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.

It’s that fun time of year again!! Swap it Like It’s Hot, where a whole bunch of us get together and find thrifty randoms and send them to our friends to transform into whatever they can reimagine and I love it! This year my items came from our fearless leader, Charlotte, from Ciburbanity, and I decided to use them to spruce up our bar cart for fall.

Our antique bar cart got a little make over during the One Room Challenge that you can see here but it was time to change out a few things to try and entice fall to head into Texas;)

Charlotte sent me several fun things but I decided that these two were the stand outs to help in my mini make-over. This little tray and a wooden stand.

I actually liked the pattern on the tray, but the colors just weren’t working for me, which is the beauty of buying things and seeing them in different ways! All this tray needed was some black spray paint to get me started… and yes, this may be one of my children completely wiping out in the background of this photo… no children were harmed in the spray painting of this tray!

I used some glossy, black spray paint and gave it a shiny fresh coat! Then I decided to add my personality into the project… a few white stick on letters accomplished that because I got jokes people! My husband may not think I’m as funny as I do but he’s got the rest of his life to figure that one out.

So a man walks into a bar… and he says… can there ever be enough blue and white in a house? No! and that’s not even a funny question! You know I had to have my blue and white but I love the mix with the black and white and peach… yes, peach! I brought some peach accents with my DIY curtains into the dining room and love the soft contrast it brings.  That peach, velvet pillow cover though, was a recent Target purchase (lots of colors) for under $10- you can find it here and you’re welcome… love! 

The wood base was perfect with an old glass cylinder I had.  I simply filled it with these wood beads that once again, I found at Target, and then added some of my little, Christmas battery powered lights for some fall ambiance! So easy but added great texture and interest! For you locals out there, I am not going to lie… there were two boxes at my Target and I snatched them both up- I’m sure they will restock soon but they are on sale online and it is an unbelievably good deal if you compare prices to the wood beads they sell at Pottery Barn, etc, so I suggest you nab them if you can.

Best advice on decorating I can give… decorate for you… this isn’t going to be everyone’s style and that’s why I love seeing what other’s do with similar things because to some a tray is just a tray but to some it’s way to remind their husband that they are funny every time he sees it

And FYI in case I haven’t encouraged you to spend enough moola at Target already, that is in fact a fake fiddle leaf fig tree… and I couldn’t be more proud of a fake plant if I tried.  I actually had to ask our store manager and these will only be sold at some stores so once again, if you can grab it online I would for sure- they are so real looking and obviously for me the biggest plus is you can’t kill it!

So now I get to send you on your way to my friend Laurie over at Vin’yet Etc. who I sent this little group of thrifted finds- I can’t wait to see what she did with them!

And here are the links to all of the participants for today and I will come back each day and add the new participants as this will go on all week!

Monday

| Ciburbanity | Windgate Lane | Vin’yet Etc. | Casa Watkins Living | One Mile Home Style |

Tuesday

| Reinvented | ConfettiStyle | Confessions of a Serial Do-It-Yourselfer | Addicted 2 DIY

|Restoration Redoux | I Am a Homemaker | Maggie Overby Studios | PMQ For Two |

Wednesday

| Two Thirty-Five Designs | 58 Water Street | Create & Babble |

| Dogs Don’t Eat Pizza | Gourley Girl and Guy | The Charming Farmer |

Thursday

| This is our Bliss | Southern State of Mind |

| Two Purple Couches | My Life From Home |

xoxo

B

**affiliate links are included in this post to both ease in the sourcing of materials and Windgate Lane does make a small stipend off of purchases made through click throughs**

The post Bar Cart Styling | Swap It Like It’s Hot appeared first on Windgate Lane.

This framed, hand stenciled quote was such an easy project! And I am so excited that I got to make it for the sweetest family!

This last fall, I was invited by Charlotte, at Ciburbanity, to be involved in the furnishing of a Habitat for Humanity home.  It has been such a neat experience and I loved working with a special group of ladies and fellow bloggers to make this happen! The primary room I worked on was the master bedroom.  Because all of this was taking place in Connecticut though, I primarily concentrated on what we needed to buy rather than what had to be made.  Charlotte at Ciburbanity and Jilliam at I Am Home Maker were my amazing partners and bless them for the amazing build projects I will link to below!

After traveling out and meeting the family last fall with Charlotte, I was struck by the sweet Momma’s quotes all over her home.  All about love and family- and it was crystal clear that those are the most important things in the world to her.  So it occurred to me that I could create a larger version of one of her favorites for her Master!

“The best thing to hold on to in life is each other.”

I lucked into finding a perfect frame at the thrift store!  The family loves a county taste in their decor and the existing wood frame would tie right into that.

