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 »

This is a project that worked out even better than I thought it would!  I gave myself a brand new deck surface for free. How did I do it?  Well, it took a lot of elbow grease but I took my ugly, flaked, checked and cracked deck boards and flipped them all over to give myself a new surface.  With a bit of cleaning and sanding, the deck surface looks so amazing I wish I had done this the year I  moved in! Read more »

Well 2015 was a great year even though I wasn't able to do some of the things I had planned to. 2016 began with a new addition to my family.  Meet Izzy (Isabelle) everyone!   She is approximately 3 months old and had a rocky start to her life.  She was found with her littermates discarded at the side of a road in a cardboard box.  Two of the pups had already expired in the cold and the rest had bad worms and the worst lice the vets had ever seen.  She is a bit underweight still and small for 3 months.  She's only 10 pounds!  From the look of some of the pups, there is husky or Finnish lapphund in the mix and the rest look like border collies.  Izzy is a little darling! Bear with me as I go through her first few months living here.  I won't have much time for DIY projects... That being said, I do have three big projects planned for this year.  I am definitely ripping a wider opening in the wall between the living and dining rooms - remember this was on last year's list b...

My kitchen has no outside walls. That means it has no windows directly to the outdoors. UGH. I love light, I love sunshine streaming through windows and lighting up my house. This was not the case in my kitchen. Last year I renovated the space and added a pass through window in one of the walls.  Now the sun can reach the kitchen - hooray!!  But it is still not a terribly well-lit space. Cue my desire to open the wall between the living and dining rooms - the dining room is the brightest room in the house.  That, however, will be a big job because the wall is a supporting wall (at least I'm treating it that way, even if the building inspector didn't think it was).  I decided to tackle the opening from the living room into the kitchen instead since I know for sure that wall isn't supporting. 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 »

I have been dreaming of a light, bright living room ever since I first moved into this dark 1930s bungalow four years ago.  This coming year, my main goal is to open up the living and dining room spaces and then add new windows which aren't in the budget for 2015, but are a coming attraction. The wall behind the TV is the wall I'm going to be working with. Read more »

Ever since I moved into my house I've wanted to tear down the front porch and rebuild it.  First because it was tiny, second because it was uncomfortable to use and third because it was not scaled appropriately for the house. I was thrilled to bits when everything came together this year to deliver the very porch I'd been dreaming of!!  I didn't have time to build it myself but the contractor, the price I could afford and the timing all worked out beautifully, it was one of those "meant to be" scenarios. Tah daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Read more »