Windgate Lane

Christmas Kitchen

Bee — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 11:30:36 +0000

I have been in the kitchen cooking up a storm! That’s not at all true. I have cooked nothing- but at least my laziness in the kitchen keeps it clean

Last week I was so excited to share my family room and dining area all decked out for the holidays! If you missed it, you can find it Here.

This week I’m thrilled to be in a fun tour with some amazing ladies, hosted by the lovely Laura from The Avery Grace. We will be sharing tons of decorating inspiration and you can find all of the links at the end of the post! And again… more exclamation points. I can’t help it, I just get excited!

I decided to switch up my holiday decor in the kitchen this year. I wanted to showcase a few more of my antique finds that I have gathered through out the year and my Painted Hutch was the perfect place to do so. Can one have to many Christmas vignettes? Don’t answer that.

The Christmas glasses were such an exciting find for me! Not antique in any sense of the word- but exactly like some my parents had when I was a little girl so they give me a big smile. Notice how emphatic I am that they are not antique since I had them when I was little… not old. They can’t be more than like 29… ish. And that little Santa candle just jumped in my bag for less than a dollar!

I love that I was able to get so many antique Christmas bulbs from my trip to New York and the Elephants Trunk Flea Market because they are a fun tie in throughout the downstairs decor. Such a fun punch of color and whimsy!

And while I love having a spot for my fun finds, it also has to be practical and hold some of my serve wear and such! I love having my extra glasses and plates here.

I love to have pretty vignettes but if I put decor out, it needs to have some meaning for me or at the very least make me smile And if it holds a story for me, I have found that my boys love hearing the story and then retelling it to me later. So maybe the holiday decor can start to seem frivolous to some, but for me it is one big bundle of magic and memories!

Pin here to find later!

I hope y’all are having a great week and please go visit my friends below for some gorgeous inspiration!

xoxo

Bee

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Christmas Light Ornaments from Plant Hangers

Bee — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 00:32:03 +0000

We have a little problem when it comes to putting outdoor Christmas decorations out. Mainly the lights… and the problem has four little legs, a cute tail, and some crazy teeth! Bunnies!! You will hear my hubs muttering as he chases them away from plants, etc all year long… which makes me giggle, but don’t tell him that.

They seriously chewed through our wires the last time we put Christmas lights out- that makes all of that hard work realllllyyyy not worth it. But this year I came up with a new plan- and they may still foil it- but at least it was super easy and cheap! Do I say easy and cheap in every post I write? Don’t answer that.

Fastest tutorial ever:

Here’s what you need- plant hangers- each ‘ornament’ will require two- so for my 4, I needed 8.

Twist ties… sorry no pic.

100 light string strands- man say that three times fast.

Take off your the chains- and then stack one on top of the other and attach in two places with any kind of wire or tie. And you have an orb!

Simply wrap the lights around it, making sure to keep both plug in ends in places you can easily find. I then attached a red, outdoor ribbon I purchased at Hob Lob to give it a little punch!

Now I just placed these on our front hedges- but it could be so fun to hang them from trees, set them on planters- then options are endless! And for about $9 each- it’s a fun accent out front- not to mention not near as much work as stringing lights everywhere!

Just a cute, easy outdoor decoration for the holidays! And here are some evening shots:)

Pin here to save for later!

xoxo

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Welcome to the Season- Holiday Decor Tour

Bee — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:51:23 +0000

I am so excited to Welcome you all to the Season! And while I know that the holiday season is about more than decorations… let’s face it… that’s not why you are here today;)

I wanted to show you all some of my favorite bloggers this season, so I have roped them into this tour so that you can jump from one to the next and see some great inspiration!

If you are joining me from Thrifty Decor Chick, Welcome!! She was one of my first and favorite blogs to follow and I am still a loyal fan- she never disappoints!

I am looking forward to hosting several parties this holiday season and wanted my guests to feel excited the second they walked in the door! Now I don’t live in a mansion my any means, but that doesn’t mean you can’t jazz it up, and while this may look like a lot, it was actually very simple to pull together with stuff I already had on hand. So…. Welcome to our Home….

