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A Pretty Happy Home

Life, DIY and Random Things That Make Me Smile

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • Apparel and Shoes
    • Books
    • Crafts and Sewing
    • Decor
    • Furniture
    • Home Improvement
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    • Kitchen
  • Projects
    • Cleaning
    • Clothing
    • Colonial Farmhouse
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY Projects
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  • Adventure
    • Moving to Ireland
    • Living in Ireland
    • Visiting Ireland
    • Travel
    • Family and Parenting
    • Humor
    • Learning
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • Apparel and Shoes
    • Books
    • Crafts and Sewing
    • Decor
    • Furniture
    • Home Improvement
    • Kid Favorites
    • Kitchen
  • Projects
    • Cleaning
    • Clothing
    • Colonial Farmhouse
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY Projects
    • Holidays
  • Adventure
    • Moving to Ireland
    • Living in Ireland
    • Visiting Ireland
    • Travel
    • Family and Parenting
    • Humor
    • Learning
  • Privacy Policy

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  • colonial farmhouse landscaping with stone wall how our landscaping survived a dry summer
    gardening and landscape

    How Our Landscaping Survived A Dry Summer

    September 7, 2022 /

    Our neighborhood group chat discusses things like power outages, bear sightings, contractor recommendations, and how our landscaping survived or didn’t survive a long, dry summer. So, the usual. Most people I know would categorize New Jersey summers as hot and humid with plenty of rain. That combination lends itself well to New Jersey being nicknamed the Garden State. Fess up! You were thinking of a not-so-nice nickname for New Jersey, weren’t you? It has plenty of those too. Ha! New Jersey has certainly been hot this summer, but also very, very dry. We started the summer with everything looking lush. Yes, it really was that electric green. Then we ended the…

    read more
    annisa 0 Comments

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    The Age-Related Reason Why We’re Removing Tree Stumps

    August 16, 2023

    The Best $16 I’ve Ever Spent

    August 6, 2018
    DIY plant hanging rod

    DIY Plant Hanging Rod Secured to the Ceiling

    November 17, 2021
  • colonial farmhouse landscaping stone path outdoor project progress
    gardening and landscape

    2021 Outdoor Project Progress

    August 4, 2021 /

    Do you know what’s great about blogging? There are thousands of people to hold you accountable to what you say you are going to do. That’s also the downside of blogging. Ha! Today I’m updating you on our 2021 outdoor project progress! We’re a good chunk of the way through summer, so let’s hope I’ve made a little progress, right? If you’ve been following along on social media, especially stories, you’ll be familiar with some of this work. If you haven’t been, you’re missing out on the rollercoaster of emotions that is every single project we tackle: excitement, anticipation, regret, hope, relief, excitement, pride, vows to never tackle that project…

    read more
    annisa 0 Comments

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    Our Deck Is Ready For Summer

    May 24, 2023
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    Adding Magic To Our Deck With String Lights

    June 6, 2022
    deck with black railing

    Finally, The Deck is Done

    October 7, 2020
  • black and blue outdoor furniture
    decorating,  gardening and landscape

    Black and Blue Outdoor Furniture

    May 24, 2021 /

    Our deck is sporting black and blue outdoor furniture. Did that sentence make it sound like our outdoor furniture rumbled after school? While most of our outdoor furniture is second-hand and was in rough shape when I found it, it is looking decidedly better after a little spray paint session. I’ve also done some outdoor furniture switching around in an effort to only keep the things we use. There will be a quiz at the end, so pay attention. To that end, the table in this below picture from October 2020 was set out by the side of the road and now has a new home. It came with the…

    read more
    annisa 0 Comments

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    Sheet Music Easter Eggs

    March 28, 2018
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    Vintage Game Gallery Wall

    May 20, 2020

    Leather Map From Old Boots

    February 28, 2018
  • deck with black railing
    colonial farmhouse,  gardening and landscape