It originally had some birds on it so I primed it with Zinsser first to get a clean slate.  After that, I found some 1 inch letter stickers and placed them on, traced around them, peeled them off and took a black sharpie to color them in!

A fresh beginning for such a precious Momma and her family!

(photo cred Ciburbanity.com)

I’m so excited to keep sharing more and more of this project with y’all! There was so much heart in this that the outcomes in each room were just overflowing with love.  We have also been so lucky to have HomeTalk and Wayfair sponsoring this with amazing donations, not to mention RugsUSA with some of my favorite rugs!  If you would like to follow along with all of the projects, hop over to Instagram with the hashtag: #bloggershearthabitat.  And I will be back soon to share more inside looks and sources.

And to see all of the other amazing rooms, you can jump to all of these amazing women!

LIVING ROOM:
| Jaime from That’s My Letter  | Laura from Finding Home Farms

DINING ROOM/ DECK:
| Kris from Driven By Decor | Annie from Most Lovely Things |

MASTER BEDROOM:
| Jillian from I Am a Homemaker | Charlotte from Ciburbanity | Bee from Windgate Lane |

KIDS ROOM:
| Kristin from A Thrifter in Disguise |

GUEST ROOM:
| Evey from Evey’s Creations | Lynn from On Fern Avenue |

FOYER/ MUDROOM/ BATHROOMS:
| Sarah and Nick from Nestrs |

TEEN ROOM:
| Michelle from Weekend Craft | Stephanie from Sandpaper and Glue |

xoxo

B

The post Framed Quotes: Habitat for Humanity Projects appeared first on Windgate Lane.

We are in week two of the One Room Challenge! You can read all of the details here– but the short version is that I am completing 2 room make-overs in 6 weeks and will be showing updates each week on both the Master Bedroom and the Dining Room! This week I can scratch off two things for the master bedroom: the fabric search is over and the accent chair is done!

I officially decided and ordered the fabric for the bedskirt and can’t wait for it to arrive! I am still undecided on if I will actually break out the sewing machine or use fabric fuse and take the easy way out… time may decide that for me.

The accent chair was fun! One of my thrift store finds, it has gotten a couple of transformations (you can see them here) and if we are being honest, this probably won’t be it’s last, but let’s get to it!

Before:

Navy is always going to be a part of this room, and Velvet Finishes was kind enough to send me some of their beautiful blue, Handsome, paint (shop all of there gorgeous colors here)!

Of course it goes on with no sanding or priming which makes me so happy!

The fabric for the seat was a little more complicated for me.  You see, I have a habit of seeing something and falling in love with it only to find out that it is waaaaaayyyy out of my price range.  Enter me trying to recreate a similar look!  I had some white fabric in my stash so I grabbed it and a black sharpie and got to work.

I wish I could give you some amazing tutorial on how I got what I got, but sometimes that’s the beauty of DIY… you just go for it and sometimes your prayers are answered and sometimes they aren’t! Thankfully this time the heavens shown down on me!

I like that it mimics the bedspread I am considering and it is a nice contrast of a classic looking chair with a modern twist… my fave!

Check back next week to what else I have checked off my to do list and hop over to see what I got done in the Dining Room this week!

And if you are interested in a similar chair, I did find some here and here!

xoxo

B

Sharing with Decor to Adore!

The post |One Room Challenge| Accent Chair appeared first on Windgate Lane.

If you are just joining this craziness, welcome to the One Room Challenge! You can find details here, but the quick story is I am trying to finish a laundry list of items in not one, but two rooms in my house in just six weeks! So each week you will see two posts on Wednesdays, one for my master bedroom and one for my dining room.

The dining room is moving along.  Do I wish I could cross off more on my to do list, yes, but I’m happy with what I accomplished this week! I started gathering all of the art work I want to use for the feature wall and am pretty happy with my little collection.  I may hit up some more antique and thrift stores this week to find a couple more, but I would be ok with what I have.

The big project I finished this week was refinishing my antique tea cart.  I got this years ago at a garage sale and of course had no idea what I would do with it, but loved it to much to leave it!

I loved the gold, but it was the gold with the black veins running through it that I didn’t love.  So I decided to correct that with some simple rub and buff.  Super easy and took about 5 minutes.

Next I needed to replace the glass.  It was the thinnest piece of glass I have ever seen and I was constantly afraid it would break under any pressure, so I decided to go with plexiglass.  Cost effective.  Strong.  And waiting for me at Lowes! Take your measurements and they will cut it to size for you.  Perfect!

