Thess Socety Blog

I have made my little fixer-upper house into my perfect home! When I bought this house, I was in a rough patch of my life. The house needed a lot of work, it was not what I wanted to live in but it was in my price range and in a great location. Six years later, this house has become my dream home. It is a very cozy and happy place for me and my pets. There is still a bit of tweaking to do - but isn't that always the case when you own a home?? It just goes to show that you can have your dreams come true, all you have to do is believe in yourself and it happens! Enjoy the tour! Read more »

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 »

2016 was a year of delays.  So many things went sideways that I didn't accomplish much of what I set out to do.  What I did do was to finish up some unfinished projects and I got around to repainting the walls in my living room, dining room and home office.  I'm naming 2016 my "lighter, brighter year".   Here's my roundup for 2016. Read more »

Sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit. My two bathrooms were decorated in a very similar look and since I made over the main bathroom so many times in so many different colours, I decided to change the 2nd bathroom using things I already had on hand. I really do love sandy beige and white together.  It makes me think of beaches and sunny weather, so I pulled out all the accessories I had in those colours and swapped out the old look for the new.  What I love about this change is that the sand and white really work well with the sand coloured paint on the walls and the beige and white flooring. 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 »

Well I was all set to share this project several weeks ago except that I wound up not liking the makeover I gave my wardrobe (what else is new??!). But I'm getting ahead of myself... My home office has been in need of an overhaul ever since I settled on cottage style decor for this house.  For some time it's been that room where I dump all the things I can't use in other rooms because I'm not ready to part with any of it - do you have one of those??  But this year I've been really good at getting rid of stuff that I no longer use or need.  That being said, Izzy decided to sample the arm on my living room armchair and since I can't fix what she did, that chair is now in the office as well. 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 »

Another year, another dining room makeover! This time, though, I am getting the look I truly want! INSPIRATION ROOM Last week I scored 4 matching Windsor chairs on Craig's List and found one solid oak Windsor chair in great shape at the dump.  Now my dining room furniture is exactly the style I want it to be.  Time to give all the mismatched furniture a makeover to get my dream dining room! Read more »

I am in love with mercury glass...  and Christmas cookie cutters, too! I found loads of ideas for decorating with cookie cutters and settled on a garland for over my kitchen sink.   All it took was a $5 box of Christmas cookie cutters (I got mine at Real Canadian Superstore) and a ball of $1.50 twine from the Dollar Store.  Oh and I also used a tiny bit of holly twine that I also bought at Superstore. Read more »

I love burgundy - especially when used in Christmas decorating.  To me, burgundy Christmas decorations always seem like they're from another century.  I don't know why... feels to me like a colour from bygone days somehow. I've been searching for a Christmas wreath that I liked but I didn't like any of the prices, so I decided to make my own.  I had these grapevine wreaths and a box of glittered fruit in my stash of Christmas decorations and I bought a roll of canvas ribbon with sequins along the edges. Read more »

I thought it might be fun to look back at my Christmas trees over the past few years.   I love tiny Christmas trees and they are particularly sweet with Max around since he tends to climb anything that even resembles a tree but he can't do much with these little ones (except to suck the lights...)   I hope you enjoy my trip down Christmas memory lane. Read more »

A few weeks ago I found an oval dining table on Craig's List.  It is EXACTLY what I have been searching for!  I was so excited.  The table was only $50 so I was prepared for it to need refinishing.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it was in reasonably good condition! It wouldn't fit in my car, though, so I was looking at it with an eye to taking the whole thing apart when the man selling it offered to deliver it to my house.  A very generous offer considering we didn't live in the same town!  Several days later, the table was delivered AND set up by the man and his wife.  How sweet is that?!  Here is a look at the table when I first got it home: Read more »

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 »

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 »

I have an old style, hand made night stand that I didn't terribly like much but it did the job. Then I got my "princess-and-the-pea" extremely high king-sized bed and this old style night table was much lower than the top of the mattress. Why are mattresses so huge these days anyway??? I made over the night stand several years ago, stenciling the top with a Fleur-de-lis pattern that I liked but with my new cottage style look I decided to take the time to fix up this night table once and for all. BEFORE Read more »

Another day, another project to disguise weird stuff in my house. So it's back to my laundry and mudroom where the pipes for the washer and the electrical for the dryer come up straight out of the floor! Whoo hoo - who thought that was a great idea??? Time to take things into my own hands. Read more »

My new front entry is complete!  New exterior door, new door handle, new wood storm door and some of the landscaping done around my newish front landing! I am thrilled with my new door and old style wood storm door.  Take a look! Read more »

Guess what I found on Craig's List?! An antique iron bed - I am in HEAVEN!!!  It is a 3/4 sized bed so it fits beautifully into my somewhat tiny guest room.   Of course, a makeover of my guest bedroom was now in order. I am thrilled at how inviting this room has become. I no longer have that ugly futon as a guest bed.  I love that this iron bed is from the era of the house and that everything fell into place effortlessly.   I really do think this house whispers design choices to me.  And I have been unusually successful this year at finding antiques at incredibly low prices.  I think the house is behind it.  I've also been hearing murmurings that it wants to be called "Ashcroft Cottage" instead of "Ashtree Cottage".   Sheesh.   Maybe I need more sleep... Take a look at my antique iron bed: Read more »