My name is Tarah and its great to meet you!

Building a Home from Scratch – Start to Finish

As some of you know my mom started building a home last year and now just moved in! I am so excited for her and I’m also thrilled to have been a part of the design process. Designing homes, literally just for the fun of it (I know I’m a bit of a dork) has been a hobby of mine for the last twenty or so years. But when we started work on the design of Mom’s house, seeing it go from my architectural program to actual reality, was beyond my expectations. After designing so many homes to actually be able to WALK through one of them. OMG!? Read More »

Plans starting with taking out the Garage Bar

Taking out our garage bar. I think a lot of people struggle figuring out how to store lumber properly and still accessibly. Lodi built a quick solution in our garage addition a year or so ago and yeah it works great as long as we never want to access any of it. In fact Lodi has a real Tetris talent for storing stuff in the least amount of space possible. In this case though we need a different solution if I’m ever going to build anything again. Read More »

Sink Protector to Save our Dishes

I ran into an image of a kitchen sink with a sink protector in the bottom of it years ago and had a light bulb moment. I had no idea it was a thing! Their main purpose is to the protect the bottom of sinks (notably stainless steel sinks) from scratches etc. But, in our case, we have a sink protector in ours to protect our dishes. Our antique cast enamel sink is HARD. Like, beyond concrete, kind of HARD. I can’t tell you how many times its happened over the years that I would go to set a glass in it, accidentally drop it a couple of inches and BOOM, it would literally explode. Read More »

Our Upcycle of Grandma’s Shepherds hook Carousel

This upcycle started back when I first moved in to Grandma’s house. This shepherds hook carousel resided over by the barn for about as long as I can remember. My Grandma hung tin cans from the hooks and grew flowers in them. For years it just sat there kind of sad with its little empty, rusting, tin cups. It was always on my list to do something with it. First I moved it into the front yard but really needed it to be taller. At three feet it was nice and easy to add anything to its hangers but a pain in the butt to mow under so I improvised at the time and used what I had which was some extra conduit from a different project. Read More »

Steel Walled Garden Update – A Sweet Upcycle

Steel Walled Garden Update – A sweet surprise from Lodi. I’m really proud of our L shaped garden that wraps around the North and West sides of our home beside our front step. Unfortunately it is slowly rotting away and collapsing. I’ve transplanted many of my Grandma’s perennials here and been so thrilled that they’ve been doing well. Case and point: the stunning tiger lilies and her hydrangea bush. The lilies of the valley have finally filled the North side of the bed and my adorable little Virginia blue bell just gets bigger every year and I would be pretty damned devastated if I lost any of them. Read More »

How to: Build your own rolling pantry! Wood working DIY How to!

Man this throwback every month has sure been giving me some strange and cool memories. This one came out back in October of 2015 and I just remembered when I was in the middle of building it my dad stopped by for a visit and was just staring for a minute at all the power tools, wood, saw dust and me in the middle of the kitchen. He was like, “What are doing?” LOL “Oh just your daughter building a rolling pantry, making a total mess!” He helped me finish it and get it all stood up and rolled into place. Read More »

Before and After: Refinished dresser goes Hollywood glam with black paint!

This dresser (and its matching companion) are my two favorites of the pieces I’ve inherited over the years. This dresser is totally lovely but the way it looks is not actually why I like it so much. I love it because its LIGHT. Its not solid wood which means that from a purely usability aspect the drawers work perfectly and that I cannot say is true for our other HEAVY, old, solid wood pieces. I also didn’t feel at all bad for painting it out because it isn’t solid wood and I just love this piece in black! (See it here in our updated master too!) Read More »

My Grandma’s white cabinets get a face lift in my kitchen!

