My name is Tarah and its great to meet you!

Working Basement Bathroom and our VERY ODD hot water problems…

We officially, for the first time EVER, have a working basement bathroom! If you had told me that a major highlight in my life would be a toilet a few years back I would not have believed you. Once I started working on this house though stranger and stranger things delight me. To be fair I’m sure I’m not the only one who has bounced up and down with excitement over a working toilet! Six years, hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars spent down here to finally, for the first time ever in this house’s history, have a real bathroom in the basement! Read More »

Thrift Store Basket Makeover for Mother’s Day

I’ve had this little basket that I picked up at a thrift store floating around the house for a few months now with my plan to give it a milk glass makeover. It was a little grungy but I thought if I went full white it could become quite pretty. I can’t continue with this post though until I tell you the story of my monster aloe plant. A while back my mom stopped by our place to drop some things off when we weren’t home. Read More »

DIY Rolling Barn Door Hardware – Inexpensive using steel plumbing pipe

How to inexpensively create rolling barn door hardware with plumbing pipe. Total cost of hardware was around $60 and the doors were $50. Tip I learned the hard way after this project: My town doesn’t sell very much pipe or hardware and almost NONE of it is black. So I finally just started ordering it all from Amazon. It is a little more expensive but once I factored in how many times my local stores didn’t have in stock what I needed… It just made more sense. Moving back to completing our basement: the bathroom and storage closet down here needed doors! As most everyone knows nowadays rolling barn door hardware isn’t cheap and the very old school look I wanted was the most expensive of all. I had already seen black pipe used just like this so I knew it would work! Read More »

Hickory Workbench and Shelves, a DIY Custom Build for Lodi’s Room

Building Lodi a Custom Hickory Workbench and Shelves. The “closet” in Lodi’s new room was the obvious place for his workbench, peg board and the majority of his storage. We built this new room and completed several steps to finally getting here including Lodi spray painting his peg board in chrome. The closet is particularly deeper to the far left side of it, leaving a 12″ deep “pocket” that seemed the perfect placement for shelves. That gave me the idea that instead of just spanning the entire width of the closet with his workbench, we could cut the bench in an L shape and include one of the “shelves” right in it. Which, admittedly, left me with a bit of anxiety on getting the cuts right! Read More »

Washer and Dryer Combo Unit – One Machine that does BOTH!

The history of how I ended up with a washer and dryer combo unit goes all the way back to when I first moved in here in 2015. I went with a budget to our scratch and dent LG store on a wing and prayer hoping to purchase everything: a microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, stove and washer and dryer for under $4,000. And though, six years later, I have nothing good to say about LG dishwashers I’m still thrilled with the rest of our appliances – I was even able to get them all in stainless steel! I had every intention of having the traditional two units in our laundry room and had already run the electrical for the washer and the dryer along with the plumbing. What I had not done yet though was squeeze into the crawl space to run the dryer vent. Read More »

Old Gardener’s Toolbox Upcycle – Bathroom Storage and a Towel Bar!

Old Gardener’s Toolbox Upcycle. I’ve been hanging on to this old gardener’s toolbox that my Grandparents’ built for several years now. I wanted to do something DIFFERENT with it but I just struggled for ideas. The first idea I had was a pretty obvious one: A table centerpiece to hold cutlery, napkins etc. But here’s the truth: We’re not table centerpiece people lol. The majority of the time our dining room table is not used for eating and that’s just the honest truth of it all. Read More »

Adding Tufted Upholstery to an old Coffee Table

Adding a tufted top and a new paint job to an old coffee table. I’ve been working on the refresh of my living room for awhile now. It started when I decided I hated my sofa and was ready for a new one! That worked out perfect because I really needed my old sofa to complete my seating area out in my garage. Following my old sofa to the garage was my coffee table and one of my end tables too! That left my living room pretty barren: the perfect time to do a makeover! Read More »

