My name is Tarah and its great to meet you!

Master Bedroom Design – Making a Plan of Attack!

Planning a new bedroom design for our entire second floor master suite. I made two mistakes when I renovated this home and then moved in back in 2015. The first was I chose satin for all of my paints throughout the house and the second was I agreed to my ex putting a giant wood stove in the middle of the kitchen – selling the cute little one I had previously purchased and installed. The combination of a poorly vented stove and satin paint meant that every single surface in my home (especially the main floor) ended up covered and stained with soot. Read More »

The Roof, Plywood and Steel, Buttoning up our Garage Addition

Covering the roof with plywood and steel. Stage three of our garage addition is entirely brought to you by Lodi who tackled the roof one afternoon without me. He’s a beast and I’m very proud to say that he’s my beast! After getting the framing done our stick building hung out waiting for us for a couple of months over this summer. You guys who have been following along know that the drought and shocking heat really kicked our butts and literally slowed us to a crawl. We did a favor for my brother and his family so we negotiated a trade that he would pop over with his oldest boys one weekend and help us finally get this building buttoned up. Read More »

Hanging K Cup Storage – Simple DIY Eliminating Countertop Clutter

Hidden K Cup Storage in a Hanging Basket. Most of you guys know that I am really into non cluttered spaces. I’ve joked before that one day I’ll be sitting on the floor of my empty living room with nothing left but only what is hanging on the walls. I am similarly horrified by literally anything that sits on our countertops. Initially, for our K cup storage, I fought like heck to keep them stored up in the cupboard but it just was not going to happen. It was too inconvenient for two people who drink coffee every day. Read More »

New Swivel Grill for our Lower Deck Fire Pit!

New Swivel Grill for our stone fire pit! When I came home for good MANY years ago one thing I did just for newly single me was buy some camping gear. I’ve always LOVED camping and when I was going back and forth working and living in two different states I just never got the chance. So, home for good, I spent a little bit of money on myself and it was SO MUCH FUN. I bought a tent, a blow up mattress, a camping chair, a cast iron pan, a coffee pot and a few other essentials and I totally took myself camping. It was a tradition of mine for many years to go out alone and I’ll never forget how fun and liberating that was for twenty-something me. Read More »

Adding String Lights to our New Lower Deck

Adding String Lights to our new pea gravel deck and fire pit. Wow did this break my brain… Here was our situation: The tall posts on the upper deck are not evenly spaced for two reasons. One, because of the staircase / gate and Two, because instead of cutting them evenly when I built it I started at the side of the gate and worked my way down the deck with as many full size boards as possible. It makes sense: Less cuts – Less waste. However, now with the lower deck and evenly spaced posts adding string lights connecting them all meant nothing would be even… Read More »

Framing our Garage, Stage Two of Adding Another Stall

Framing out our new garage stall. In my last post about our new garage addition Lodi prepped with a skid steer and then levelled it, framed it out, set the rebar and got the slab poured. With our slab set we are moving on to the first step of framing out the new stall! Being a little army of one for so long I always plan things in stages and, fortunately, Lodi is on board with me. It sure does help us out mentally and physically than putting pressure on us to do GIANT projects in only one weekend. Read More »

Cork board and Key Caddy Makeover!

I’ve had this little pine cork board my grandparents’ made for many years now. It comes with the added perk of also being a key caddy so, of course, we put it right by our front door. It really comes in handy! However, it doesn’t exactly mesh with the look we have going throughout our entryway. Varnished knotty pine in that gold color is really not our style so its been on my list for awhile now to give it a little makeover! 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 »

November 2021 – Finally the Last Trip to Menards

November 2021 so I unintentionally lied to you guys in my last blog post. I tend to write my posts a bit ahead of time and there is absolutely NO LOGICAL REASON for the garage addition to have NOT been completed when the last post came out… And its not all of our fault! Yes, NOW, it is finally totally completed at the writing of this blog post but, realistically, it never should have taken this long. November 2021, between back orders in shipping materials, horrible weather and a bizarre amount of little irritating issues we kept running into… the garage addition (literally just a little glorified lean-to) became this bizarre headache in our lives… I’m sure you guys are probably even sick of me talking about it at this point! Read More »

October 2021 Glorious Weather and Tackling our Fall Check List!

