This post will have some affiliate links to help you find products or similar ones but will mostly be picture heavy because it’s all still a work in progress! We wanted to keep our leather couch and chair but I did add two chairs that have worked out perfectly from Target.  I waited because I knew that they needed to match my true love… our new coffee table.  And they do and it’s glorious! I am a sucker for a spindle leg and repurposed my hutch from the old house and painted it a beautiful blue because the wood clashed with the floor.  It works for our media stand for now and adds a fun pop of color.

I will do a post soon on my DIY artwork above the mantle. It was a huge canvas with trees on it that I found at a flea market, but just wasn’t working for me in here so to save some moola, I decided to paint over it because it was a huge canvas and fit the space.  I was nervous because I didn’t want it to look like a child colored it but it brought in the colors I wanted and for now it makes me happy because I used the lake in the mountains where we scattered my mom’s ashes as inspiration.  I gotta keep her close to me!

So enough chit chat! Here are some quick pics of our family room that is open to our kitchen and opens out to our patio and pool. 

/ Chairs / Stripe Lumbar Pillows /

/ Similar Animal Print Pillow (mine were from HomeGoods) / Coffee Table /

I love these chairs! They are comfortable and easy to move around when entertaining, not to mention a great price.  They are also a lower profile, which I wanted because I didn’t want them to block the pretty view outside when in front of the glass doors.

The rug and coffee table were big ticket items and to be completely transparent… aren’t my normal cost effective purchases.  But I planned and waited for sales and knew that these would both be large statement pieces that would be around for a very long time.  They were also very large and this room is fairly huge! The rug needed to be a 11 by 14 at least.

/ Chairs / Coffee Table / Rug / Similar Side Table /

The coffee table has had my heart for a very long time and y’all know that I tried to find a cheaper version for literally years!  But a good sale and a coupon code and I finally just pulled the trigger.  The details on it are gorgeous and it’s also ‘little boy’ friendly so it will last forever!

This room can be seen immediately when you enter our home so I wanted it to be both comfortable and pretty! And with no room in the budget for art, the DIY mantle painting and this little bow painting I did add just a bit of fun and color with all the blue and white. I plan on building out simple frames around both pieces.

And last but not least, this tiered side table was a clearance find that happened before we moved and I couldn’t resist it! It was $100 when I bought it and broke all of my self imposed rules of not buying something before it has a specific place and purpose… but it totally paid off!

Is it dangerous to have a glass topped anything in my house? Yes. But it has survived 7 months so we are just going to cross our fingers and hope she survives!

I hope you enjoyed this little peak into our family room and will update as we go! My absolute favorite thing about this room though? Is the peaceful view out back!

I will share our tips for building a pool and hopefully some new deck furniture soon!

xoxo

B

The post Family Room Decor appeared first on Windgate Lane.

The entryway in our new home was a bit of a question mark for me at first.  It’s very long and with the hardwoods, it felt a bit dark, which I knew I needed to offset.  Initially I considered a gallery wall, but decided that it might feel a bit cluttered and wanted it to feel very clean and simple while still filling the very large space.  I’m not used to having such high ceilings and a lot of our old pictures are sizes that would get lost in the space, so I needed to look for larger scale pieces.

During the first few months I ordered this console table from Ballard Designs when it was on mega sale for $200.  The price was right and so was the length! It’s huge and bigger than most I was finding.  But that’s what the space needed! I was debating for quite awhile on what to put above it but finally decided on a mirror because it would bounce the light down the dark hallway and wouldn’t compete with artwork that would hang over the mantel.

After some failed trips to HomeGoods and my other fave home accessory places, I got a new Ballard Designs catalogue in the mail and wouldn’t you know it… the perfect mirror was in it! Once again, huge, but just enough detail to give it interest without being fussy! Check and check! The only problem… price… definitely more than I usually spend on something like this.  But if you sign up for there email list (once again, this is not a sponsored post) you will get emails with sales and I did just that and they finally had a 30% off coupon and I jumped on it.  This won’t be something I will replace for a long time and the quality of it showed when it arrived!

And by quality, I mean it was heavier than I could describe without using a cuss word and tested our marriage to the limit while we hung it lol! But worth it in the end!