Last but for sure not least… is the fun I needed to add! I have been in love with Society Social’s Bar Carts for forever! The caning and the different pops of color with the gold are so fun.  I still had some caning (you can buy some here) that I found in a thrift store left from this project, so I simply cut it to the size of the perimeter, used some painters tape to make it into a square and then spray painted it.  I went back and forth a million times on which color I wanted to do because there was room for several different accent colors, but a beautiful blue won out!  And I can always just take it out too so it’s the best of both worlds.

I’m pretty smitten with this project and it’s definitely helping motivate me to get the rest done.  So excited to see it all come together!

Check back next week to see more progress and jump over to the Master Bedroom to see what’s been ticked off the list there this week too!

xoxo

B

The post |One Room Challenge| Dining Room Tea Cart appeared first on Windgate Lane.

This is my first year participating in Calling it Home’s, One Room Challenge, and because I am pushing to get a couple of rooms ‘complete’ in my house, I decided to work not only on the Dining Room but also my Master Bedroom!  So each week you will get two separate posts on Wednesdays  showing my progress so make sure you catch both!

So here’s how the ORC works!

Today kicks off week one where interior design bloggers challenge themselves to transform a room from start to finish, while documenting the process along the way in 6 weeks.

It’s just the motivation I need! I want to get all of my major projects done before summer hits and the boys are back at home to ‘help’ me

Here is a picture of the space after I did the paneling a few years ago (post here)…

| Mirrors | Link to French Provincial Hutch Redo |

And here it is now with my DIY Live Edge Table…

This room became my workspace once the summer heat just wouldn’t quit and furniture needed to dry.  So I made the table so that it could be moved easily but still give us a semi-nice dining space to eat on our fancy 4 meals a year

And that’s how it has sat for too long! No chairs… just ones we drag from other places and sometimes laundry drying on the floor.  Not proud of that, but it’s the truth.  So let’s make a list, because Momma loves to check off a list!

1. Finish paneling around the window
2. Find chairs that can be easily stored/removed as well
3. New curtains
4. Hang Artwork
5. Refurbish tea cart
6. Replace hutch with a larger sideboard for more storage
7. Utilize said storage to not have junk on counters!

So there you have it! It seems very attainable… until I add in everyday life and the ten other things that will come to me that I want to do in there as well.  Super excited! You can jump over here to follow the progress of my Master Bedroom as well!

I’m so excited to get started on both of my rooms and give you updates each week on my progress!

xoxo

B

The post |One Room Challenge| Dining Room appeared first on Windgate Lane.

I see old shutters at thrift stores all the time, but it wasn’t until I was sent some by Jeanie, at Create and Babble, in our Blogger Swap Group, that I realized what a pretty lantern they could make!

Our fearless leader, and organizer, Charlotte, from Ciburbanity, got us all set to swap our $10 or less thrift store items with each other and off we all went! I received a few things but really narrowed in on the shutters and now all I can think is to look for more!

At first I was leaning towards white, but decided a fun green, spring color would be better.  Spray paint was a must for me because of all the nooks and crannies I didn’t want to have to do with a brush.  I knew I would probably spray some touch up once I was all done, but figured it would be easier to get the inside before I attached it all.

I measured and cut a piece of scrap wood to attach to the missing side of the shutters and used L-brackets to hold it in place.  I decided to leave the bottom open knowing that I wouldn’t be moving it around much and placing a flameless candle in it for safety with my little ones.

I wanted to attach some kind of handle but debated on what kind.  I considered wood and metal but finally decided a braided rope would be fun and give it a bit of spring and summer feel! I simply braided three separate strands and then braided the three together to give it a thicker look.

I should caution you though, that if you are going to be using a real candle inside you should not use any materials that would become a fire danger.  I had some string like this on hand that worked out great!

It was an easy project but I couldn’t love it any more! The pop of green with all of my blues looks really pretty and it’s just perfect on our mantel!

and yes, everyone should keep a disco ball in there home, I mean what if you need to dance?!

This whole week will be filled with fun blogger swap projects which I will come back and be linking here, but for now hop over to Jess at Gourley Girl and Guy and see what she did with this fun stuff I sent her!

Have a great week and don’t forget to check back for more links every day! Oh and pin here for inspiration later! –>

xoxo,

B

Monday Swappers

| Windgate Lane (you are here!) | Gourley Girl and Guy | Dogs Don’t Eat Pizza |

| Hearts and Sharts | 58 Water Street | I Am a Homemaker |

| Prim and Propah | Create and Babble |

The post Old Shutters into New Lantern appeared first on Windgate Lane.

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!

