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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!

6.25.2025

Classic bracket open shelves in my historic house kitchen

I was really proud of these DIY industrial wood/bracket shelves when we redid our kitchen in 2019. I couldn’t find thick enough wood on its own so I use stair risers and cut off the rounded edges. They worked great function-wise, and when we first installed them, they added some nice warm because the kitchen was so plain and so white. But now… I’m really going for a more traditional, classic, and cohesive look here, and they were sticking out like a sore thumb. 

So... I replaced them with something better!!!

Thanks to Van Dyke's Restorers for partnering with me on this post.


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6.18.2025

Re-doing the entryway wallpaper! With something way better

Well, I’m to the point of redoing DIY projects I did at this house a few years ago…! I wallpapered this entryway with peel-and-stick wallpaper in 2021, My first wallpaper project in this house. That paper was trendy and kind of modern and never exactly perfect for this house. But, it was neutral and not offensive, and I wasn’t sure what else I would choose. But an entryway is such an important moment. When you first walk into the house, I wanted it to be really special. 


Thanks to Sandberg Wallpaper for partnering with me on this post.

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5.22.2025

Finally, the right size rug for the dining room!

This dining room was the first room I called "finished" when we moved in almost 7 years ago, and because dining rooms have pretty basic ingredients, it hasn’t really changed all that much. I’ve definitely improved it though, several times. But the thing I was never able to get right was the rug. This room is about 12' x 12', which means a standard 8'x10' rug looks… OK? But definitely not high-end or really comfortable.

Thanks to Rugs USA for partnering with me on this post.

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4.17.2025

Cutest patterned Roman shades, and outside mounting them

I’ve installed many Roman shades in my house, but only just now did I install any outside mount. Inside mount is typically the ideal, because then it doesn’t block any of the trim around your windows. But on some windows, there isn’t a deep enough trim, or maybe you don’t have trim and you want to make the window look taller. Or in my case, I didn’t want to block any of the light that I didn’t have to, and when you install inside mount, you automatically block the top 6+ inches of the window when the shade is folded up.

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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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