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.

These shelves are a fairly new product there and you can buy them in a multitude of sizes and really personalize them to what you want.

I wanted them to be a clean white so I simply spray painted them before assembly.  And by assembly, I mean, beat me over the head, have a meltdown, want to throw them out the window, 2 day ordeal.  I say this because I actually take pride in my Ikea assembling abilities.  I know all the little tricks and can read there poor directions like a boss now… but these were a mean surprise because it looked like they would be so so simple! They were not.  I managed to get it done but didn’t end up following any of the directions so I’m afraid I can’t help talk you through it… but I will pray for you! I think it turned out pretty well though and does the job for now.

This is in a corner of our dining room that I will share more of soon!

I’m not bitter at all that the movers removed 2 of the 4 wheels on my antique tea cart and are still no where to be found… not bitter at all.

Dalmation Trinket Dish found here but currently unavailable.

I love that I can enjoy my new collection and that it’s not hidden away anymore! The house is slowly coming along and this is motivating me to finish up the dining room fast

Pin below for sources later!

xoxo

B

The post Ikea Wall Shelves Hack 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.

It turns out that it’s a lot easier for me to shop for others than it is for myself! Besides decisions on window treatments for the new house (you can read about that here), I am totally undecided on stools for our kitchen.  Now y’all probably know this, but the difference between counter stools vs bar stools is fairly simple… one is taller than the other. Lol! I know. I’m a genius.  But let’s continue on just incase someone is confused as I was.   Counter stools pull up to your standard height counter.  Bar Stools pull up to an elevated bar area.   Here are the approximate, standard measurements.

Counter Stools:  Around 30inches

Bar Stools: Around 24inches

For our new kitchen, we need 5 or 6 counter stools depending on their size.  I love the open concept of our kitchen, dining, family room, but it also creates a challenge of making it all cohesive while not being to matchy matchy.  Not an easy task.  I have my faux bamboo chairs (similar here) at the dining table and want to keep them so I don’t want anything to compete with that.  I also have a husband and two boys who want backs on the stools and want them to swivel… who knew they would have opinions on something house related like this?!

Counter Space:

My criteria is a swivel seat, simple frame, and fabric seat.  Sounds simple until my brain looks at ALL the counter stools in the world and completely crashes.

I have searched the internet high and low though so I wanted to share where I have found the best resources.  I am narrowing my search down and will share my decision soon but please leave a comment if you have a suggestion or a favorite source that I haven’t included here!

Joss and Main —

I love how you can narrow your search results and really only see what you are looking for.  They are always competitive prices as well.

Wayfair —

They have a large collection and good prices but kind of hard to get through it all.

Target —

Great prices but again, you have to look through a lot to find what you are looking for- nice that you could return to store though.

Pin Below to source them later! …

Hope y’all are having a great day!

xoxo

B

The post Counter Stools vs Bar Stools 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.