Monday
The Avery Grace | The H is For | Inspire and Instyle | Design Roots | Etcetera Studio
Tuesday
Superfluous Fabulous| Little Branches | Call me Ang
Wednesday
Life as a Rambling Redhead | Cupcakes and Coffee Grounds | Maison de Cinq | Windgate Lane
Thursday
The Everyday Hostess | Oh Deery Floral | Life as a Mrs.
Friday
Happily Hayley | Steel Southern Pretty | ABS Home Styling

xoxo

Bee

The post Christmas Kitchen appeared first on Windgate Lane.

This week I was so excited to share some of my new Christmas Decor and that included my DIY Cardboard Christmas Houses on my mantel!

I wanted big impact and no surprise… low cost… so as I was preparing to do wood cut out houses, I realized that it would A.  take more time and B. would have to be seriously attached so as not to fall on my children’s heads.

I decided to use my once a year Lightbulb Moment and came up with thick foam cardboard- easy to cut, and half off at Hobby Lobby Score (similar found here)! After I cut out the house shapes and some windows, it occurred to me that you can buy window forms for doll houses.  I popped back in to Hobby Lobby and sure enough- little windows, doors, and even shutters- why not add a little personalization?! (similar windows found here but more choices at Hobby Stores with coupons!)

I ended up not using the shutters because I liked the simpler look, but all I did was trace around the windows and then use an X-Acto Knife to cut out the foam.  I lightly pushed the wood window frames in and voila!

The doors and larger windows I cut looked a bit boring after the cute windows were in so I grabbed some Balsa wood trim that I used to create my Faux Tobacco Basket.  It is super thin and can be cut with scissors so I just measured, cut and hot glued it around the doors and windows! (also found at Hobby Lobby)

I also cut down the edges of the houses but not all the way through the foam so that they could stand on their own and block the view of the twinkle lights taped to the back.

The next step was to tape some battery powered twinkle lights up to the backs to add a nice glow!

See all of those fun accents that make the scene come to life? All found at The Container Store! The wood cut out trees, the red pom pom ribbon, the adorable little gift boxes… between those and their gift wrap, I was in that store for a long time and beyond excited!

To see the rest of the Holiday Decor, including my festive dining room, Click Here!

Let me know if you have any questions!

xoxo

B

The post Cardboard Christmas Houses appeared first on Windgate Lane.

During my master bedroom make over I had hoped to find some pretty white gourd lamps for our nightstand.   Turns out they aren’t  1. Easy to find and 2. Cheap.  Time to dig in and figure out a plan as one does when they are obsessed with finding a cheap gourd lamp!

I found these at HomeGoods, which is always an amazing source for lamps, and decided that they were a good shape and size and had the potential to work as is… but we all know that’s not how I roll.  So she got taped up and spray painted a gorgeous glossy white!

They came with a very standard lamp shade and of course in my eagerness I only snapped this picture but here is the shade prior to it’s make-over!

And what you see right there in front of the shade is my new secret weapon! I decided to go dramatic and wanted black shades- but wasn’t going to buy them when I had two perfectly fine ones.  I considered trying to spray paint them, fabric paint, and even rewrapping them in black fabric- but then the wheels turned one more squeak and I thought… what about a screen print ink? It’s for fabric, it has great coverage, and dare I say, affordable?

Speedball Screen Printing Ink is what I went with and I am thrilled with the outcome- especially for $6.  You can find several colors here or I have seen them at local craft stores- just ask for screen printing ink.

I was unsure at first on how heavily to paint it on- but realized quickly that it goes a long way and using a bit more actually just gave better coverage and then I wouldn’t have to go over spots a second time.  You can see in the above picture that there were a few areas that I had to go back in and paint some more.  (I used a disposable brush so I wouldn’t have to worry about cleanup)

After making sure it was covered well, I decided to add a fun accent.  The fabric on the inside of the shade was covered with thick, smooth paper, so I decided to give it a little pop with Martha Stewart Metallic Silver Paint!

I debated on gold or silver for awhile and my natural pull was towards gold but because I have more silver accents and cooler colors in the room, I ended up with the silver.  I did two coats and here’s a tip- I did the first coat just painted straight strokes- but the second coat I did in half moon shapes to give a more silver leafed look.

It doesn’t look pretty until it’s all dry and the light hits it- then you will smile like a fool just like me! And don’t think for a second that you won’t see some other lampshade in my house with a gold interior soon

This was pretty big departure for me and I questioned myself every step of the way but I am so, so happy with how these turned out!

You can read about the details and sources in my Master Bedroom Here.

I just love the glimmer of the silver!

I’m excited to have this room pulled together!

If you are looking for my other go to Craft Supplies and Tools, you can head to my Amazon store which will have links for them all Here.  Hope you are having a wonderful day!

xoxo

B

**Affiliates present**

The post Painted Lamp Shade appeared first on Windgate Lane.