    Finally, The Deck is Done

    October 7, 2020 /

    Ding dong, our deck with black railing is finally done! I’ve only been waiting months to say that. While house projects sometimes feel like our full time job, they aren’t! That’s why they take a real life amount of time to complete. Although, this deck project took an extraordinarily long time to finish – even for us – due to factors out of our control. As it turns out, there was a pressure-treated lumber shortage in our part of the U.S. due to the work stoppages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But nobody told us that before we started ripping up the old deck! Oops. We might have put off…

    read more
    annisa 1 Comment

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    Wood Chandelier in the Music Room

    August 3, 2020
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    The Case of the Closet Mystery

    January 20, 2020
    carriage house tongue and groove ceiling

    Why We Installed a Tongue and Groove Ceiling In Our Carriage House

    May 16, 2022
  • gardening and landscape

    Outdoor Update from this Ol’ Colonial Farmhouse

    June 1, 2020 /

    I thought if I wrote a posted titled ‘Outdoor Update’ that it would force me to actually make an outdoor update or two around this ol’ Colonial Farmhouse. Basically, you guys are my version of a support group to hold me accountable. No pressure. Here’s where we are at with some of the projects that might break me our outdoor projects. Outdoor Update #1: Front Yard I have a grand plan for our front yard landscaping. I mentioned it in this post. Here’s where I’m at with that: I dug up the sod in our front yard, earned three blisters, and made an unholy mess. Then I cursed myself for…

    read more
    annisa 6 Comments

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    Annisa Olsson Jones sitting on the front porch of a colonial farmhouse in new jersey double rockers for our porch

    Why We Chose Double Rockers For Our Porch

    September 27, 2023
    Bus Stop Gardening Station

    Bus Stop Gardening Station

    July 29, 2020

    Living in Ireland: That Time A Tree Came Down

    October 2, 2017
  • You Can Sell a Live Tree From Your Yard
    gardening and landscape

    You Can Sell a Live Tree From Your Yard

    March 23, 2020 /

    Did you know you can sell a live tree from your yard? That’s a thing! Make sure it’s actually your tree growing in YOUR yard though. It might not be super common to sell a live tree from your yard, but it does happen. Determining if this is a viable option comes down to different factors. Is there demand for your tree? Is your tree healthy? Is your tree accessible or worth the effort of digging up? I recently embarked on a tree selling adventure, so I thought my experience might help you. We have a very mature Japanese Maple growing right next to our pool. The tree seems to…

    read more
    annisa 3 Comments

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    What Happens When You Set Flagstones Directly On The Ground

    June 15, 2022
    red flowers with black and white striped towels on a concrete pool deck

    Adding To Our Concrete Pool Deck Ourselves

    June 5, 2023
    rhododendrons with barn in background

    A Neighbor’s Compliment That Stuck With Me

    June 4, 2025
  • clearing the bushes
    colonial farmhouse,  gardening and landscape

    The Surprising Way We Cleared 75 Feet of Bushes

    September 9, 2019 /

    When we bought the Colonial Farmhouse it wasn’t visible from the road. This is saying a lot about the amount of overgrowth happening on the front of our property because the Colonial Farmhouse sits only 20-feet from the road. It should be visible to the naked eye. To further illustrate how overgrown the bushes had become, we didn’t need window treatments. No one driving by at night could peer in the front windows – at least not on the main level. I don’t even have a good picture of the overgrowth because there was nothing photogenic about the situation. Here’s this one though… Can you see the road? Or the…

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    annisa 4 Comments

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    Colonial Farmhouse 4 Year Anniversary

    June 14, 2023

    All About Rim Locks (Vintage Door Hardware)

    September 14, 2020
    white colonial farmhouse exterior with sun porch

    How We Did Meeting Our 2022 House Goals

    December 21, 2022
Hi! I'm Annisa.

Recent Posts

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  • Happy List: #401
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