At The Picket Fence

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

My Favorite Decorating Tip

I am on a mission. A mission to help you discover how amazing it feels to live in a peaceful home. More than ever, I believe that we are yearning for spaces where we can shut out the craziness of the world and just ‘be’. With access right at our fingertips to all of the things all of the time, somehow as a culture we are becoming more anxious and less connected.

And there’s a reason it’s said that our homes should be our havens. So, I am passionate about helping you build a foundation of peace in your home which will sustains you when all of the craziness of life comes at you.

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Holiday Housewalk Christmas Tour 2018

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!” ~ Charles Dickens

Welcome, dear friends, welcome! I’m so thrilled to be opening my home for a Christmas tour to you today as part of the annual Jennifer Rizzo Holiday Housewalk! You will want to start at the very beginning to soak up all of the beautiful inspiration so head over to her place and sit back and take it all in.

If you are arriving here from my friend Traci’s beautiful home, I’m so glad that you decided to continue on with the tour and I hope you feel very welcomed.

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When You Can’t All Fit on the Couch Anymore

There are a million little moments throughout parenting which go by with no notice, no fanfare and yet are significant milestones deserving of being acknowledged.

I don’t remember the exact day when I carried my daughter up the stairs for the last time. Or the day when my son took his last swing between me and my husband as we walked down the street, laughing and giggling as we all shouted ‘ONE, TWO, THREE!’ and we lifted him up high in the air.

And I can’t remember exactly when my family of four stopped fitting comfortably together on our couch but, one day, we just all found ourselves squished together. And while I’m all for closeness this was a little bit too close, especially when you consider the extra odors that come with tweens/teens.

We did have extra chairs in the room, but they weren’t the kind of comfy, plunk down, cozying up kind of chairs that you really should have in a family room.

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French Country Home Tour

10 years. This summer we celebrated 10 years of living in this house. Somewhere (on an old camera buried in a drawer) there is a photo I took when we walked through these rooms for the first time with our realtor. I snapped a shot of an upstairs bathroom and caught in the reflection in the mirror is the image of me holding my 10 month old daughter on my hip while my son runs from room to room behind me.

Now, here we are, with a 15 year old and an 11 year old and a house that slowly became a home. And I realized recently that I’ve never shown it all to you at once. You’ve seen bits and pieces, rooms here and there, but I thought it might be fun to take you on a tour and begin at the beginning.

The other night as my husband and I were shutting down the house in preparation for going to bed, I was going from room to room turning off lamps and I couldn’t help but think about how much this house has changed.

When we purchased this home, there were no TV shows where entire homes were overhauled in a matter of days or weeks with the results being dramatically revealed to the owners. There wasn’t even Instagram with the temptation to scroll past one beautiful room after another feeling more and more discouraged that while those spaces were so impeccably decorated and up-to-date, my own rooms were solidly stuck in 1992, the year the house was built and the money it took for us to buy the house and keep our mortgage low didn’t allow a lot of extra cash for updates.

And I’m SO very thankful for that! Because, I never once thought that our house would be entirely transformed to my liking in a short period of time.

(living room)

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Decorating a Metal Cart for an Office

When my kids were little, I would regularly turn anything that felt like a chore into a game. Usually this involved me coming up with some very cute and clever (at least in my mind!) song to go with it.

“Let’s see who can pick up the train tracks the fastest!”

“How many toys do you think you can find under your bed?”

“Who can guess how many Lego pieces are on this floor? Pick them up to find out!”

There was just something about turning a task into a fun activity that made it more motivating. For some reason though, now that my kids are in the tween/teen years they don’t find my attempts at doing this as fun. I even offer to make up some songs to go with it! Go figure.

But, I know for a fact that one ‘game’ I will never outgrow is the “how cheaply can I re-decorate this room” game.

So, as I continue tackling our office makeover , I’m determined to find ways to cut costs and enjoy the fun of chasing down a bargain.

A couple of weeks ago I hit up Hobby Lobby in search for storage for this little corner of the office. I really wanted something that was just kind of ‘mine’ since the rest of the office is used by everyone in the family. I wandered around and around and around the aisles and saw so many pieces that would have definitely fit the bill. But not the right kind of bill. You see, I was determined to spend under $75.