Moving on in our Throwback series from October 2015! I always loved these cabinets in my Grandparents’ entryway so you guys know immediately that I had to save them. Unfortunately the only thing I could salvage off of the top cabinet was the doors as the cabinet itself had been built in place. The lower cabinet though was a stand alone piece and I’ve always wondered where it came from!
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Doggie door flap, a Prettier Replacement using a Stencil

Replacing an ugly doggie door with a new flap and a pretty little stencil. A couple of years ago we moved our back door into the workshop so we could enclose a big closet and hallway to give us a third room on the main floor. This worked well for us as it gave Lodi a room for his hobbies and moving the back door into the workshop has been really convenient. If I have big projects, pieces of wood or tools etc. now I can just bring them to the back of the house and right on in to the workshop. Also, the back door is primarily used by our dogs with their doggie door in it, so any dirt they drag in primarily stays in the workshop which is our “dirtiest” room of the house anyway. Read More »

An old cabinet: Paint and new hardware for a face lift!

I just can’t get over how amazing it is for me revisiting these old posts. I guess this blog really is a diary of sorts but I totally forgot how long I lived with a REALLY crappy laundry room lol. It had no storage and it was just plain UGLY. Even after this “update” it went through many over hauls and took me a lot of time and work to get it into something that actually worked for us. It all started with this cabinet that my Grandparents’ made and, of course, its still there and going strong. Read More »

Dresser refinish before and after, refinishing furniture with black stain DIY

Continuing on our throwback series this post first came out all the way back in September of 2015. This was one of the first pieces of furniture I ever refinished so I learned a lot here at the expensive of myself lol. Instead of stripping I decided to just sand the whole thing down and stubbornly stuck with that silly plan. It took me a LONG time and A LOT of sand paper but, eventually, I did get down to the wood grain. I chose a black stain and new silver knobs and I really still love how it turned out. We still use it every day in our entryway! Read More »

Reupholstering Eleonora’s Rocking Chair

Moving on with our throwback posts this one published back in September of 2015 and was my first time reupholstering anything. Its funny looking back I didn’t remember how much I hated the fabric on this rocking chair after I got it done. I totally love it now! What I do remember though was what a long-fought job this was to get the old fabric off and finally refinish the whole chair. It was pretty icky actually. This little rocker is still with us up in our master bedroom closet where I use it every day! Read More »

November 2023 – Thankful for some really nice Weather

November 2023 came and went beautifully for us here in northern MN. Not that it was “hot” out by any means but it was really mild for this time of the year and we still have barely any snow! Crossing my fingers that December might give us much of the same. We had a hell of a winter last year (broke snow fall records of over 90 inches) and a really long wintry spring that would just not end. We absolutely deserve a mild one this go around! Read More »

October 2023 – How the impending winter Spurs us On

October 2023 as per usual winter starts breathing down our necks and suddenly we have so many things we want to do… that we totally could have done in the last four months when the weather was nicer. It does seem like a tradition for us though so it is what it is lol. I’ve mentioned many times about the idea of building another building out here at some point but it just seems ridiculous. We really DON’T have an unnecessary amount of crap but what we do have is a three stall shed, a three car garage and two smaller out buildings – shouldn’t that be enough? Read More »

September 2023 – Major changes to our Yard

September 2023 well this year will be the year we changed the landscape of our entire yard. For the better? Yeah, I guess, but it sure is radical looking. Besides “the spot” from the missing barn now nearly our entire lawn has been torn apart with the install of our new septic system. Our septic guy told us that the septic tanks we had been using were the oldest he’d seen in 40 years. Was it working? Yeah but we were on borrowed time and, with our luck, we would have had a problem in mid February with 80 inches of snow and temps in the -30s. So we had it replaced. Read More »

August 2023 – Wrapping my head around THE SPOT

This August 2023 it became clear to me that Lodi is desperately trying to make me feel better about the missing barn in our yard. It is very sweet and coming from a good place. I don’t doubt the yard bothers him as well and he’s seen me just standing there staring at THE SPOT about a thousand times at this point. Because I do stare at it. In fact I’ve found myself spending a probably weird amount of “too-much-time” standing there just staring at it. It breaks my brain honestly. I’m sure he thinks I’m staring because I’m sad but that doesn’t actually feel like the case anymore. Read More »

July 2023 – Where do I even begin?

