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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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September 19, 2014

The Bumpy Road to a Pretty Kitchen

My husband, Rick, came home early from work on a hot, humid, Jacksonville, Florida afternoon in 2008. He didn’t warn me of his arrival, which was unusual. I happened to be on my way out to pick up our girls from school when his truck “swung” into the driveway. His lips were shaking like they did at the alter 15 years prior. They do that when he is nervous, so I knew something was up. We were being transferred back to Michigan. We had moved to Florida 6 years earlier for the same reason. We now had to leave the house we had just spent a year building and lived in for only 1 year.

kitchen-part-3-10

Not the worst news, but still. Another bump in the road we all had to ride including our school age children & my elderly parents. If you’ve ever moved across the country with children, you know why we were a little anxious. Speed forward through all of that, and the bumpy road led us here….

house front door pic

We purchased our home from a very nice woman who built the house with her husband in 1994 as their “dream home”. Unfortunately, her husband passed away and she couldn’t maintain it by herself. The house needed a ton of work, and updates. On a positive note, it had beautiful custom wood throughout, and most of it was in perfect condition.
That leads me to the heart of the home and the reason I became a DIY Home Decor Blogger.

The kitchen…
kitchen before
I fell in love with the windows, large island, and custom cabinets. To be totally honest, I had no idea what we were going to do to it, I just knew it had the best bones we had seen. We could work the details out later.
Later has come and gone, and this is where we are now.

 

Best Kitchen

One thing led to another, and another, and another. I remember my hubby coming home from work after I had painted the hutch, and he said,”You’re going to go all the way around the kitchen, aren’t you?” I answered with, “Oh, no way. That would take forever.”

curtains w: syl

Forever came and went, and I painted, and painted. And painted. Some things twice, some things three times. The mantel? That was white, then it was brown, now it’s black. Same with the shelves…I did those in black first. Now they are white.

couch in kitchen

After we finally got the colors just right, we were able to complete the space.
From light fixtures, to wood beams we made in our garage, it was all on a budget.

kitchen part 3 10
As the months, and years go by…I play house in here a lot. I’m actually sitting at that table right now. This kitchen is a canvas that I can re-create over, and over.

From Thanksgiving…
Thanksgiving Table 2012
To Christmas…
christmas best

 

Into the New Year…
new years 2014
To Valentines Day…

Doodled Bench Now

 

To Easter…
Easter Table

To Summer…
Beautiful Hydrangeas in Water Basin

 

It’s not always perfect, and very rarely looks like the staged photos you see.
Hutch 2014

We’ve even weathered a few ice storms with no power, on Christmas no less.

Julie & Rick winter 2013

Our bumpy, uncertain road led us to more than just a pretty kitchen to decorate.
It brought us back to where we belong, with our family and friends, and where we are most happy.
I hope our story inspires you to not only take those bumpy roads, but maybe re-create in your own kitchen.

Love, Julie

East Sign

For more details on redheadcandecorate.com’s DIY Kitchen Makeover

visit “One Special Kitchen” where you will find paint colors, and other specific details on how they did it all.

Subscribe to redheadcandecorate.com here, or follow on Facebook,Pinterest, Instagram

12 Comments Filed Under: Decorating, Kitchen Remodel Tagged With: decorating, kitchens

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Comments

  1. barbara says

    September 19, 2014 at 4:46 AM

    Your kitchens could not be more beautiful, and from someone who was raised in Michigan, I trust you will love the state too. You guys are good at everything it seems! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 19, 2014 at 3:18 PM

      Thank you, Barbara. We LOVE Michigan. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Pam @diy Design Fanatic says

    September 19, 2014 at 7:14 AM

    What a gorgeous transformation! Awesome family kitchen!!!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 19, 2014 at 3:19 PM

      Thank you, Pam!!

      Reply
  3. Kerry Purcell says

    September 19, 2014 at 10:15 AM

    What a beautiful kitchen and story. Love it . . .

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 19, 2014 at 3:18 PM

      Thank you, Kerry!

      Reply
  4. Deb says

    September 19, 2014 at 5:17 PM

    Love following your home and yard and pond on Facebook! Funny, I saw this post on Picket Fence but thought that looks a lot like Redhead Can Decorate’s kitchen! Maybe more than one person has same kitchen! 🙂 I grew up in Sterling Heights. We’re in Chicago now and I don’t think we’ll move back to Michigan but never say never …

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 20, 2014 at 1:35 PM

      How funny, Deb! If there are 2 of us, look out!!! 😉 See you over on FB!!

      Reply
  5. Lori Alexander says

    September 19, 2014 at 6:26 PM

    It’s beautiful! I love the wood floors. I have had wood floors for 18 years and we have done nothing to them but they still look great.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 20, 2014 at 1:37 PM

      Thanks, Lori!

      Reply
  6. افضل عزل الاسطح says

    September 19, 2014 at 10:04 PM

    An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who was doing a little
    homework on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast simply because
    I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….

    Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time
    to talk about this matter here on your web page.

    Reply
  7. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    September 21, 2014 at 12:42 PM

    I am thrilled again to see Julie’s kitchen…it is so very beautiful…and loved to hear the story about her moves…I used to live in North Central Florida and yes, it can be very hot and humid there….so great that Julie is back with her friends and family in a home that was meant to be…I just love the combination of the black and white cabinets in the kitchen…magnificent job…thanks ladies for a great feature here today!

