WELCOME

Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

4.09.2025

Fast, super functional custom bamboo and woven Roman shades

An overall goal I have for my home these days is using timeless, high-quality pieces. Since we’ve been here 6 years now and I’ve been decorating it pretty much the whole time--sometimes that means redoing something I did when I didn’t know any better. When we first moved in, I bought quite a few cheap Amazon Roman shades because they had the top-down option and they sort of looked like linen. For Otto's room I got a different model that was more blackout. Neither of these held up very well or looked very good. 

It was overwhelming to think about replacing them--there are several windows and I knew they were going to be lots of options to choose from now that there are so many affordable custom window treatment options--but I put the time in and I’m so happy with it!

Thank you to Neutral Curtains for sponsoring this post.

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2.16.2025

English pine dresser refinishing project

I’ve been looking for a new, smaller dresser for Otto's room since we got the bunkbed because the layout of his room is so funky and his large painted IKEA dresser is very functional, but means you can’t access the ladder without being crushed up against it. The kids don’t seem to mind, but it’s weird. I had a small space, 36" wide, between the bunkbed and the other wall that could accommodate a dresser instead.

I wasn’t finding anything in the traditional antique/dresser styles I like because they tend to be more like 42" wide. Then I found this English pine dresser on Facebook for $40 was the perfect size, and I thought, maybe I can sand it down, sort of stain it, and make it really charming!

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1.31.2025

Vintage dining table refinishing project

I’ve been looking for a dining table for about two years, since I started refreshing my dining room with some more traditional pieces and getting rid of the modern traditional/Farmhouse look I liked when I first moved in. This house was built in 1937 and is a Tudor revival, but has a few federal revival elements in it too, and that’s my favorite style of old houses. 

I’d been scouring Facebook Marketplace and had given up my search, but then this vintage Ethan Allen table with three leaves and lovely curved legs popped up in my feed. It was in rough shape, but I think it was $60. And miraculously fit in my car. I picked it up after work and then my dad helped me get it out of the car and into the garage where it’s at for months, overwhelming me.

I mentioned to a friend that I had a dining table to refinish and she said she’d help me. I should’ve asked her before, I knew she was good at refinishing furniture! Anyway, I’m so happy I did and I now have a much better dining table in my dining room!

Vintage Ethan Allen Dining Table Refinishing

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1.25.2025

Strawberry floral and gingham little girl room!

Four years ago we finished Lucy's nursery in the "pointy room" upstairs. This house has four bedrooms with closets plus this room and the basement, which sounds like a lot but nothing is perfectly laid out for traditional family living (e.g. all bedrooms on the same floor, or kids upstairs and primary suite downstairs)... and this room is only accessible through my bedroom! Won't always work, but for now (she's four and I'm single), it works great. 

I've made a few updates over time (like these pegs for hanging clothes instead of a closet), but she slept in the crib until recently. (It was great. She never tried to climb out, either!) But this summer I found a charming vintage (c. 2002) daybed on Facebook and repainted it, and just now I finally found the perfect bedding and accessories. "Big girl" room complete!

Lucy's Big (Little) Girl Bedroom Update

The pointy ceiling and low walls add a lot of drama!


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12.28.2024

2024 recap / 2025 goals

2024... my rate of progress on this house is directly related to my 1) financial comfort but also 2) my emotional state RE the rest of my life which includes health, parenting, my coparenting relationship, and dating. I was all over the place on those things in 2024 so I had some bursts of feeling good and having lots of creative energy for house projects, and some bursts of being distracted (good and bad). In general I'm feeling pretty close to "done" with this fixer upper, at least with the important stuff, but continuous improvement is my style and I'll probably always be refining. So, here are my top projects of the past year, and what's on the list for next year, assuming those two things go well. (:


Historic home project recap

My goals for 2024 were:

1. Finish the basement. Paint touch-ups, etc. I got about 25% of those done, but getting out all the right paint and finding a wall patch solution have been overwhelming so it's still not there. I did finish the laundry room.
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11.22.2024

Stairwell wallpaper project reveal!

It doesn’t feel like that long ago that I learned to install traditional pasted wallpaper, but I realize I have now done six rooms in my house, and I love it so much! It really makes such an impact. It’s a bit more of a pain than painting, but really only a little.

I recently redid this project in 2019--my idea of redoing a space in 2019 was basically painting it white and adding some black and gray. :P This house felt so old and dusty, and that was my reaction to it. But now I am trying to complement it a little more, although still working with what I have, which is lots of white trim.


Stairwell wallpaper project

This stairwell goes down to our basement, which two years ago we had finished out with drywall and added a bathroom, so it’s actually a relatively nice space to play, plus I do laundry there. So I walk through this stairwell quite frequently, but it was always a little dingy and plain.

It’s also the door out to the trash can area and driveway so it’s a holding spot for things I want outside of the kitchen. I added some hooks to make it more functional before, but it was still really lacking in looks.

It’s right off the kitchen where I’ve recently been trying to add some traditional style and warmth, like with my vintage plate walls.


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11.20.2024

Living room update! Rug, sconces, plates, and unique curtains

My living room has been a great canvas the past few years. Living rooms are hard to decorate (there are so many options for what might work) and I've tried a lot of different things. I don't think I'll ever be totally done, but I'm feeling so good about some of these new pieces and think they will last a long time.


Historic Tudor revival house living room update


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11.12.2024

Back patio door replacement + tips to Paint Smarter!

This spring I had my driveway and back patio replaced with new concrete (read about that here). It was an expensive project and it had quite a few domino effects and other little things it encouraged me to get done around the backyard. One domino was this strange back patio door we’d had with a 5” or so ledge you had to step (or trip) over. I had the concrete guys cut the ledge down to the grade, but then the old door was too short! I found an antique one on Facebook, probably around the same age as my others (1937 home with all the original doors). I’ll spare you the installation saga (it took two handymen and a custom brickmold trim order to get this thing installed right…) but I also really took some steps to do the painting of the new door and trim right, and I’m sharing a few tips for smart paint purchasing, storage, and recycling in this post.

This post is sponsored by PaintCare, an organization with a ton of resources to help you paint smarter and recycle paint!
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10.10.2024

A fake Christmas tree when you grew up with real tree purists

I can’t believe how excited I am about this fake Christmas tree. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where there are Christmas tree farms and cut tree lots everywhere and you can have the magical experience of getting your own… But as an adult having kids and a million things to do and stressful communication with my husband, I grew to really dislike and almost fear the experience. I have some really bad memories of the last few times we tried before we separated. 

Well, a couple years ago I realized, I’m a single mom now and I get to choose what works for me and my family! I am shedding the guilt and creating new magical traditions with my kids with fake trees! Without all the stress and mess! And I just got a really wonderful one.

Thanks to King of Christmas for sponsoring this post.

Realistic Pre-lit Christmas Tree

I’m really excited about this tree because it has the more bare fir look of some of the beautiful real trees, but it's fake and pre-lit. Honestly, those firs at Christmas tree yards are like $150 so I’ve never bought one even when buying real trees… But I love the look! This 7.5' Rushmore Fir Artificial Christmas Tree 750 Warm White LED Lights from King of Christmas has the slightly more bare branches, plus, my favorite feature: plastic fronds as well as the fabric ones that the cheaper trees will be exclusively. 

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