  D. Lawless Hardware  .  This really is an awesome online hardware site.  The prices are fantastic!  Although since they are a sponsor, I didn't have to pay for the parts. This was actually a pretty simple DIY, here's the tutorial: Read more »

With cottage style sweeping through my home, it was time to rethink my master bedroom decor.  I had enjoyed the look I had going on, but it was not light, bright and airy. I had a couple of boosts this year - Graham & Brown offered me free wallpaper and D. Lawless Hardware sent me a second set of the antique handles I had used on my antique washstand project.  With my free wallpaper, a can of paint in a greige tone and a can of Ben Moore Simply White paint I took on the bedroom challenge once again... I began by installing a high wainscot with the textured bead board wallpaper.  I used 1x4 pre-primed mdf molding to cap the wainscot.  Then I painted the molding to match the trim and I painted out the Lenox Tan paint with a half shade of CIL's Manuscript.  I love this paint colour!! Read more »

Once upon a time there was a little antique washstand. Somebody thought it looked better without the mirror, so they removed it. Then somebody thought it would look nice painted green. Then painted yellow. Years passed and the cabinet was sold. To me. Whoop! Here's what this piece looked like when I bought it (please note, this is not my home) Read more »

I have TOO MUCH STUFF! Are you feeling the same way lately? Sometimes I wonder if this need to purge and edit is related to the position of the stars and moon, everyone I talk to seems to be feeling this way. I had this huge old office desk in my kind of tiny home office which is made even smaller by the HUGE wardrobe I refuse to part with that is stored in here as well.  Soooo I took the desk apart and reused the desk top for my pretty new washstand project, took one side of the drawers to the dump and repurposed the other side of drawers as a stand alone filing cabinet (project still in progress). I found a sweet little console table type computer desk for sale online and scooped it for $30. This is what it looked like when I bought it: And this is what it looks like now: Read more »

I have wanted a vintage washstand with a towel bar for a long, long time. Unfortunately, this type of cabinet doesn't seem to ever come up for sale in my part of the world so my challenge began! How am I going to recreate this look?? I think I did pretty well!   My main goal this year is to clear out my workshop of as much of the hoarded materials as I can.  I am tired of clutter!  I began to assemble a pile of components that I could use for this project. Read more »

Hello!  I am thrilled to bits with my latest upgrade - lever doorknobs for my interior doors!! My very first home had lever doorknobs and I loved the ease of them.  So much better than knobs for those times when your hands are full.  I love the look of them as well. My latest house has mismatched doorknobs throughout.  The original, 1930s house has glass doorknobs which I kept.  The new part of the house had chrome knobs and every time I opened or closed a door my knuckles would bang against the door frame.  Curses!!!  Thanks to my partnership with D. Lawless Hardware , I was able to install gorgeous lever doorknobs from a manufacturer called Copper Creek in a  Tuscan bronze finish that matches most of my light fixtures and the kitchen hardware. Read more »

I am thrilled with the results of my latest kitchen project.  When I remodeled my kitchen after moving in, I bought stock cabinets from Home Depot.  They are the bargain basement version of cabinets but they did have wood fronts which is a feature I wanted. What they offered for the drawers was the bare basic drawer slides that only let 75% of the drawer slide out so you never can see what is in the back of the drawers easily...   I found these full extension drawer slides on the D. Lawless Hardware website and ordered enough to do  all the drawers in my kitchen. Click on photo to go to D Lawless Site Once I received them and had a look at the instructions, I was TOTALLY intimidated and hemmed and hawed for a few months before tackling the job.  As it turns out, replacing existing drawer slides makes this project a BREEZE.  Once I figured out the best approach, it took me 10 minutes per drawer to pull out the old slides & install the new.   Easy peasy!!   Here's how I did it....

I'm always on the lookout for things I can upcycle and use to decorate my home.  Last fall I found a 1970s wood and antique brass chandelier at the dump.  It was missing the screws and glass shades but I liked the overall look of it so I dragged it home for my guest bedroom. A few coats of white spray paint breathed new life into this light fixture.  Of course I was so excited to see it painted I forgot the obligatory before shot.   Sigh.   It looked a little like this one (see below) only the wood is oak and was a lighter stain colour. Read more »

I had a black sofa table. I loved it when I bought it, I liked the black and the style of the table. Nowadays I'm not as fond of black as I once was and I really wanted to give my table a fresh new look.  Out came the paint cans! I used good 'ol latex paint in Behr Almond Cream and a tiny bit of paint from my tube of acrylic Raw Umber for this project.  I'm thrilled with the new look! Read more »