October 2021 shame on me for enjoying such an absolutely glorious fall and not getting many pictures of it lol. I am an embarrassment to bloggers everywhere! Seriously though I wonder if other bloggers get tired of recording absolutely everything? Honestly I don’t know how they manage it unless they blog full time. I think of those hard core Instagram “celebrities” where its almost daily posting and it gives me anxiety just considering it. October 2021 was absolutely stunning as far as weather was concerned and though we did get quite a bit of work done we also made sure we enjoyed it at least a little bit! Read More »

September 2021 – Summer burn out, totally ready for quieter days

Well it wasn’t quite September 2021 when the temperature dropped and it started raining here but I didn’t have time to add it to the end of my August 2021 post. Us locals were all like, “Um so… not that we’re complaining (we’re really not) but, do we HAVE to get all the rain we’ve been missing for three months in a week? It just seems a little extreme… totally not complaining but… WOW.” And suddenly summer was just over. But I don’t think anything the weather could have done would have either surprised us, made us happy or even ticked us off at that point… Read More »

August 2021 Annie Becoming a Farmer’s Dog & August Photo Gallery

August 2021 – I have to start this post out with a disclaimer. Everything I am about to say about The Farmer’s dog food is legit – they literally don’t even have an affiliate program for me to make money from. However, for those many folks I know who follow us who have their own doggos, I just have to tell you about what’s been going on with Annie. After Lodi’s 2012 discharge Annie was assigned to him as his service dog from the Wounded Warrior program. So, to say that she means a lot to him, is an understatement! Read More »

July 2021 Concerts, Total Craziness and Taking a Break!

Well our July 2021 started off almost like a “normal” July before Covid meaning: We did way too much over the 3 day, July 4th weekend and totally exhausted ourselves. It was REALLY hot and sunny and crazy humid. We went to two concerts and had a big family get together at our place. It was A LOT. Deciding last minute to have a party out here meant Lodi and I were scrambling all day to prepare for it and then running to try to enjoy a concert and then working again all the next day before the next concert in some pretty impressive summer heat! It does mean we had our new lower deck and fire pit complete WAY ahead of schedule though I’m not convinced how much we stressed ourselves out was totally worth all we got done… Read More »

June 2021 – So so so much manual labor… in 90 degree heat!

June 2021 – When we said “come hell or high water” we didn’t know we were making a choice! *laughs while sobbing* May 27th and 28th we had to cover our garden because it froze hard two nights in a row. And then seven days later (Friday June 2nd) we hit a heat record of 100 degrees. (Lodi and I also got our second Covid vaccines that Friday morning.) Unfortunately for us we had chosen that specific weekend, several weeks before, to tackle our yard with the rental of a bob cat, a concrete saw and a ground leveler. That first weekend of June we stoically put on our work boots, took a deep breath, and stepped out into a record breaking heat wave (and several week drought) that we spent two days straight in. Read More »

Basement Bathroom Reveal – Pallet Walls, Barn wood and Black Floors!

Basement Bathroom Reveal, adding a touch of girl to this little space because it was starting to feel like a man cave and not in a good way… I am not a girly girl by any means (as I’m sure you’re all aware at this point…) but even I can attest a balance between masculine and feminine in a space is a real must. Outside of this bathroom our living room feels like just the coolest underground speak easy and I totally love it. But with Lodi’s wood furniture and black leather couches no matter what I do it will always feel at least a little like a bachelor pad. Read More »