July 2023 – Our June blog post came out nearly a week before the end of June and a lot sure happened in those few days. I’ll start with one scary hilarious day. Lodi called me at work and stopped my heart, “You have to go home now!” My nephew had called him (thinking he was home because of his schedule) because, believe it or not, our horse was just seen running down the damn road. I talked to him while I bolted home and absolutely couldn’t believe it until I saw it… There was no way our 32 year old crabby old man who accidentally got out ONCE only to wait in panic to be let back in again… was just going for a joy run?! Read More »

Our old Barn is Gone

Well the big day(s) came and went and with it every last piece of our old barn. A few days before we knew the EXACT day, I realized I was in a really weird place. A place I’d never been emotionally in my life. Totally 50/50. On one hand I didn’t want this to happen at all and on the other I was ready to get it over with ASAP. It was like I just canceled myself out. I hadn’t been sleeping well and I knew what was causing my anxiety. Ready or not, it was time. Read More »

Office Workshop Reveal

The final reveal of our office workshop! I’m sure its old news at this point but I’m just so happy with my new office here. How long has it been since I moved it from the entryway? Over 6 months for sure! But every time I come in here I am still just smitten and so glad to have it. Finally some space to work and play. I think just about everyone can identify trying to work from home without actually having a real office. Whether we’re trying to work on the couch with a laptop or at the dining room table… We can make it work but frankly there is nothing like having a REAL desk… not to mention an actual dedicated office space. Read More »

New Entryway Design… and some thoughts on rugs

A new design for our entryway. So I did a rug count in the house a while back and ended up feeling quite annoyed with myself actually. How many rugs does a 1,500 square foot main floor actually need? Apparently it was 19?! Now that was just seem borderline silly lol. To be fair most of them were the rag rugs that I love and a few came from my Grandma so I loved those even more. However, the majority of them had also seen better days. I started removing rugs or replacing them with more toned down and better alternatives. The entryway redesign here was my first opportunity to do just that! Read More »

New Living Room Layout, Redesign and Rearrange

So, it is interesting that we love this new redesign so much because it is LITERALLY my old layout plan for the living room that we tried and hated a few years back. There’s only one difference and I refuse to believe it’s actually why we hated this before. When we tried it back then the sofa encroached into the “hallway” by several more inches, making walking behind it feel kind of tight… Could that be it? A few inches on that side of the room? I talked about why we hated it before and it was because the room felt closed off… but somehow now, it feels bright, intimate and open all at the same time. Read More »

Master Bathroom and Master Closet Tour

Master Bathroom and Master Closet Tour it dawned on me this is the first time I’ve done a full reveal of these two rooms together. WAY back in 2015 was the last time you guys saw the closet and, even then, it wasn’t much of a reveal. You know I’ve been working on our master suite second floor for nearly a year now. I refused to stop until every. last. thing. I could think of was completed and / or fixed. I’m very happy with how it all turned out! Read More »

Elegear LED Lights! – Adding warmth to our main floor for Xmas

There’s been some changes here at Grandma’s house that you will definitely notice in the pictures! I’ve moved my office into our workshop thus freeing up our entryway entirely. There’s lots more to do and posts coming out all about my new office workshop and our new open plan entryway. But, first, what Lodi did with these incredible Elegear LED lights that were gifted to us! Check them out here on Amazon and make sure and use the 10% off discount code: DHSCZOTA Read More »

