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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!

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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9.17.2024

Basement laundry room but make it cute - reveal! And sources

A basement laundry room is not my dream situation, but I’ve finally finished renovating and now styling this one and am happy with it! It was part of the big basement renovation project that we started in early 2022 but, thanks and part two divorce and lots of other priorities in life, there were still paint, touchups and other things to do until very recently. little by little finished parts of this room and then finally got the final piece, very cool, traditional drying rack!

Old House Basement Laundry Room Reveal


The blue on the walls is a shade darker than the blue on the drywall around the rest of the basement: the laundry room walls and trim and the trim everywhere else is Sherwin-Williams 6228 Refuge, the walls in the rest of the basement are SW 6227 Meditative. It’s actually really beautiful blue color, not too dark despite this being a slightly darker space, perfect amount of muddiness. 

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9.05.2024

Charming preppy guest room/office reveal! And sources

This guest room was my most recent room makeover project last summer, finished just before our house was on the old house TV show. But then last February, I was relaxing in a hot tub in Scottsdale and scrolling Instagram, and saw an image that I just loved so much, and felt so much more true to my style than how I had been decorating the past few years! I am leaning into my preppy side. With the creative juices flowing from the relaxation state of that vacation, I became inspired to put up some blue and white wallpaper in this sun-filled guest room that I also use as my office. It’s taken quite a few months to get all the elements in place but it’s finally done and I’m so happy with it!

Classic Feminine Wallpapered Guest Room

This is a really great room because it has south and west-facing windows, so lots of light particularly in the afternoon. I love it for my office for that reason! But it’s also just beautiful as a peaceful bed to look at as I passed by in the hall. And, we’ve used it to sleep in when it’s too hot upstairs! The blue and white Rifle Paper Co. paper wallpaper was obviously the anchor, but since it is a little cleaner/fresher/preppier then I've done the past few years. It took me a lot of head-scratching to find the rest of the pieces.

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9.03.2024

Historic breakfast nook makeover reveal! And sources

I visited this house once when I was a kid. With my mom, talking to the previous owners about some neighborhood association stuff. The only thing I remember is the built-ins in the breakfast nook. When we walked through the house 25 years later, I was delighted to see that of course they are still there and just as I remember them.

But the nook itself needed some updates. I painted it a couple years ago, which was fun, but it was still a little plain. I’ve put a lot of thought into the curtains and other elements and now it’s finally done!

Tudor Revival Breakfast Nook Reveal

Welcome to this sunny room. The sun comes up on this side of the house and sunlight streams into here on clear mornings. 

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8.12.2024

My experience with home warranties

I realized this summer during the big heat wave that we had that my air conditioning was broken. I shared a little about that on Instagram and how it was OK because my home warranty would probably cover it (it did! He replaced three parts and the thermostat, and it cost me the $85 visit fee/deductible). I got some questions and figured I should share a little more about my experiences over the past 10+ years with home warranties.
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