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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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November 9, 2013

Cottage In The Oaks ~At The Picket Fence Parade of Homes

 

Happy Saturday! We are so excited and honored to have our friend Daune from Cottage In The Oaks here with us today for another At The Picket Fence Parade of Homes, sharing her beautiful…well….cottage in the oaks! 

at the picket fence parade of homes
Welcome to Cottage in the Oaks! Handsome and I discovered Oak Cottage when we were engaged, and we fell for it immediately.  We knew it needed a lot of TLC, but that didn’t deter us at all.

We live in an Acadian cottage……{a French cottage} in Eastern NC. We love all of the character that goes into the design and architecture of these cottages.

The brick and the heart pine floors in our home were all reclaimed from antebellum plantation homes here in the South. If they could talk….I’m sure they have some great stories to tell!  We love items that tell a story, and are especially drawn to European vintage and anything that has history.

We love having visitors……so, come on inside!

//HOME TOUR//

Our front porch is our favorite ‘room’ in the cottage! {We call it our Therapy Room.} It’s large enough to have a dining room table on it….and we eat there whenever possible.

//FRONT PORCH//

Cottage In The Oaks Front Porch

Our home is often full of teens and friends…….so, the living room is the spot for movie nights and great fellowship………..

//LIVING ROOM//

Cottage In The Oaks Living Room

In the summer and early autumn we don’t like having just a big, black hole when the fireplace isn’t being used…..so we fill it with stacks of bundled vintage books. When the cold weather arrives we take them out and enjoy toasty fires.

Cottage In The Oaks Autumn Mantel

Cottage In The Oaks Living Room

Cottage In the Oaks Vignette

Just as most European kitchens, our kitchen is tiny! So, we have had to be very creative with using every bit of space. It’s a hard-working room……

//KITCHEN//

Cottage In The Oaks Kitchen

Cottage In The Oaks Kitchen Vignette

Cottage In The Oaks Farmhous Sink

We have several vignettes that serve different purposes….and are loving the Autumn Beverage Station right now! All the fixings for our favorite warm beverages in one place.

Cottage In The Oaks Beverage Station

Handsome built a wonderful wall-to-wall sideboard with tons of storage in our dining room…….it has not only added great character in the room, but provides much needed storage for serve ware, etc.

//DINING ROOM//

Cottage In The Oaks Dining Room

Cottage In the Oaks Dining Room

Cottage In The Oaks Dining Room

Cottage In the Oaks Number Chair Covers

Cottage In The Oaks White Centerpiece

The kitchen may be tiny, but the master bath is wonderfully large…..we enjoy that! The sink is from the late 1800’s, and was a part of the cottage when we purchased it. Score!

//MASTER BATH//

Cottage In The Oaks Master Bath

Can you have too many vintage, French apothecary jars? I think not!

Cottage In The Oaks apothecary jars in cottage bathroom

We wanted a home office that was efficient and hard-working, but we didn’t want to see wires, cords, etc. all over the place. {It is also a ‘through space’ in our home…you have to walk through it to get to the bathroom, etc.} Handsome built an L-shaped desk that we could hide all of the wires and cords……and we used vintage items to store office supplies. So, it also ends up being a nice sitting room…not just an office.

//HOME OFFICE~SITTING ROOM//

Cottage In The Oaks office

All of these fun, vintage cigar boxes and cubbies hide things like paper clips, extra cords and cables, etc.

Cottage In the Oaks office

We love our garden…and have worked to create an English cottage garden from the time we have moved in 18  years ago.

//ENGLISH COTTAGE GARDEN//

Cottage In The Oaks Garden

It’s a joy having celebrations in the garden……it’s a special place to be and we’ve created so many wonderful memories there.

Cottage In The Oaks Party in the Garden 18

Wow! We could sit in that garden all day long! Thank you Daune for sharing your beautiful home with us today.  Be sure to visit Daune at Cottage In The Oaks and follow along with her on Facebook! You can also visit her wonderful Year of Porches and Year of Mantels, so many inspiring ideas! 

 

You can see more of our Picket Fence Home Tours! Stay tuned next week for another fabulous blogger home tour!

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9 Comments Filed Under: Home Tour, Parade of Homes Tagged With: decor, decorating, home tours, parade of homes

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Comments

  1. Michele/Finch Rest says

    November 9, 2013 at 6:09 AM

    Oh what a perfect cottage/blogger to feature – what a nice way to start my day! Thank you – it was such a delightful read – and now I am heading over to oogle and ahhhhhhgle more there now.

    Have a truly wonderful weekend!

    Reply
  2. Claire @ A Little Claireification says

    November 9, 2013 at 7:41 AM

    What a gorgeous cottage and wonderful tour. Just packed with personality and so many things to see in every picture – I love it! Thanks for sharing Daune and her lovely home with us!! xo

    Reply
  3. Mimi says

    November 9, 2013 at 10:32 AM

    I absolutely love this home. I feel like I can move in as is. Love the comfortable, modern, rustic, elegance about it all. Quite lovely!

    Reply
  4. Martina says

    November 9, 2013 at 12:09 PM

    BEAUTIFUL home inside and out!!

    Reply
  5. Yvonne @ StoneGable says

    November 9, 2013 at 5:48 PM

    Amazing! I could look at this home for hours and still need to come back. So much inspiration! Thanks for a delghtful parade of homes!

    Reply
  6. Carol Reddin says

    November 10, 2013 at 4:58 AM

    What a great home! Would love to experience sitting in the garden – taking in the sights and smells!

    Reply
  7. Daune | Cottage in the Oaks says

    November 10, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    You all are the sweetest! Wish you all could come on over and have some tea on the porch with me! 😉 Thank you Vanessa and Heather for featuring our cottage….wished we lived closer. Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend!

    Reply
  8. Cindy says

    November 10, 2013 at 12:41 PM

    Beautiful home full of vintage touches…charming!!!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

    Reply
  9. Ranell says

    January 30, 2014 at 10:57 AM

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful home. I love your back yard space!

    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! 💗
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Happy Easter from my home to yours!
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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.

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Where are things collecting in your house right now?
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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.

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