(Wreath Tutorial)

One tree just didn’t feel like enough to me! These two little ones were fun- but I decided I wanted it to look more like a winter wonderland so I put on my Paul Bunyan pants and went out front and cut a branch off of our out of control Crape Myrtle… so that seemed like I accomplished yard work as well. After I pulled the leaves off of it, I attached it to the wall with a flag pole hanger. I hung some glass icicles that I found at HomeGoods last year after Christmas…. and then I swooned and was in love!

The other accessories included: disco ball and red, metal basket from Hobby Lobby- a faux sheepskin from Ikea (also used on my ottomans here)– small tree and sled from HomeGoods. The taller tree I have had for years, but I spruced it up with some snow spray from Hobby Lobby (this stuff is amaze) and then added some red berries to it. I then hung several of the acrylic snowflakes from… wait for it…. The Dollar Store!! 2 for $1… you will see them in other spots in our house this season!

The rest of the entry I kept simple because I had so many textures going on already in this vignette- so the entry table stayed the same but I added a lantern that will serve as a holder for our Christmas cards as they arrive!

Another Ikea shoutout because the entry table is actually shoe storage from there that I put fancier cup pulls on to spruce it up:) and so is the small chair by the front door with another faux sheepskin tossed over the back of it… I can’t and won’t stop throwing them everywhere…

Y’all know I had to have navy/white buffalo check in here somewhere! that little pillow is one I got last summer from… you guessed it… HomeGoods and it actually says Lake Time on the other side- but only you and I need to know that! The rug is from West Elm lest I forget to mention that and the little mirrors are Target.

So pin it, scream it, smoke signal about it but get the word out because these bloggers in this tour rock and have so much fun inspiration!

And now you can head on over to Megan at Honey We’re Home to continue the tour, or find all the links down below! She is the sweetest lady and has a gorgeous home that is a show stopper without decorations up, so I can’t wait to see it now!

Here is the whole amazing list:

Windgate Lane
Honey We’re Home
Ciburbanity
Hearts and Sharts
Desert Domicile
At Home With The Barkers
Gourley Girl and Guy
Our Southern Home
Hi Sugarplum
Thrifty Decor Chick

xoxo,

Linking To:

Your Designs This Time

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2013 Christmas Home Tour

Bee — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 00:39:00 +0000

Time for some Christmas cheer! This year I went for rustic/ glam decorations- sounds like a strange combo but I ended up loving it!
I mixed in natural elements and lots of sparkly fun and also some whimsy and traditional… ok… it’s kinda all over the place but I promise it somehow all came together!

I will show you some tutorials next week on the JOY sign over my mantel and the ornament wreath which I now have making down to a science! and also my paint stick herringbone tray!

Without further ado… welcome to our home…

(click here for tutorial on our front door wreath)

Our mantel has some faux wood candle stick holders and the plain white candles I just taped some red ribbon around for a pop of color. And the Santa pictures will always be my favorite- especially the ones where the baby was not quite thrilled… he will forgive me some day for having them all displayed every year;)

Our tree decided to be difficult this year and not light up… at all… not even one little light… so that was fun buying a new tree… not really. But here she is all dolled up with my black/white buffalo check ribbon and all of our favorite ornaments! I always keep the soft ones at the bottom so the boys can play with them and move them around~

Our Angel at the top of our tree was a gift from my Mom on our first married Christmas and it is my favorite thing to put up!

Our bookshelves just got little touches of fun to them~

And this little corner of our family room got a touch of the whimsy with this decorative box from HomeGoods and a new pillow that has such a sweet Santa on it…

And last but not least- my new favorite place to decorate- our new hutch

(you can see the redo on it here)

With my favorite little manger scene and some simple ornaments it became very festive. And the cutest star that I found at Target that adds some bright Christmas cheer up top… Target always gets me!

I pray you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season~

xoxo

Bee

Linking To:

The Dedicated House

Home Stories A to Z

Twirl and Take a Bow

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Blast from Christmas Past

Bee — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 23:00:00 +0000

I had some fun projects last year for the holidays and I wanted to revisit one of my faves today! This picture frame wreath brought me a ton of joy whenever I looked at it- especially after the passing of my Mom- it showed all of us together and just some fun memories that make me smile every time I pass by it.