Three Legged Stool Makeover: Paint and stain combo with dipped legs

Teaming up with Chas in our DIY blog hop this month with projects for our bathrooms! (Make sure and check out all of the bathroom projects following this post and feel free to join in!) This little stool has a fun story behind it. My Grandparents’ were wood workers and made and sold lots of these along with many other pieces of furniture. One of my neighbors is an avid follower of my blog and felt she simply had to return it to me so this milking stool came home after being gone for over 30 years! Read More »

Lace Doily Upcycling on my Radio Stand Kitchen Island

Lace doily upcycling across the front of my kitchen island that I made out of my great grandpa’s radio stand. This piece remains one of my ALL TIME favorite transformations that I’ve created. Some projects just work! It was like this old radio stand had been waiting 100 years to be made into a kitchen island. It looks great from the front and the shelves in the back house all my recipe books too. During my recent kitchen remodel I did some surgery on it to work even better for me. Read More »

Thrift Store Lamp gets a Country Makeover with the Farmhouse Hens

So, a few months ago, I went to my local thrift store to get myself a sweater to make mug koozies for my Christmas in a Jar post. I left the thrift store with two sweaters, some shop rags, a mirror tray and a lamp! To be fair I still only spent $8 and no one really believed I was just gonna be able to get one sweater right? Read More »

Lamp gets a country girl makeover using license plates! Before and After!

My new guest bedroom and library needed a reading lamp for the bedside table so, of course, I went thrifting! I found this little dude for only $6 and then went directly to walmart and found what I decided was the perfect burlap lamp shade. From there it was time to decide just how I was going to transform this little lamp into something country and fun! Using two old MN license plates I got to work! Read More »

A little end table gets a full on adult country girl redo!

There are a lot of changes taking place here at my Grandma’s old farmhouse. You guys know now that I got divorced and that means new and very different plans for the whole house. My old office is now going to become my guest bedroom and library and it felt really important to refinish all of the furniture that will be going in there. So, I got to work! Read More »

April 2021 A Spring Walk About, Gearing up for Summer

April 2021 – This month brought us grief and joy in large quantities this year. April 13th Lodi proposed to me and, of course, I said yes! We are absolutely just annoyingly happy lol no set date yet but it won’t be until next year. Not two days later I got the call we all dread. Lodi got home before me and my Mom’s little mare (Jazzy) was unable to get up and had been struggling for at least a couple of hours. She had a sky high temp and our vet gave her antibiotics to fight the tick disease he suspected. We made her as comfortable as we could and waited for the shots to kick in. Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #237)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #237. Lodi and I did our annual spring walkabout the property last night. It was just gorgeous outside, nearly 70 degrees! In the few hours we spent “enjoying” the heat we watched the cold front move in. It was kinda creepy! In the span of just a couple of hours the temperature dropped nearly 30 degrees and the wind picked up to the point where we were ready to get our butts inside. We joked about seeing a witch on a bicycle lol The heat wave is returning in just a couple days though. Now, on to the Party! Read More »

March 2021 – Spring Temps Makes me Ready to Garden!

Unlike the old saying of March coming in like a lion and leaving like a lamb this year we saw spectacularly warm weather almost the entire month of March 2021. I think all of us Minnesotans were holding our breath waiting for one last hit of real winter before spring. Its happened so many times before in March that the fact that we didn’t get two feet of snow felt quite odd. (Though we did get a few inches and April has dumped some serious snow on us…) As always though, if its warmer than it should be, I have no complaints. Except for that two week serious cold snap in February we had an incredibly warm and mild winter. Read More »

February 2021 – Two Birthdays and One Serious Cold Snap

February 2021 and January. We had a truly beautiful first half of winter – we literally set records with how warm it was! By the time mid January came around we all agreed that no matter what the weather was like for the last half of winter: we had been spoiled and had nothing to complain about. Remarkably it was still cold enough for ice fishing and we still even had enough snow for snowmobiling. So, everyone was close to happy, and I doubt that’s ever happened before. To be fair though, with Covid and all we went through last year, it sure felt deserved. Lodi and I have our birthdays in the first two months of the year and man how that sucks after the holidays. Read More »

