Thess Socety Blog

Livingroom AFTER Have you ever been kind of horrified at what your home decor used to look like? I was scrolling through old posts this morning and was blown away by how dark, dull and depressing my living room used to be!  Blogging has been a great way for me to find my style and pull things together in a much more pleasing way thanks to all my blog friends who inspire me daily. Here's how my living room was transformed.  Enjoy my walk down memory lane. Read more »

B E F O R E (CRAIG'S LIST PHOTO) As you all know, I change paint colours like I change my clothes... When I picked up this 1980s hutch for a song on Craig's List, I had no idea what a painting odyssey I was about to embark upon! My poor dining room has been remade many times over until I finally had all the right furniture and colour scheme I wanted for my cottage style 1930s bungalow.  Scroll down to see all the different looks this old hutch has been given! Read more »

I'm full of good ideas, tips and tricks. They don't always work out the way I thought they would, but I keep at it until I get what I want. I've been messing around with a lot of paint this year, tweaking my decor to get everything to fit together better.  I've also picked up some things on clearance and made over other things that were sitting in the shed or that I found at yard sales.  Change is good!  Here are some tips and tricks I've used. Read more »

I need a new lamp for my bedroom.  Since I already have 3 table lamps sitting in a closet, I decided to make over one of them instead of buying yet another lamp... Spray paint to the rescue!!!!!!  (Isn't paint our best friend??) Read more »

I'm so happy with my newly redecorated dining room! The black and white scheme makes the wood furniture the focal point which is what I wanted.  Now this space fits my cottage decor beautifully and is a look I am happy with. I began accumulating furniture for the dining room when I first moved in. The furniture I had already was minimal and not really my taste - without a huge budget, I took my time choosing the right pieces for the right prices by buying second hand furniture. Read more »

The room is really coming together! I still have one more chair to paint, but 5 are done and I replaced the Craig's List chandelier with one I bought from Lowes. I ordered it online on a Saturday and it was in my hands by Tuesday - gotta like that!! Do you want to see the room so far?? Read more »

Phase 1 of creating my dream dining room is almost complete!  I began with the hutch and chairs and I am thrilled with the way this makeover is turning out! Remember the "before" hutch: I loved it in the aqua, but it didn't fit with my dream inspiration: 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 »

Welcome to my quest to turn my Ikea Stranda wardrobe into a cool, vintage looking piece of furniture. I've painted and repainted and tried all sorts of looks on this piece, but nothing really spoke to my heart until this latest makeover. I began with this bare basic Ikea Stranda wardrobe, bought many years ago because it was solid wood and unfinished so it wasn't terribly expensive. Read more »

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 »

Sometimes you just need to sit back and take score of how far you've come. As I was scrolling through my hundreds of photos this morning, I thought it would be fun to do a post with photos to show the huge progress I've made on my house renovation project.  I've used the photos from the 2010 Realtor's ad as the before shots and recent photos to show how it looks now. I hope you enjoy this tour as much as I did!  It was so nice to document my renovation journey all in one post! Read more »

I love shelves!  In my small kitchen, I don't have enough cupboards so I use whatever I can find to add extra storage.  I've built a tiny pantry cabinet, added a sideboard for extra counterspace and storage and now I've found a free hutch top that I hung on the wall.  I LOVE it!!! Check out my latest project and the tutorial! 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 »

No, I'm not finished... is anybody ever finished?? lol I still have two walls & the ceiling to paint and the floor to refinish BUT pretty much everything else is done! Welcome to my quest to create a light, bright farmhouse kitchen from a room with no windows, 4 doorways, un-salvageable original cabinets and a miserable 3' of counter space.  The only thing going for the space was the oak floors. Read more »