And why don’t we just round out my Ballard Designs love fest with the final thing in the entry, my faux fiddle leaf fig tree! I have yet to find one of this quality and size for the price (also waited for a coupon and got it awhile ago).  It looks so real and I just found the pot for it at HomeGoods.  I can’t keep a plant or tree alive to save my life so this is actually saving me money in the long run. 

Added in some of my blue and white pretties and voila! After 4 months we have a pretty, welcoming entryway! Do you like how I say voila and then 4 months later like it was overnight? Yeah… moving is a lot y’all.  Expenses and just figuring out what works in the new spaces takes patience and more patience, otherwise you end up buying a bunch of stuff that doesn’t really work.  Just ask our last house and the accessories that were in it for the first several years;)

If you have been around Windgate Lane for awhile, you know that these two pieces are more than I usually spend.  But with this new house and with 10yrs of design experience under my belt now, I knew where I would feel comfortable spending a bit more and that was on things that would be classic place holders.  The table and mirror will be there for a long time and my little accessory loving heart can decorate around them in all sorts of ways!

Each space is slowly coming together!

xoxo

B

**All photos are property of Windgate Lane.  Prohibited use without written permission.

The post Bright, Blue, and White Entryway appeared first on Windgate Lane.

We have driven up north of us and looked at possible locations for years.  I realize that sounds ridiculous, but things have happened each time we were considering that kept us where we were at and as the saying goes- “All in good time.”

With all of our moves, things have just felt right.  This move was a little different for me because it’s the first time I have moved with kids and that added so many emotions to manage that I have definitely been overwhelmed! But I planned out the best ways to get them settled in as quickly as possible, which I will share soon to maybe help others.

So blah blah blah… you want to see pictures, right?! Well today I am going to show you some bare bones pictures and then a vision board of where I’m hoping to take this new home.  It was a spec home, which means the builder built it in a new neighborhood to get the ball rolling and when we found it, it was nearly completed.  So I didn’t pick any of the finishes in this home but I do really love them because I wanted neutral and they did a great job of making it all very simple and classic.  But y’all know I love an old feel so my challenge will be adding in my own details to knock down a bit of the “shiny new” and make it feel like us!

Top of the list of what sold us on this property was that it was on a half acre and backed to woods.  The view out of the back of the house is priceless and with HUGE windows and sliding glass doors, I could just sit and stare out back all day long! (iPhone pics for the win here)

We back to a small creek and woods- more privacy than we have ever had! And still in a neighborhood with a school in it.  So you can see in the above picture of the back of the house the windows.  Those are out family room, kitchen/dining, and master bedroom and above is the playroom.

So let’s start in the kitchen! These photos were taken while work was still finishing up so there is still paper over the hardwood floors.  The kitchen opens to a 12×14 dining area and it is the only dining space in the house- no formal dining room which was fine for us as we only used it a couple times a year:)

So much light! And more storage than I could have ever dreamed of as I used to have to keep pots and some pans out on my stove in the old house because there was simply no where to put them! I have a lot of ideas for that dining space but am still playing around with it all.  I need to live in the space for a bit- I will say though that my oriental rug from the old family room has been put down in the dining space and I looooovveee it in there!

Next up is the family room- super simple but I love how the fireplace is grand and while the tiles are a little more modern than I am, the woodwork contrasts it enough to bring in some traditional.

The sliding glass doors out of the family room are my favorite.  It will be indoor/outdoor living here for sure! (there might be a pool post coming soon!)

Off of the kitchen is a nice nook that I will make family planning central! And I love that the granite is carried over to it.  Such a nice neutral.

The playroom upstairs also has the beautiful views and large windows…

And a cute little barn door leads to a fun media room that will remain empty until my husband can’t stand it and breaks down and gets a screen for in there:)

And the last spot on this first tour is the master bedroom which is where the final gorgeous windows are.  I have so many ideas for this room that I really need to start narrowing it down!