2020 Recap – Major Plan Changes, One Very Difficult Year for Everyone

Writing this 2020 recap I had to keep stopping myself from bringing up everything we already know that we all lived through (and are still living through…) A plague, Australia on fire, quarantine, the tiger king… (Carol Baskin definitely killed her husband) $1200 subsidy checks… all in the first couple of months… where would I even stop if I started recounting everything? And my brain pretty much just stopped recounting stuff after April because there were JUST TOO MANY MAJOR HISTORICAL EVENTS AT THAT POINT. Read More »

December 2020 Starting with Manual Labor Because This is Us!

December 2020, my second Xmas with Lodi. My coworkers know me so well that when I got to work Monday November 30th after our four day holiday weekend I wasn’t first asked how my Thanksgiving went instead I was asked, “What did you do on the house this weekend?” I have no shame lol they all know that with four days off I absolutely could not help myself! Lodi and I divided and conquered rather unintentionally over that last weekend in November. On Thursday we had a small gathering with family, we drank, ate and were totally merry and did NOT work at all. Friday, however, it was GO TIME! Read More »

Lodi’s Room Reveal Complete with New Light Fixtures!

Lodi’s Room Reveal complete with New Light Fixtures! Starting at the beginning… When I renovated this home back in 2014-2015 I designed this as a wide hallway which included a huge closet made specifically to house a 6 foot chest freezer. At the end of the hall I put our “back door” which included a doggie door in it – which was a great straight shot out of the house for my big dog at the time. In 2018 I got rid of the chest freezer and I was playing around with making this wasted area into a reading nook / day bed / dog bed area and putting up some kind of gate so I could lock dogs back here whenever I needed to… Read More »

The Back Hall Reveal Before and After

Besides a random peak here and there from reveals and projects of other parts of the house this is the very first time I’ve ever posted about our back hall! This hall, Lodi’s room, our Guest Bedroom, and even a bit of the workshop, used to be a wide open screened in porch. (Sorry for the before pics but they’re the best I have. Hopefully the before and after floor plan as well as the renovation pics help somewhat.) I designed this back hall during the renovation to be a “T” each wing going to a bedroom and, before we made Lodi’s room, to a hall and big closet and back door which was just wasted space until we started work on all of it. Read More »

The Current State of the Garage and What’s Next!

To get the garage to its current state feels like a huge accomplishment for me! To recap I started in the early spring of 2019. First I had to clean the whole place out, get everything off the walls and then haul yet another pile of crap to the dump. Then I ran power, insulated, covered the walls, installed the doors, put EVERYTHING back where it belongs, made a path and enclosed my stock tank complete with a barn door on top of it! Read More »

Autumn Deck Reveal with New Seating and Updates!

Autumn Deck Reveal with updates and lots of new seating and additions! OMG Where on earth did this summer go!? I can’t believe its so far into November already and I still have so many fun things Lodi and I finished this summer and fall to share with you guys. I decided after so many changes to the deck (Check out the old reveal here) that I definitely needed to share a new deck reveal with you before 2020 was over and I missed the lovely fall colors! The biggest changes are all the seating we removed and replaced with new! Read More »

Tiny Bathroom Reveal – From Embarrassment to Moody Stunner!

Main floor tiny bathroom reveal! This bathroom was the most difficult and annoying of the planning issues I had here during the renovation. (To get the whole scoop check out my post all about it here.) I think I made the practical choice on where I ended up putting the bathroom but, really, there were few options and I didn’t like any of them. But now that its fixed and finished I kind of love our tiny bathroom now! First though let’s take a trip back to what this little space looked like before. Read More »

Bedroom Reveal – Completing the New Guest Bedroom Unisex Redesign!