For the tutorial you can click back here: Picture Frame Wreath

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I Did Something I Pinned on Pinterest!!

Bee — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:19:00 +0000

It’s worthy of noting when I actually do something that I saw on Pinterest because let’s face it… most of it I just think about doing but don’t.
But drumroll please… I did TWO things!
The first is super simple and unfortunately I can’t find a viable link back to the inspiration- but it took me all of 10 minutes and made a pretty big impact- i.e.- easy+big impact=my favorite:)
I went to the Motherland Hobby Lobby and bought two packs of mini circle mirrors…

and a pack of ornament ribbon hangers (all 50% off thank you very much)…

I then got out my glue gun and glued a ribbon in between two mirrors. Done. The End.

The idea is to hang them all over your tree and they reflect the lights a ton and they really do! I don’t really have a before- but even during the day it makes it shiny and sparkle more-

Stay tuned for the next Pinteresting thing I did soon!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

xoxo
BLinking to:

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My Nemesis… The Mantel.

Bee — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:46:00 +0000

I used to dream of having a mantel to decorate people! Dream I tell you!! But I have been in this house for about 5 years now and it is the center of all decorating dillemas for me- so much so that I have taken pictures and texted them to my friend in Kansas to try to obtain advice and help!

And of course as Christmas looms…. it is always giving me the stink eye…. just laughing at me, knowing I will stand there staring at it for hours on hours pondering why I don’t like that candle or that vase in a certain place.

Ok, maybe I am being a bit dramatic… but seriously… it’s a problem for me.

I have been a little tired in the holiday decorating department this year though- so I kind of just threw everything up there and then just kept moving things around. I know, very scientific and helpful for those of you fellow mantel sufferers;)

But I did try to follow my standard rules of groupings of three’s and hight matching on the ends- and I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

So, without further ado… the second reveal in this season’s Holiday Decorating series….

The vases are filled with just simple goldy/silvery balls and silver jingle bells- but they really sparkle!

Love my mercury glass things- they were really the inspiration for the silver/gold theme I ended up going with this year-

Yes, I am going to keep framing these- happy or not!;)

I made the NOEL last year- just bought the letters at Hobby Lobby and painted them red- and a little bit of double sided tape and there you have it… my lovely Pottery Barn inspired sign for $3!

Love my little Manger scene that my Mom gave us- it is pewter and always my favorite thing to put out!

And my boys love this Santa- he is made of felt and they love dragging the poor guy all around the house with them- once again I try to make sure there are certain things that are totally just for them to mess with so they don’t feel like the house is untouchable at the holidays;)

And there you have it! Hope your houses are being filled with good cheer!
xoxo
B

Linking up to:
Ten June
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Southern Hospitality
Simple Home Life

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A Christmas Table

Bee — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:49:00 +0000

As a start to the holiday season I have decided to give a tour of my house- room by room- and decorated for both Christmas and my two boys (i.e. their toys everywhere;)
First- my dining room- which is under construction still (waiting for molding) but I decided it shouldn’t be left out! And really consists of a fun Christmas table-scape. I love the idea of layering fabrics- but it’s not always easy. But sometimes the only way to find out is the just give it a try! I love polka dots, stripes, patterns- and this room being fairly simple seemed like the right place to just pile it all on.
I love my striped runner- but wanted to tone it down a bit so I layered it with a pretty shimmery silver one that also played off of my mercury glass candle sticks- then I layered my polka dot plates with simple white- and threw in some greenery to break up the red. As a last minute addition, I threw in some throw pillows- not really meant for Christmas- but that’s why I like them- I like it to look festive but not too much like a holiday store threw up all over the place!;)

So here you have it- the first taste of Christmas when you walk into my house and I think it is nicely festive-

can’t wait to get that molding up and share that!
Next will be the Christmas Mantel!

xoxo B

Linking up to:
One Centsational Girl
Simple Home Life

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