This has been an exciting, albeit bittersweet, move for our family! But we aren’t too far from where we were and plan on forcing our sweet neighbors to come see us often.  The boys are adjusting and we are excited to meet some new friends and explore the beautiful trails and ponds around us… I sang the Green Acres theme song the other day and it fell on deaf ears around here but I thought I was funny and clever so it’s good to know that some things don’t change

And here is your first sneak peek and my first stab at where this new home will go decor wise… lots of color and bringing the outdoors in…

Can’t wait to share this journey with y’all! First up will be figuring out widow coverings because while I love the view, we also need some privacy options and to block some of this Texas sun sometimes too! What would y’all do? Plantation shutters, curtains, blinds, nothing?

xoxo

B

The post New Home: Time to Dream appeared first on Windgate Lane.

The master bedroom hasn’t ever gotten much love in our home.  It has gotten mini make-overs and been painted, but has continued to be a dumping ground and hodge podge of furniture and bedding.  Over the last six months though, I have watched for sales and finally gotten a few pieces that finally brought it all together for me! Like not just buying something because it was kinda what I wanted- but actually getting the real deal.

Sources will be included at the bottom of the post- and next week I will share tutorials for the lamps (would you believe they were not white and the shades were not black to begin with?!) and the leopard pillow… I made it! Can you tell I’m a little proud of myself?

Without further ado… our refreshed master bedroom!

| Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Northern Cliffs |

Bedding Sources

| Euro Blue Check Shams | Black Piping King Shams | Blue and White Toile Shams |

| Comforter | Leopard Pillow DIY |

The furniture I will do my best to source- some pieces are no longer available- but my go to sources for nice, affordable furniture are commonly Joss and Main, One Kings Lane, Overstock, and Wayfair.  It’s not easy to order furniture online, but that’s when it pays to wait for free shipping coupons and measure your space plan more than once!

| Artwork: Minted | Green Malachite Tray | Lamps: DIY |

| Faux Grey Leather Bench | Pedestal Side Tables Similar here and here |

| Black and White Blanket | Rug |

Next week I’ll be back with a fun Fall Home Tour and the easy tutorials for the projects mentioned above!

xoxo

B

**Affiliates present- no product was provided for this post- all opinions are my own**

Linking To:

Thrifty Decor Chic

Something To Talk About

Creativity Unleashed Link Party

The post Master Bedroom: Black, White, and Blue appeared first on Windgate Lane.

This year I was mildly obsessed with my random disco ball in the entry way for my holiday decor.

I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to it! I mean, every home in the burbs should have a disco ball, am I right?!  So the only logical thing to do was to incorporate it into some winter decor.  Now I don’t typically decorate for winter, but this year I decided to leave a few traces of holiday decor up that weren’t overtly Christmas.

I left my book trees up that I did flanking my entertainment center… cause why not?  You can see how I used several Ikea pieces to create our custom Entertainment Center here!

And while I confess that I have a hard time editing out ‘things’ in my house- I did pair down the schtuff on the shelves and made it look a bit cleaner.

I basically used what I had with the addition to a new wood bowl from HomeGoods that was simply too gorgeous for me to pass up!

And I shopped the house and used my beach wood branch.

The mantle is always my arch decorating nemesis… Always.  It sucks the decorating spirit right out of me!!  For whatever reason I always stand back and think… it’s missing something.  My headstone will say:  Amazing Daughter, Wife, Mother, and Mediocre Mantle Decorator.

I wanted it to be simple- but also bring some of the colors from my beloved rug up- so the navy clock and oil painting helped combine my love of an eclectic mix!

And some of my favorite details in the room…. A picture of my Mom and Dad…

My favorite HomeGoods tray with the Nate Berkus for Target Angel tray and fun Target pillows in the background!

and our growing collection of seashells… I am desperately ready to add to them!

So let us all take one long last look at our clean family room… it might only last this way another 2 seconds…  but at least the pretty things I have in here make me smile even through the clutter:)

Here’s an easy picture you can PIN to come back for sources later!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

xoxo

B

The post Winter Decor appeared first on Windgate Lane.

My desire to have a bright white room and my dislike of my off white moldings finally collided and Painted Faux Moldings were born!

My office is a cave.  Not much natural light to speak of even though it has one big window.  It never gets direct sunlight and also has a tree in front of it- so I started by painting one wall navy blue… makes sense, right? ok, just stay with me here.   Then I painted the remaining three walls white.