I’m so excited to finish the new guest bedroom reveal! My old country girl design and library just wasn’t right anymore and this room needed attention badly. It needed to grow up,l become more unisex and also become a lot more comfortable for any guests or friends that might stay. It all started with a new far more grown up paint color called Flannel Gray by Valspar. From there I tackled the challenging furniture layout and now moved on to the final touches, design and completion. Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #243)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #243. Well we’re still fighting to get to some warmer weather here where we actually really WANT to be outside. Its like not bad if you’re out of the wind etc. but we are really just not there yet dang it! I think we’re all getting very restless and ready from some heat! This last weekend Lodi and I got all of our seating out and all of our outdoor spaces set up and ready for summer. So, now we just wait lol. On to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #242)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #242. OMG we had an absolutely gorgeous weekend here in the high seventies and sunny I even managed to get a little bit of a tan! Sitting out on our deck sun bathing felt just like Heaven. We put up our screens and opened all the doors and windows to really get some fresh air into the house. I love this moment when it finally gets nice enough out to air the house out after such a long winter! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #241)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #241. Well our rainy cold spring seems to be finally leaving us. I know we were all so hopeful after such a nice short winter but our cool weather would just not give it up. It even snowed last weekend! But maybe, finally, we might actually want to spend some time outside this weekend and get some much needed yard work done. I don’t know about anyone else but I Have been restless! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #240)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #240. Last week was a whiplash for us on our little farm here. Wonderfully, Lodi and I got engaged! And then, not just two days later, we lost one of our horses 🙁 Losing horses is always so difficult and I’m not just talking about emotionally. I don’t think I can do another animal this big – its just such a huge undertaking to take care of them. We buried her in the back pasture – her favorite place for napping and sun bathing. My gelding is looking lonesome but is actually doing ok considering. Our little Jazzy died of old age, she’d been with us over fifteen years. Phew. Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #239)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #239. Well we’re experiencing a very real spring. Its kinda cold and very rainy. We needed the rain so bad though and I’m not totally unhappy that our outdoor chores haven’t begun yet, I still haven’t gotten through my winter / indoor to do list lol! Our plans are still in the works to plant some trees this spring and I’m still very excited about that! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #238)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #238. Wow this weather has just spoiled and spoiled us. We’ve finally got some rain coming which is a very good thing. I swear only in Minnesota when we still have piles of snow on the ground can we also be in a severe fire warning! Lodi and I are looking into finally getting a trailer here pretty soon something that has been on the list for this little farm basically forever. Now, on to the Party! Read More »

OMG Pumpkins everywhere! Hometalk Fall Decor Inspiration board

Hometalk Fall Decor Inspiration board! Summer is absolutely my favorite time of the year – you will NEVER hear me complaining about the heat lol But I honestly think that’s a fact simply because fall and spring are such short seasons here in northern MN. Fall for us could truly last all of three weeks like our spring did this year! And that’s just depressing lol because that means we’re settling into at least four months of some serious cold and snow. Read More »

Hometalk’s Outdoor Projects I Can’t Wait to Build! Do it Yourself!

Inspiration Board of the Outdoor projects on Hometalk that I’ve been drooling over! I received a comment on my outdoor bench saying, “You’re SO crafty, that’s amazing!” And I admittedly got a bit offended, eventually I just laughed about it but I’m not sure how I can build a wrap around bench for my deck and still be called “crafty”. I could’t help but think that if I was a guy she certainly wouldn’t have looked at that bench and called him crafty! I am a builder at heart and I spend most of my time building things in my head or drooling over outdoor projects like these: Read More »

Let’s build some swings! Pinterest Do It Yourself Inspiration Board!

Well now that spring has FINALLY arrived, my dreaming has turned to swings! Let’s build some! These are some of my favorites I’ve found on Pinterest and stashed away for a later time because, seriously, who doesn’t want to swing away a beautiful summer day? Contrary to popular belief, I do NOT feel that swings are for kids in any way. Many of these are very grown up swings for us “adults” lol Read More »

Nooks and Getaway Places: Pinterest Inspiration Board

Nooks, crannies, special getaway places, some of my favorite escapes via Pinterest Inspiration board. It has been a very difficult few weeks here at Grandma’s House, tailing the end of a very, very hard year. I will tell you guys why and what’s been going on when I’m able to get my feet back under me again. To say the least though I have found myself on Pinterest, looking longingly at getaway places and nooks that promise quiet and PEACE. Read More »

Inspiration Board: Six more Summer Projects I can’t wait to build!

