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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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December 22, 2016

Christmas down South….

Welcome!  I’m so excited to finally give you a peek at our new home! It seems these days, I’m a day late and a dollar short but here I am with a glimpse into our house dressed up for Christmas day.  It might be sunny and almost 70 degrees on December 22nd, but that’s okay because, “This is how we we roll in the South!”

Shaw Floors 2016 Epic Plus Hardwood Entry resized

C’mon on in and don’t worry about taking off your shoes! Because of my new beautiful Shaw Epic Plus Hardwood Floors, I never have to worry again about heels gouging holes, or dogs scratching them! They are as solid…as well hardwood! grin!

//Front Entry//

Shaw Floors 2016 Epic Plus Hardwood Staircase remodel resized

I’m excited to be showing off my new hardwood stairs and the beautiful installation job by Kemp’s Dalton West Flooring!  I’m in L-O-V-E!! Carpet on steps no more!

Shaw Floors 2016 Epic Plus Hardwoods Foyer and Stairs resized


//GUEST BEDROOM//

Christmas 2016 Guest Bedroom mini tinsel tree resized

Christmas 2016 Guest Bedroom resized

Christmas 2016 Guest Room Bedding resized

//KITCHEN//

Shaw Epic Plus Hardwood Christmas 2016 resized

Coffee and Hot Chocolate Station

chandelier

//BREAKFAST ROOM//

Christmas 2016 breakfast room resized

Christmas 2016 mini wreath  resized

Christmas 2016 Breakfast room-2

 

//GREAT ROOM//

Christmas 2016 fireplace resized

Christmas 2016 Living Room

Pencil Blue and White Christmas Tree 2016

 

Here’s a little glimpse of our new floors up close.  They are mixed width hand-scraped hickory and I can’t wait to show you how durable they really are, so stay tuned next week for our before and afters and our experience with having the entire first floor, and stairs, of our home replaced.

Shaw Epic Plus Hardwood Christmas 2016 1-3

As I am typing this my son, who lives far away now, has walked in the door to spend the week with us…and now it finally feels like Christmas!  As much as I love the beautiful Christmas decorations around our house, it’s the people in it that make it a home.  This year, especially, we are cherishing every moment together.  My father-in-love has terminal cancer and we are more aware than ever that each day is precious and this Christmas, we will be taking time to laugh and reminisce.  To take time to say, “I love you.”   I pray that you are with those you love this Christmas and if you find yourself alone, for some reason,  I want you know that you are loved, you are not ever truly alone and we are praying for YOU!

Front door Christmas 2016 resized
Thank you for visiting my home and taking a little tour of my Christmas home! We want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and blessings in the New Year!

Thank you for meeting me….at the picket fence!

signature*I’m compensated for my partnership with Shaw Floors but all opinions are 100% my own*

12 Comments Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Home Tour, Sponsored Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas decor, Christmas decorating, Christmas trees, Shaw

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Comments

  1. Jan Howard says

    December 22, 2016 at 6:03 PM

    We have great taste in flooring! I just had Shaw Hudson Bay, Copper Ridge installed in my new house! It is also the mixed width. The most beautiful floors I’ve ever had. Love yours too. Enjoy your new home. Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  2. Carol Reddin says

    December 22, 2016 at 6:06 PM

    I get to be the first to say how beautiful your home is all dressed up for the holidays. The flooring is gorgeous and I especially like the stairs without carpet. I love all the holiday decor and the two gorgeous trees. It looks like a place where I would enjoy spending Christmas.

    Reply
  3. Pamela LePage says

    December 22, 2016 at 6:10 PM

    I so love the floors and the house looks great. Sorry to hear about your Father in love , will be keeping you in my prayers.

    Merry Christmas to you and your family.
    Be safe
    Hugs

    Reply
  4. Susie says

    December 22, 2016 at 6:11 PM

    Just beautiful! Thanks for the tour I’d love to know your paint color on your walls. I’m looking for a warm white and your walls are lovely. MERRY Christmas!

    Reply
  5. june says

    December 22, 2016 at 6:50 PM

    Love the floors…I also have a variable board in my new wood floors that are hand scraped. LOVE THEM!!!
    Don’t worry when the german shepherd granddog visits.

    Sorry about your father in love. So many suffering right now. My dear friend of 50 years from HS just found out she has pancreatic cancer. I have another friend that is in hospice and may not be here Christmas.
    Praying for all of us affected by family and friends struggling with health challenges.

    Merry Christmas Heather!

    Reply
  6. Vicki says

    December 22, 2016 at 7:05 PM

    I have missed you! That is a lot of news in your post. So sorry about your Father-in-Love. Love your new home and your new floors. I look forward to more! Merry Christmas, enjoy your family.
    Your friend in the South,

    Reply
  7. Vonda says

    December 22, 2016 at 7:30 PM

    Absolutely gorgeous!!! Love it all! You’ve got such amazing style Heather!!! And the hardwood floors are beautiful!!