At this point, I started taping! I knew I wouldn’t love the bright white with the off white moldings, so I decided to do a faux molding in navy to break it apart.  This required math.  sigh.  But I decided to keep it simple and work in increments of 6 inches- 6 inches down- and then the accents in the corners were 12 out and 18 down.

I was lucky enough to have ScotchBlue provide some of their fabulous painter’s tape for this undertaking and it worked like a charm!  Because of our heavily textured walls, I did do my standard quick base paint coat over the tape lines so that any bleed through is the base paint (the white) instead of the navy.  And guess what? Not one touch up!!

I Love it! So crisp and clean, but still interesting and a fun accent in the room.

After the navy was all done it was time to hang the curtains and some art and get this room back in good working order.  I am going to provide a source list later- but for now- let’s just get to the goods- here is my fun new office!

There will be a tutorial for my DIY cork board coming soon!

That little basket next to my desk holds random paperwork and also my favorite wrapping papers.

You may remember that I built those bookshelves here.

This little sitting area is where I actually wrote this post and could see my boy’s playing outside- made me super happy:) That chair was a $20 craigslist find and I am in love with the lines of it and the cane sides- she is going to have a make-over eventually but I actually love her the way she is.  The ottoman is something I already had but I just threw a $10 Ikea faux fur over the top of it to soften it up.  Work what ya got!

These curtains are from Pottery Barn and while I wanted them to soften the wall, I also didn’t want them to block any of the natural light in the room, so I attached an antique door knob that I had (doesn’t everyone?) up high and just gathered them to the side.

The desk is from World Market and is just perfect for us.  I love that the drawer is a slide out and holds the keyboard and mouse to free up space on the desk top.   And I found the best way to contain cords that I can’t wait to share with y’all soon!

I will share a complete source list with you soon but feel free to leave question so that I can make sure I cover what you want!  Oh and the other side of the room has some fun organizational things happening too, so stay tuned:)

xoxo

B

*Windgate Lane was provided with product for this post but all thoughts and opinions are 100% our own.*

Linking to:

Twirl and Take a Bow

Before and After Wednesday

The post Painted Faux Moldings appeared first on Windgate Lane.

Dec. 2012
I love navy blue. I have dreamed of having it on my walls but never found a good place for it.  I wanted it in my dining room but it doesn’t get any natural light during the day so it would have become a cave had I done it all in navy!
In a middle of the night brainstorm, I thought that if I had molding 3/4 way up the wall, I could do navy  at the top and a bright white on most of the walls giving it enough bright contrast.  To ease the hubs into the idea of me adding molding and navy to the dining room I just casually started painting the navy onto the top 1/4 of the wall.  After two days he noticed this.  Now at this point we all know that no one wants to try to cover up a dark color like navy, right?! of course not… so the project continued on.

And the hubs is really completely to blame because he got me every girls dream present…

Oh what a glorious day! This nail gun is Fanfreakintastic!!

I always want to be helpful and give details in this blog- but in truth there are so many thoughts and details that went into what was supposed to be just one piece of molding I can’t even remember it all and you would stop reading if I even tried;)
So in a short version- and feel free to email me if you have specific questions- I ended up doing a primed pine wood for all of the molding.  A bit more expensive than the non-primed but well worth the time saver! It was all based on looks for me- I wanted clean lines and went with a thicker board around the top and then a thinner one for the verticals.  I wasn’t going to take off my existing baseboards so I decided to cut the verticals at a taper at the bottom- and yes, I did actually do this with a hand saw and miter kit.  Tired arms all around, but when a girl wants something she figures out how to get it done… am I right ladies?!

First I did the large horizontal boards (leveling as I went) and then I laid out the vertical boards to really see how it would look- then I used a pre-measured piece of molding to use as my spacer…

I did also do a frame around the doorway to make it all clean and nice.  The only power tool I used was the nail gun! Just held the board up with a level on one side and shot those puppies out- one at the top and one at the bottom- recheck level and then a few more through the middle.  Now don’t get to carried away because you do still have to fill those nail holes:)
Once I was completely done, out came the miracle worker of the project.  Caulk.  The walls in this house will continue to drive me mad until the end of time because they are NOT EVEN… NOT EVEN A BIT! So those boards were level but would have huge gaps showing between them and the wall- no bueno.

