Painting it Out.

So, I'm assuming you will forgive my bloggy absence this past few weeks. I've been painting the Picket Fence digs. It all started with a window removal. This is the old window. Which mind you, I loved. It just made things a bit ...dark. In an old house you live with elegance, character, moving walls, squeaking floorboards and most often ...a severe lack of light. I wanted light , hence , a pre Christmas reno.... madness. Yes, the people who told me I was mad, painting prior to Christmas. You were right .            

See  below..... dark.com   :) 

Anyway, this is the new window, forgive it's unpainted state, but you will get the idea. It goes all the way to our very high ceiling. I bought it for $13 on Ebay. Score :)  See the pressed tin on the walls .... I'm still stroking it. I've always wanted tin and due to some damaged tiles...I have tin :) 

I love him  :)  Perhaps even more so, with tin ;)

 Eventually we will get new cabinets , cook tops and hopefully a big deep European sink , but that's not in the Picket Fence budget for another say, 10 years. That is unless I find a bargain. I'm thrilled with this as it is for now.

 To add to the light , I've been painting. Yes you guessed right :) Antique white USA by Dulux on the walls and the trims in Dulux China White. The following photos show this in progress. Prepare for scenes of great chaos.

I started with great optimism.

And gusto.

Later I'll paint this too. But for now. I'm over it !

Mr Picket Fence looking for his remote control :) No, actually, he's removing some brackets.

A friend consoled me about the paint in my hair, big flecks of white amongst the dark. She said I looked arty. Truth be known , some people look arty with paint in their hair. I don't. I looked scatty .

   Vertigo.       

      Before

And nearly after... see the window in the next picture. 

Worth it ? Yes :) 

Some tidier pictures :)  

 

I'm dreading painting the pantry.  

I'm also doing a huge declutter... New Years resolution.

Fresh.

Who dirtied up my mirrors ?

  And now Christmas is upon us. I have stopped. I will continue the marathon in the new year. For now, I'm ignoring the parts I missed and eating cake :)
Wishing you all a Picket Fence kind of Christmas. That is, a beautiful , happy, family orientated ,simple kind of Christmas. Filled with joy, love and plenty of lovely Christmas food :)
 Thank-you for your friendship, patience and lovely comments and emails throughout the year, you've so often made me smile. See you next year... Cant wait ...See you there with bells on !!

Busy Busy....

Guess What I've been doing ? Can you guess ? I wonder if anyone can see anything different about this picture hmmmm ?

Picket Fence Family Tin Can Advent Calendar

I know I promised a hedge planting post and some painted cane furniture. I really hoped I'd get both these things done this week, but life got in the way and I had to push these tasks sideways. I did however take some time out to do some crafty things with the Picket Fence Girls.
We made an advent calendar . Very easy , we used , some tin cans, bits and bobs an old door and a glue gun.

 First , save 25 cans or buy 25 cans of something cheap you can use and freeze the contents. Tomato soup   all round in this house.

 Wash them , admire their shiny exteriors and pop them aside.

 A salvaged door. Here it is before I painted it with one coat of  Dulux Antique White USA.

 Some paper numbers.  1- 25

 Fabric strips of your choice. Which I then cut into small squares. 25 small squares ;)

 Some ticking 25 pieces...about the circumference of the can in length

25 Vintage buttons.

 Cut up 25 pieces from a cardboard box. I punched holes in them and then changed my mind and didn't use the holes. Ignore the holes. I covered them with buttons ( a quick fix)

 Ready to begin. Heat your glue gun and thread some string through your buttons. Purely decorative.

Drill a biro size hole in the back top area of each can. Or enrol a husband to do same while you photograph his oh so gorgeous hands ;) Thank-you Mr Picket Fence xx

 Glue your ticking on the cans.

 Get that glue gun out again and stick a piece of cardboard on, followed by a snip of fabric and then on top, stick a number. Glue your button on. I glued my button over my accidentally punched holes :) I think it actually held together more securely because of the holes. A happy accident!

 Hang your cans on the louvre door  in random order with small sized "s" hooks. To the top, I added a poly resin angel I had tucked away ...you could add whatever makes you smile or just keep it simple and add nothing.

Fill each can with a treat a day to count down until Christmas. We are going to have little scrolls of paper with activities and recipes in each can. Topped off with a wrapped home made  toffee,  I think it will be quite a countdown, thats if baby Picket Fence doesn't raid every can within reach.
Feeling festive yet ? I'm off to eat soup and dream about planting that hedge . See you soon!!