    Reply
  8. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    December 22, 2016 at 8:21 PM

    Love your new home Heather and you had me at Hand Scraped Hickory floors!….every room is so beautifully decorated for Christmas….my prayers go out to your Father-in-Law. Merry Christmas to you and your family, treasuring each moment you spend with one another.

    Reply
  9. Betty Whatley says

    December 23, 2016 at 5:04 AM

    How beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us your readers. So glad that your son got home and all of you can spend Christmas together. Yes, I lost 2 sisters two years apart right after Christmas with cancer and my heart goes out to you. Enjoy every day and know that you , your family and father are being prayed for. Merry Christmas.

    Reply
  10. Margaret Allegretto says

    December 23, 2016 at 5:12 AM

    Beautiful!! Merry Christmas!!

    Reply
  11. Lisa Mothersead says

    December 23, 2016 at 9:22 AM

    It’s just beautiful!

    Reply
  12. Diane Lawrence says

    December 23, 2016 at 12:36 PM

    Beautiful, Heather! Looks like both you and your sister inherited your creativity from your amazing Mom! I love the variety of plank widths, the texture and color of your new floor! I would love to not have carpet on the stairs. The wood looks so classy, and probably much easier to clean! Merry Christmas to you and your family. Praying for many special memories for you all this year.

    Reply

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I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
Are you living with great expectation friends? Bec Are you living with great expectation friends? Because He is risen!

Happy Easter from my home to yours!
Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to be a different kind of Easter for sure but some things don’t change. Have you been baking and getting ready for tomorrow? What’s one thing on your menu that you have to have every year?
If this is Good Friday, why doesn’t it feel so “good”? It all seems backward doesn’t it?

What could be good about the unspeakable pain he suffered? What could be good about the shame and betrayal?

Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because that wasn’t the end of the story….
.
…It was just the beginning!
Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house that’s become the landing zone for ALL THE THINGS! 🙋🏻‍♀️🤪 I’ve never been more thankful for our rarely used dining room table as it’s become command central for school books and laptops and games.

Where are things collecting in your house right now?
“Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every si “Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every single one of these emotions has made their way through our home in recent days and, my guess is, they have in your home too.

I SO needed this reminder today from the new book ‘Adore’ by @sarahagertywrites.

Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

What do you need to bring to Him today? I’ll share mine in the comments and I’d love to hear from you too!
I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole lockdown thing began, I’ve come to appreciate this time of day even more.

It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

But, in the evening, I cook dinner like I’ve always done and we gather around the table like we’ve always done and we laugh and tell stories and then clean up and play games or go on a walk or watch a show. And that feels SO gloriously normal.

So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

What feels ‘normal’ to you right now? Whatever it is, keep doing it. 🌿
When I was in college I would frequently call home When I was in college I would frequently call home and pour my heart out to my mom, sharing with her all that was happening in my life in that completely unfiltered way that you can talk with the person who potty trained you. These phone calls usually took place at night and my mom would patiently listen as I vented frustrations about professors, roommates, boyfriends and the food in the cafeteria. And, inevitably, they would end with my mom saying, “Everything seems worse when you’re tired. Try not to overthink things or make any major decisions tonight, especially when you are feeling emotional.” Dear friends, may I pass along this advice to you today?

If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

If you are tempted to quit a job, start a business, start homeschooling permanently, stop homeschooling permanently, move to a new city, buy a farm, quit pursuing your dream, join a commune or make any other major life decision just…wait. Because, if it is in fact the right decision, it will be made even clearer once our lives return to their ‘regularly scheduled programming’. Instead, in this strange season, let’s all just take a deep, collective breath and let it out slowly, releasing the anxiety that threatens to overtake us. Let’s help each other maintain some perspective and not slip into a posture of over-thinking every little thing in our lives. Let’s remember that the enemy of our souls would love nothing more than to use this time when things feel dark to manipulate us into thinking that aspects of our lives are worse than they actually are.

My prayer for you in these days is that you will have the clarity to know what is true and that you will be filled with peace even while we live in this season of so many unknowns.
Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking thes Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking these days! 🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m trying to avoid gaining the #corona15 but my daughter and I LOVE baking together and it does help to pass the time plus it counts as a science lesson right?

If you’re able to find flour in the stores (for the love people please stop overbuying!) and you’re doing more baking at your house too you need to add this apricot bread to your list of new recipes to try!

Normally I’d point you to my blog for the directions but I’m going to do you a solid and leave the full recipe in the comments.

What have you baked so far during this time of social distancing? I’d love some new ideas!
There are a LOT of people out walking in our neigh There are a LOT of people out walking in our neighborhood right now (but still social distancing!) and she decided that she wanted to bring them some joy and put a smile on their face when they pass by our house. Also, the square with ‘say no to coronavirus’ is priceless. 😂 I just love her so much!
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