Holiday – a little autumn Home Tour

I admit in the past I haven’t done much decorating for the holiday around here. There was just always this little thing about budget lol. Not to mention generally far more important projects that I needed to put my dollars and time into. Things are changing around here though. We’ve managed to take several big projects off our plates so I realized we could afford to do a little holiday decorating. Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #377)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #377. Well I’ll admit this weather is actually borderline strange at this point. 40 degrees in December with no snow in northern Minnesota? It is wonderful but also really weird lol. I’ll take it as we could easily have a foot of snow right now and lows in the negative digits. Could this be an omen of a shore, mild winter? I sure hope so! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #376)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #376. We went out of town for a few hours to see Lodi’s Grandma over Thanksgiving last Thursday. We took her (now our) little dog to visit and we had a wonderful time. From there, with a couple of hours to drive back, we decided to stop and get a bite to eat. After a lot of driving we managed to find a place that was open: Buffalo wild wings! lol – it was fun to play hookie on Thanksgiving actually! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #375)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #375. Some of you know that we adopted Lodi’s Grandma’s little dog this spring because she decided to downsize out of her home. She found a wonderful place that she really likes and we’re so excited that its within driving distance! So, for the first time in many many years Lodi is going to get to spend Thanksgiving with her. And, of course, we’ll be taking her little dog along with for a visit too. I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #374)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #374. I cant believe how fast November seems to be flying by. Is it just me or does this time of the year just go into turbo? Pretty soon I’ll have to start Christmas shopping! Crazy how the years just zoom on by. November is shaping up to be about as beautiful weather wise as possible for us here in northern MN. I can’t believe we don’t have any snow – totally loving it! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #373)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #373. The weather has been pretty great lately. Highs in the 40s and very little wind! Nice that we’re getting some time before really heading into Minnesota’s big chill. My dad is heading south for a month and is trying to talk me into flying down for a couple of days. I’m a pretty hard core home body but, I admit, I’m tempted to catch a break from winter once it gets here! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #372)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #372. Snow is certainly inevitable here in northern MN but that doesn’t mean we need to be happy about it right? Well winter has arrived albeit (at least for us) it arrived pretty gently, we really only have a dusting and some nice weather coming. Not terribly far West of us got completely hammered with 16 inches of snow! So I guess we can’t totally complain lol. In honor of November 1st this week I am featuring all recipes because, frankly, November makes me think of food! 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. From gorgeous colour palettes to hardwood bedroom furniture options, there’s always amazing bedrooms to look at when you are scrolling through Pinterest. In fact, the inspiration doesn’t stop coming the moment you type in beautiful bedrooms into Google! So, without further adieu here’s some gorgeous bedrooms via Pinterest!! Read More »

4 Reasons to Add Retaining Walls to Your Yard

Adding any kind of retaining walls to a yard is usual not something we “opt” to do but something absolutely “have” to do. But that doesn’t mean it can’t look absolutely lovely and really add to the yard beautifully not just responsibly. The closet thing we have here is a retaining wall I put up around an L shaped garden by our home. Unfortunately I built it out of wood and its looking worse and worse year after year. Lodi did a lovely thing covering it with steel though so it will last longer for us! Read More »

Print on Demand and Plant Lovers: Botanical-inspired Merchandise

Most of you know I’m a major plant lover with many in the house, a full garden in the summer and numerous blooming perennials outside that I just love. I’ll be the first to admit though plants are a lot of work and being to instead, capture them in our homes somehow without the responsibility is a really cool thing that we have in today’s world. Read More »

Unwrapping Christmas Joy Small Gifts that Spark Delight

After a little (not much) debate this year I think our family has pretty much finally decided to skip just about all gifts when it comes to the adults. Small and thoughtful gifts are what I’ll be focusing on. Thinking one little care package for each adult and done. I am very much looking forward to it! Read More »

Want To Add A Natural Touch To Your House? Read These Tips!

More organic and natural design has definitely become more and more popular over the last couple of decades. Living plants and sparse window coverings have brought more natural light into our home that we just love too. I think the old style big heavy drapes and curtains are definitely on their way out for good. And there are some amazing options out there that let in tons of light but still don’t let anyone SEE into your home so you don’t have to sacrifice privacy for some sunshine. Read More »

How to Choose the Best Materials for Your Patio Furniture

Choosing patio furniture is an expensive shopping trip almost regardless of material. Material choices also differ widely when it comes to what you WANT out of it. Is it about the furniture lasting or is it about comfort? We found out here (pretty obviously) that putting up our outdoor furniture for the winter months was a guarantee it would last A LOT longer. Read More »

Get Creative with DIY Halloween Decorations

Unfortunately for us Halloween was spent miserable on the couch together this year. Lodi and I both got hit by Covid and we had been pretty excited to do some costume contest hopping too! We were both SO sick the night just came and went with us timing our doses of Sudafed so we didn’t over dose lol. Hopefully next Halloween will be a better one! Read More »