    Reply

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Happy Friday!! I’m working on a blog post to sha Happy Friday!! I’m working on a blog post to share all of the details of our family room shelving makeover but I’m super impatient and just had to give you all a sneak peek!! We are SO happy with how they turned out and it finally looks like I’ve always envisioned. Our quick fix years ago (scroll to see the before photo) never felt quite right but now? Soooo much better!! 🙌🏻 Big shoutout to our amazingly talented friend Matt @redemptive_woodworx for bringing our vision to life and doing such impeccable work.

I hope you all have a great start to the 4th of July weekend and make sure to check my stories later for Friday Funnies!
The month of June is coming to a close and it has The month of June is coming to a close and it has been JAM packed! The highlight by far though was my son's graduation from high school. When I started blogging, he was only 6 years old and some of you have been apart of my community here for that entire time. Now, he's 19 and there is a reason parents are told not to blink because the years truly do go faster than I ever could have imagined. He has become such an incredible young man we are so excited to see how God is going to unfold the next chapter of his life. We celebrated with parties galore (SO many open houses to attend!) and made memories we'll forever cherish. My mama heart was filled to bursting with the joy of it all! Now we're taking some time to just enjoy these warm, summer days making even more memories because, when you’re at this stage of parenting, you know all too well how much you need to grasp every opportunity to spend time together.

I hope your summer is off to a great start too dear friends! 🪴
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts o “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Happy first day of summer dear friends!! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted something new here but life has been crazy. I’ll have some new photos of house projects and life events to share with you soon but, got now, I’m just going to enjoy this gorgeous first day of summer after our ridiculously long, wet spring. ☀️
“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. Th “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” (Maud Hart Lovelace) 

Welcome June!
“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”
General Douglas MacArthur

Grateful today and every day for those who were vigilant to the point of death in the preservation of our freedom. May we honor their sacrifice by being vigilant too. #memorialday
“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10
This is one of my most favorite projects from my b This is one of my most favorite projects from my book Life in Season! 

Because, if heaven has a fragrance, I’m fairly certain it smells like lilacs.

I think that somewhere along the way the verse in the Bible that said, ‘heaven will smell like lilacs’ just got lost in translation. But it HAD to have been in there at some point, right?

When I bury my head in the blossoms (which I absolutely MUST do every single time I walk past them), I immediately feel a stirring in my soul.

It seems like I wait forever for my lilac tree to bloom. Every year I anxiously watch as the buds begin to form on the branches and then when the blossoms finally burst forth I begin that agonizing process of deciding the absolute perfect moment to snip them and bring them inside.

And then, after all of that waiting and watching it’s just over…done. Because, unlike heaven, lilacs don’t last for an eternity. So, making my own lilac room spray seemed like the perfect way to enjoy their fragrance long after the blossoms have faded.

Here’s how to make it! Ingredients: Water, Vodka, Lilac fragrance oil. Directions: Fill spray bottle with 50/50 ratio of water to vodka. Add 12 drops of lilac oil. Give it a shake, spray and if the scent isn’t strong enough, simply add a few more drops of lilac oil.

Once you’ve made this lilac scented room spray you will be very tempted to spray it in every room in your house. And someone may want to use it in the bathroom to cover up other less…ummmm….pleasing aromas.

But, do not, I repeat do NOT, let them.

You’ve captured the fragrance of heaven in a bottle and you wouldn’t want to go and tarnish it now would you? 😉
We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most we’ve had in a LONG time) and now we are back to pouring rain. This has officially confirmed what I’ve know to be true for awhile now.

I’m a MUCH better version of myself when the sun is shining! 🤪 So I’ll just be over here today plotting and planning how my husband and I can be snowbirds someday when the kids are out of the house.

If you could spend your winters (and apparently most of spring too!) in any part of the country, where would it be?
Happy weekend sweet friends!! We’ve had a LOT of Happy weekend sweet friends!! We’ve had a LOT of rain lately (which is saying something when you live in Oregon) and I’ll admit that it’s affecting my moods a bit. I feel like I’m dragging and struggling to find the energy to get stuff done. So don’t mind me if I’m over here looking at photos of my garden in the summertime and finding that it keeps me hopeful about those days to come. They will come, right?! 🤪. 

What are your favorite plants that you look forward to seeing in the summer?
We’re going to be giving our laundry room a make We’re going to be giving our laundry room a makeover soon. It’s LONG overdue! In fact, the folks from the counter company were just here taking measurements. While we have made some simple, inexpensive updates over the years, it still has many of the original elements from when the house was built in 1992.

Two of our bathrooms are also in need of major makeovers. And we’ve saved up enough money over the years to tackle those projects. But, for the most part, we made the decision to use the bulk of that money in another way. While we knew that it was financially wise to invest in our house, we also knew that the greatest investment we could make was in our children. 

I’ll admit, there are times where I see other people doing massive overhauls of their entire home in a matter of months and I feel a prick of envy. But, we decided that if our choice was between waiting a bit longer to enjoy a renovated bathroom or going on adventures as a family, we would choose adventures every time. And we don’t regret that decision for a single second. It’s not that we haven’t tackled home projects (we’ve done a lot!). It’s just that it’s been a slow and steady process. 

Most recently, we let our son pick where we would travel for spring break since this is his senior year of high school and we are trying to make up for lost time. With so much of life ‘paused’ for two years, we have appreciated these moments more than ever. And, since he’ll be heading to college in the fall, we are very aware of how important it is to spend this time together while we still have a modicum of control over everyone’s schedules.

We have many years left to remodel our home but only so much time left to make memories with our children.

And, while I’m always happy to look around my home and see rooms that are updated and more reflecting of our style, it doesn’t compare to the joy I feel when I look around my home and see the people I love the most who have been shaped by the many adventures we’ve experienced together.
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