Six more summer projects I can’t wait to build for us outside and out on our deck! Some DIYs and things just have to wait for some nice weather not only for us to enjoy them but for us to build them as well. Currently I’m sitting here in late October and we have a winter storm warning 🙁 So, hears to dreaming about next summer and all the things to look forward to building. I posted earlier this year a few summer projects I just can’t wait to build but I’ve seen so many build projects on Pinterest I had to share a few more that I can’t wait to build next summer! Read More »

Inspiration Board: Gorgeous Bedrooms to swoon over!

I spend a certain amount of time on Pinterest gazing with my mouth open at some of the gorgeous bedrooms people have. As far as Inspiration Boards go I’ve published quite a few over the years but I think this one might take the cake. I am absolutely in awe of a few of these. Considering how much time we spend in our bedrooms (albeit it is with our eyes closed) I am a firm believer that they are a VERY important part of our homes. So, without further adieu here’s some gorgeous bedrooms via Pinterest!! Read More »

Renovating a Home? Here Are 3 Reasons You Need Home Air Filters

Renovating a Home? Here Are 3 Reasons You Need Home Air Filters. Keeping yourself safe from airborne toxins is mandatory while working on DIY and construction projects ESPECIALLY when working with older furniture or in an old home. Living in a Covid-19 world right now where I’m masked the majority of my days it dawned on me why I was having no problem with the masks when so many people I knew just hated them. Its because I’m used to them! I’ve spent months (if not years at this point) of my life all masked up whether it was during the renovation or when I’ve been stripping old furniture etc. it is just SO important to protect ourselves! Read More »

How to Make Your Aging Grandmothers Life More Manageable

How to make our aging grandmothers lives more manageable. I am just so impressed with the giant leaps technology has made to keep us safer and to make our lives more convenient. We’ve talked about getting our own selves a Roomba as well as a keypad for the front door. I’ll admit to having locked myself out several times and had to use the doggie door to get back into the house… This all would have helped so much with my own grandparents. Read More »

Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make When Moving Into Your Project Property

Before even reading this article my first thought was that the number one mistake you can make with a project property is trying to live there and work on it at the same time. I was right! lol. I attempted to do that once a long time ago with the absolutely WRONG individual and I learned my lesson very expensively and the very hard way. With the right individuals I’m sure it would be a doable task however, living in a place you’re constantly working on makes everything just that much harder. Read More »

10 Tips For Improving The Safety Of Your Home

The safety of our homes is paramount to feeling secure and happy in our lives. We work hard. We absolutely need to have a safe haven to retreat to at the end of every day. Making sure our foundation’s are secure so rodents don’t make a highway into our basements is a good place to start besides checking windows and screens annually. Door knobs and locks do get old over time and can use tightening or total replacing etc. Read More »

The Practical Approach To Furnishing Your Rooms

I’ve found that furnishing a home comes in three different categories and they each add up to a huge undertaking. Either you don’t have enough furniture, you have too much or, what you do have, doesn’t work! With some creativity though making what you do have work in a DIY fashion is completely doable, affordable and can be really fun. If you don’t have enough furniture you can still apply that same DIY creativity to inexpensive thrift store and salvage yard furniture and get a huge bang for your buck that is PERFECT for you and what you want in your home. Read More »

6 Ways You’ve Gone Wrong With Your Garden

I am guilty of doing all of these things wrong in my garden lol! To be fair I’ve only had three REAL vegetable gardens in my life and really only two of them counted (the first one was a disaster until I built myself raised beds and got some control over the situation.) There really are only so many garden “how-tos” you can read though until there is nothing but experience that can teach you how to do properly in your location. I am proud to say, though I am still making terrible mistakes, I am learning! Read More »

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