Basement Living Room Reveal – Speak Easy Theater and Chill Space

Basement living room reveal. So it all started back in 2014 when I purchased and began the renovation of my Grandparents’ 100 year old farmhouse. I was single and the basement had a separate entrance so I immediately tackled it with the intention of putting in a rental suite. It was a ton of money and work that all went for nothing a couple of years later when my husband (now ex) decided that renters were a NO. I used this unfinished space (what a total waste) as my workshop for awhile until I threw him out in 2017. So, I emptied the space to, once again, try to move forward with the rental idea. A lot of life happened in the years since but, finally, all of my time and money down here is no longer for nothing! 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 »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #271)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #271. Well I don’t know about you guys but November is just FLYING by for me. I have two four day weekends this month from my day job so, of course, I’m trying to get some projects done so I can relax a bit more over December. Its been pretty chilly but we have some high 30s on the way which is actually not too bad, this is northern MN after all! I hope you all have a wonderful upcoming turkey day! Make sure and check out the features this week – one of them is something I have NEVER seen before which is an entire Xmas tree made out of brown paper! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #270)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #270. Well snow has finally arrived up here in north country. That, with daylight savings, sure does put a damper on wanting to do anything. Once its dark and cold out when I get home from my day job it just feels like its all over lol time for bed. Gotta get used to winter time again so I can get my motivation back when I get home! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #269)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #269. Well we sure did appreciate the milder temps we were seeing all through October and right up until now when its finally starting to fall with temps dipping down into the 20s at night. Horrifyingly we still have a couple things we still need to do outside and though I don’t mind the cold I sure am annoyed with us that we didn’t get our butts in gear and do it all before it started really getting chilly outside. Still no snow and I’m crossing my fingers that that at least will hold off a little bit longer! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #268)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #268. We’ve had some really lovely weather all through October right up until a cold, sunny and beautiful Halloween day. We had a few people over for dinner on Sunday and were chilling in the kitchen when suddenly: SNOW STORM. Total giant flaked blizzard almost completely obscuring our yard! It quit within half an hour, the sun came out again, everything melted and we all just laughed about it. Currently it is chilly (down in the 20s at night) but still no snow and sunny days ahead of us. Pretty great actually! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #267)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #267. Well it may be because I hadn’t eaten lunch yet today OR it could be because fall is here and that means Thanksgiving is on my brain. Regardless of why though I couldn’t help but choose five recipes this week for my features. You guys really out did yourselves! I can’t wait to try some of these beautiful dishes at home! Now, on to the Party! Read More »

To Grandma’s House we go! (Wednesday Link Party #266)

Welcome to the To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party #266. Well we’ve had a truly lovely October so far but the mild temps are moving toward freezing at night here shortly. Monday was 75 degrees though and everyone soaked it up! Fall is winding down and I’m relieved to say our fall check list is about complete. This weekend we went out of town for the day and enjoyed playing hooky and just taking a little time off from house chores. 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 »

Is Your Garden Ready For Winter?

Is Your Garden Ready For Winter? Well up here in northern MN its too late in the year to worry about getting our gardens ready for winter lol Winter is here! So, hopefully, we got all we needed done before the weather turned. I certainly had some chores to deal with but, mostly, I did get them all done. I got all our outdoor furniture put up, did a little garden cleaning and prepped our deck so it can be easily shoveled off.  I was thinking I would try to get an overhang built off of the garage above the side door but that just may or may not happen until next year! Read More »

How to Transform your Garden

Transform your garden. I love our outdoor areas we’ve created here at our home. We have a great deck and now we also have a new lower deck and fire pit that we put in this past summer. We didn’t get to use it much this year but I really look forward to it next year! One thing that added a ton to it was the café string lighting we added! A garden / back yard can literally add square footage to your home when the weather is nice. Read More »

A Guide For Buying Your First Ever Home

Most of you guys probably don’t know that Grandma’s house was not technically my first home. Its complicated but my first home purchase was actually a fixer upper when I was 19. I was young and stupid lol and made the purchase with someone who turned out to not be all that honest or reliable. I got through it though (or ‘out of it’ might be a better way of putting it) before he completely destroyed my credit. It was a hard but good lesson for me and would be my absolute number one tip for first time home buyers. If you’re doing this with some one else… be absolutely sure of them. I would say never do it if their credit isn’t at least as good as yours etc. Read More »

DIY Storage Solutions For Tiny Spaces

Though we have all of 2,000 square feet here at Grandma’s house Lodi and I are no strangers to finding storage in tiny spaces. Open floor plans are wonderful but where do you put anything?! One thing we are fortunate to have (and its still in good shape despite being untouched for decades) is an old well house that we plan on tackling soon for wall to wall shelving and storage. That will help us so much for giving us more storage in the rest of our home! Our own tiny bathroom is a good example where I needed to get very creative to give us any kind of storage! Read More »

Motivate Yourself With These Top Tips

Figuring out how to motivate yourself can be a real challenge sometimes. I’ve been known to make such a mess that my OCD forces me to complete a project. Whatever works I guess lol I’ve always said though that no matter how long a project lasts and just feels like you can’t get motivated to tackle it to TAKE A BREAK for a little bit. And always remember to keep your eye on the prize which is usually a wonderful feel of accomplishment and generally something you will love for years! Read More »

What Causes Stress When Moving Homes?

I’m not sure if I would call moving as stressful as the divorce I once went through but it absolutely is right up there was something I never want to have to do again. Moving to a new location generally includes also having to work full time on top of it which, between that and our daily chores and lives, will put an enormous strain on anyone. And isn’t it just also always feel like when you’re moving there’s this huge deadline hanging over your head and you just can’t move fast enough? Read More »