Just as I was heading towards the exit, I decided to take one more look at the clearance section and it was there I found it! The perfect metal storage cart on sale for $40!!

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10 Bathroom Makeovers You’ll Love

Good morning friends, from redheadcandecorate.com. When I left you here “At the Picket Fence” last month I thought for sure the next time we would meet that we all would be getting some vitamin D outdoors planting some flowers and just really getting into Spring mode. Well…I was way off track if you happen to live in the Midwest. We still have snow on the ground and this is the longest Winter I’ve ever experienced. The only great thing about it is that we have been working on the inside of our house and getting a lot done. Specifically, our master bathroom. If you follow along you may know that we have been working on our master bathroom renovation for months now. I am happy to say it is finished, and that leads me to today’s topic…bathrooms.

Today, I will be sharing our bathroom renovation journey with you through the last couple months, and I’ve also contacted many more bathroom DIY-ers through blog land and I am going to share their bathroom makeovers, too. Now, I know we all love to see pretty pictures on the blogs, and I promise you that I will be sharing those, but first I want you to see the “before” photo. I truly believe the before photos are so fun to look at first, and then you get a real wow factor after you click over to see the “after”.

10 bathroom makeovers you will love!

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Finding the Perfect Rug

Our new hardwood floors were welcomed with open arms by everyone in our family…well…almost everyone.

You see, my daughter LOVES to lie on the floor when watching TV or reading a book or playing a game.

As someone who now solidly lands in the ‘over-40’ crowd, it just looks so uncomfortable because at my stage of life I find it much easier to sit down on the floor than I do to get back up. And it’s a guarantee that there will be some creaks and groans involved.

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Living and Dining Room Hardwood Flooring Reveal

*I’m so excited to be sharing with you today my new Shaw hardwood flooring in my living and dining rooms!*

“It looks so cozy. So homey!”

My husband and I had just moved the last piece of furniture back into the living room after having our beautiful new Shaw floors installed and we were taking a moment to catch our breath and just soak in the changes.

And when he said those words, I looked at the spaces and had an ‘ah-ha’ moment.

You see, I think that in all of my efforts to create spaces that had more neutral tones, there had been something missing. Maybe I had gone just a bit too far. Because when you have off-white carpet and an off-white couch, off-white coffee table and off-white chairs, it just sort of all starts running together.

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Newly Painted Living Room Reveal

Growing up, the living room was our ‘fancy’ room. I have vivid memories of the powder blue velvet brocade couch that sat regally in the living room of our house when I was a little girl. This was where we would sit when we wanted a nice photo. Or where guests would be invited to sit when they stopped by. But, even though it was definitely the space that held our nicest furniture, it was never off-limits to us as kids. We played with our dolls in there, dressed up like Laura and Mary and acted out scenes from Little House on the Prairie and I know my mom would work on her sewing projects in there because one time I stepped on a pin that had sunk down into the shag carpet. It was easy for things to get lost in shag carpet. It also conveniently disguised any blood that came as a result from stepping on a pin. Just sayin’.

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Dining Room Makeover and Paint Color Reveal!

So, my husband and I are attending a banquet this week and I realized that I don’t really have anything that qualifies as ‘cocktail party’ attire. So, yesterday I found myself in the Macy’s dressing room with an armload of dresses and quickly became aware that since I am neither a ‘mother-of-the-bride’ or a teenager (praise Jesus!), my options for fancy dresses were dwindling rapidly. Nothing fit quite right. They were either too fancy or too poofy or too beady or too short (for the love of all that is good and holy how do these girls get out the door in dresses that are THAT short?!) and as I exited the mall I was fairly certain that I was just going to wear my sweats to the banquet and call it good. Elastic waistbands for the win!

I was really looking for that elusive ‘just right’. And, while I may not have found it in the Macy’s dressing room, I’m pretty sure I’ve found it in my dining room. Because ever since we had it painted and freshened up, I can’t help but think that this how it was always meant to look.

Like finding the perfect dress, it’s flattering in all the right places. It hugs the curves and shows off the best sides. It’s effortless.

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