Sharing with Sarah at A Beach Cottage

Blog Guilt

Today I  replied to all my blog comments and lovely lovely emails. I feel such guilt when I don't get back to people. Blogger guilt. Do you ever get it ??  I'm having trouble fitting everything in :)

Today though, I 'm going to jump on that lounge you see there and watch Cars 2 with Baby picket Fence ( He watches this over and over and over again ) 

Love to all. It's a happy Blog guilt free day !!

Take a Virtual Tour Of Our house . Tim Coulson Style

This is the Picket Fence House. Well a small part of the backside of it .
This photo was taken the day Tim Coulson came and photographed my family. You remember ? The day I worried about absolutely everything and it turned out fine because Tim Coulson is, well, completely awesome. See it here if you missed out ... This guy's talent blows me away.
Well guess what ? Theres more :)
 Tim posted more photo's on his blog this week. If you're not already sick of us then do pop over......You can see them here ! Oh and the photo of the window in the final picture ( Yes the one behind the sink full of dishes) well, we are ripping out that window  this week and putting in a larger one ! (Operation Light filled Kitchen)  I can feel some Picket Fence Chaos ahead !! Cross your fingers that I can find some mummy calm, I do believe I'll be needing it !

Where for art thou blog post ?

Blogger is being oh so strange and has put my last post in October. A less recent post is popping up as my most current offering. Rather than sort it as I know I should, I am going to squeeze my eyes shut and hope it resolves itself by next week. In the mean time you can find it here ..Organised Chaos Picket Fence Joy !

Organised Chaos. Picket Fence Joy.

 Greetings from the household of Picket Fence Fancy.  Such warm weather has the garden jumping and with the sea breeze carrying the scent of our  fragrant roses through the house,  life seems, just plain better.

Mr Picket Fence had a rough week. The computer that he uses for his business had a melt down and went to PC heaven. Fortunately he'd backed up his work so it was more of an inconvenience than a disaster. A full day of installing a new (old) PC and reinstalling his required programs and upgrading our router (things in the Picket Fence house are now wireless and much faster) resulted in a happy husband  He's not terribly confident with all things technical so it was me he spent the time under the desk wrapped in cords and sorting routers and modems. So much fun ;)

 Many visitors were had this week. Barbecues with family and friends have resulted in not many crafty projects being completed. Worth delaying :) I did ,however, do a bit of a dusting marathon to impress the same visitors and revisited some things I had tucked away. Bingo anyone ?

The Picket Fence children had a few weeks of awards being presented at their school assemblies. Mr Picket Fence and I enjoyed attending each one. Another parent pointed out how these school assemblies are quite symbolic of the relaxed,supportive and intimate nature of small towns . When you can fit a whole school yard of children under the same roof and still identify every child by name, when you can all smile and cheer as year K/1 does the chicken dance in full costume, when you walk out into the sunshine with the other parents knowing it was an hour well spent ; then you know you truly appreciate the golden simplicity of a small town.

 Just plain pretty... I moved this into a more prominent place in our kitchen ... Mr Picket Fence bought me this quintessential fifties print on a past wedding anniversary. I look at this and realise he "gets it"

 I've been doing some reading, a snatch here and there. Have you read this yet? It's chock full of gorgeous photos and achievable design ideas...... I have big plans :)

 Baby Picket Fence and I sorted out my magazines and the kids Lego , craft supplies and bit's and pieces, They look invisible here, almost tidy.... You can NEVER have enough suitcases. I bought another suitcase , it's turquoise and I forgot to photograph it. Next time :)

 Gumboots ,PJ's and so much fun. I'm beginning to realise the veggie patch and chook yard are one of the better things we've initiated at the Picket Fence house. The children are having endless fun with same. It's a good feeling.

Small successes. I've been nagging Mr Picket Fence , for years, for a hedge on the lane way side of our back fence. He has been reluctant. But, this week, I won ! Triumph is a tray of forty Lilly Pilly Tube stock. Hello hedge :) So excited !!

 Finally , a deep breath in. This is my rambling climber Albertine . I do nothing with this girl, with no spraying, tweaking, pruning or fertilising, she sprawls recumbent on my picket fence. Every October / November she rewards me with heavenly blooms full of heady fragrance. Proof it's true ; that there are some thing's in life that you should just let be, the rewards are worth it  :)
Well I'm hoping you all have a wonderful productive week . I have a few plans, I plan on some baking, some Christmas shopping and on tarting up some of my cane verandah furniture, hoping a coat of paint will unify it....it's currently a collection of orphan chairs ( mostly roadside finds).
We shall see how many of these things I achieve....sunny days can be distracting :)
Talk soon xx

Sharing with Sarah at A Beach Cottage