Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 60

Sharing my dresses with you! Again!

The past two years I've put up some of my dresses to share with my readers and both times it's been hugely successful (lots of sweet emails and I love hearing from you, and I love seeing how the pieces look on you!). They went like hotcakes last year! I just can't wear all of the garments I make, and there's no use in them sitting in my closet. I want them to be loved by someone else!

So here's how it works. As soon as you see the dress(es) you want, send me an email and th...

Why we didn't chose the IKEA Domsjo sink for our farm sink kitchen update

I have celebrated with several friends lately who've just bought new homes and two of them are planning kitchen updates. Painting cabinets, updating lighting, and doing new DIY-install countertops like we did! And when you replace countertops, you also start to think about the sink. I've been talking about our affordable, DIY-install farmhouse style apron-front sink a lot lately and wanted to share with all of you why we chose the one we did--instead of the popular IKEA Domsjo sink!

I...

Off-white linen stripe cross-over romper. Or, when 3 patterns collide

Since last summer I've been picturing a lovely white striped linen wrap-look dress or romper, worn on a warm summer day with a bit of a breeze, and dappled shade. Well, I finally combined my inspirations and made myself one!

Here are some inspirations I've collected since last year.



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$206 laundry room update and cabinets!

I achieved a goal this month that I've had for yeeeeears!! Adding adequate, appropriate laundry room storage (and by "laundry room," I mean laundry closet/hallway) was a goal of mine in our townhouse and I've never had it in laundry facilities in any of our rentals, either. I've dreamed of a couple of cabinets with shelves and doors, clean and white, to hide the detergent and lightbulbs, and finally we did it--for only $206!!

The space above a washer and dryer is often pr...

Choosing exterior paint colors for the #Stanley90sreno!

I am SO excited that we're planning to paint our 90's fixer upper home already! We had planned to put it off till next summer but found a connection to a very affordable painter and are making it happen in less than 2 weeks! That means I have to choose a color in a hurry, which has been hard.

I started out not having any idea what I wanted. I just created a pinboard for exteriors and outdoor decor and it's all over the place.

Honestly, I love white as an exterior paint color as well...

The living room is done! Featuring City Home decor. Plus GIVEAWAY and discount code!

Decorating an entire house in a few months has been a daunting task for me this time around. Maybe because I didn't have as much mental energy for it cause I was also working on hardcore reno projects like painting doors and trim, installing baseboards, tiling backsplashes, and redoing bathrooms. It's taken me 9 months of living at the Stanley 90's reno to get the living room, the first room you see when you walk through the front door, complete!

I worked with City Home in Portland...

Stripes, white, and blue - linen jumpsuit

Blue, white, stripes--some of my favorite elements this summer! I found the coolest blue and white stripe linen blend from Fabric.com and made this very summery, dramatic fitted jumpsuit!

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How to pick and freeze strawberries! A local farm u-pick win

I've blogged before about how I love berry picking, how I didn't do it as a kid but have discovered it as an adult, and how it really says SUMMER to me! But I never had made it early enough in the season for strawberry picking until last year. We had an amazing experience last summer and did it again this past weekend! Here are our tips for how to do a u-pick strawberry trip, and how to freeze all those delicate, fresh berries!


Being out in a quiet, open space, feeling the sun on your...

Blue stripe circle ruffle tie neck sundress

I've participated in Melly Sews's Sundressing series for several years now! I LOVE kicking off summer sundress season with a DIY. This sundress is definitely the summeriest thing I've made this year!

I usually modify old favorite patterns, and this time was no different. I used Simplicity 1355, which I've made several times before (see them all here), with several changes... you'll see below.

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Why we chose to install our own flooring (and how we did it!)

When we were shopping for our current home, and looking at houses from dirty fixer-uppers to recently updated nicer homes, one thing I was hopeful we'd get was a chance to redo the floors.

It's crazy, and it sounds like a lot of work, but I really wanted to be able to give our new home consistent floors throughout. I am not a fan of carpet and really wanted to do click hardwood or laminate in every room! (Unless we ended up with a home with original hardwoods.) Well, lucky for me, the...