This is rare so I decided to show it… it’s me! in a picture! I actually had the hubs take it because he had no opinion and I wanted to see how it was looking.

White, paintable caulk.  Use it.  Love it.  I squeeze a whole section on and then have a wet paper towel next to me that I wet my index finger on and then wipe down to create a smooth surface.  There are tools to level it as well but I find that I can make it smoother with my finger.
Next step was the white paint… you would think that would be easy… but alas… you would be wrong.  Dead wrong.  Finding the right white paint is not easy people! I don’t know what my trim color is- but I wanted it to be a brighter white than it anyway- so I started testing some out.
Finally settled on Benjamin Moore Decorators White and I am pretty happy with it.  The navy is from Sherwin Williams (please don’t tell Benjamin) and it is True Navy.
At the end of the day it is a huge make-over on this room.  It is the first room you see when you enter our home and I am truly in love with it!
I am considering adding more trim around the door way but will let it be for awhile and give these arms a rest:)
Hope you enjoy- and never be afraid to make your idea happen! I had never worked with wood like this and was just going on trial and error- but if you aren’t afraid of making a few mistakes along the way it became a fun learning experience! (but as an honest blogger I should tell you that at one point I was cussing like a sailor and my thumb was the size of my head)

Picture rediculousness….

The post Navy and White Dining Room appeared first on Windgate Lane.

I knew I loved this house when we pulled up to it! and when we walked inside I fell in love even more! There was just this one thing…. The Kitchen Wallpaper.

Everyone else thought it was red paint in the kitchen- which would have made sence since it was solid!! but alas, it was not paint… it was red wall paper!!!!! Now I didn’t hate it- and was willing to live with it for fear of having to take it down- but why, why, why would you put up a solid color wallpaper?!?!
But living with it I did… and then it happened… that one little tear… and then something else happened another little baby boy….
Every night I would check my little sad tear and even put a drop of glue under it for fear that one of the boys would notice and it would all be over…. Nightmaires I tell you!! a little tiny baby hand gripping that tiny little tear and pulling and pulling and pulling AHHHHH!!
Ok- so this will be anti-climatic… it finally happened.
I tried to be ok with it because I knew we couldn’t afford to have someone take it down and I certainly didn’t want to and then I decided to do it anyway… on a Monday morning and I knew there was no going back.

There were false promises by that wall paper… yes, I am tearing off sooo easy… no I am not and you will be up on this ladder until midnight three nights in a row crying and wondering if you will ever have fingernails again?! I am not going to lie to you people… it was rough and took about a week on my own.  And there are lots of other problems that come with it, that apparently the optimist in me chose to just ignore during the initial stages of ripping it all down.  Like… Wall Texture.  Walls do not look perfect after wall paper removal… at least MY wall paper removal…  I was using a jackhammer- kitchen knives- my teeth- the proper tools!

Ok- now I will try to fast forward this Super long post!! Got the texture done- painted- then bought the 4ft. pieces of bead board ($10/each- needed 4) and chair rail to finish it off ($10).

And a close up of the bead board- I am still going to repaint it a slightly off white- it is a little to white for me right now… but ya know… it’s on my list!:)

There are only a few new nicknacks that I have added- I dearly love my flying pig that I found at a flea market!

And I was going to do a big picture gallery wall behind my table but I am actually loving the simplicity of this pic I took of my two little angels running down a dirt road… and blown up and printed at Kinkos for under $20…

And that is the end of the novel! congrats if you made it! I Hate it because it almost killed me LOVE my kitchen!! it was never horrible with that wallpaper but with no windows and dark cabinets it was always too dark and now it is light and feels so much bigger!So- let the force be with you and take down that wallpaper! It is quite a job but once again I have to stress that every new project I take on- I remind myself that there is nothing that can’t be undone- just go for it!!Have a great week!

The post Kitchen Redo and No More Wallpaper!! appeared first on Windgate Lane.