It was only a matter of time before I had to bring my blue and white obsession into my Christmas Decor! So a red, white, and blue Christmas was born!

I’m going to let the pictures do the talking but this wasn’t a complete overhaul of Christmas decor.  I simply added in a few more blue accents, like the blue and white ribbon on the tree and then adding the blue wrapping paper instantly brought it more into the spotlight! And can we talk about this wrapping paper from Emily McCarthy?! It felt as if bells were ringing when I saw it! It is more expensive but I just bought a few sheets of it and then accented it with the plaids.

I kept the other items in the living room simple and let the tree be the star, but of course the mantel got in on the fun! You may notice that Momma got a new mirror for Christmas and I’m fairly obsessed with it just like the wrapping paper.

These wood prayer beads from Sugarboo and Co. were the only major decor I added this year and the best part is that they aren’t just Christmas decor, they will be out year round and can be moved around.  So these were worth every penny and I can see them in my home forever!

And of course the Dining Room had to have some Christmas cheer after it’s big make-over this last year that you can see here (sources included).  This room is ready for a feast and lets face it… a cocktail!

I got these cocktail shakers as an early Christmas present and I love how they look like hob nob but aren’t… and hello? Blue!  I will share how I styled them on my bar cart next week!

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas tour and now you can hope over to these other fabulous ladies for even more inspiration!

Christmas Tour Participants:

At Home with The Barkers | Windgate Lane | Cottage In The Oaks

Petticoat Junktion | Restoration Redoux | Girl in the Garage

The Robins Nest Design’s | Paper Daisy Design

Happy Holidays to you all!

xoxo

B

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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!

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We have established that if something holds still long enough, I am going to paint it or change it in some way, yes?  So I had stared at my pretty little duck egg blue dresser for several years and decided that it was long overdue for a change!  It was a bit lost over in a corner and I decided that a two tone look could help tie it in with the end tables I did here.

Before:

It was cute and had lasted a long time in comparison to many furniture pieces in our home… so up first was stripping the drawers.  Not my favorite thing by a long shot but I was motivated by it only being the four drawers.  I used Citri-Strip and it worked great! I think the last time I used it I was out in the garage and while the temperature outside was cooler, I just don’t think it was cool enough.  But seemed to work like a charm this time!

It was like pretty magic!  Several layers of paint and poly- took a couple of layers of the strip but came off easily with a plastic scraper (make sure it’s plastic not metal so it won’t gauge the wood).

After they were done, I grabbed my gorgeous black Velvet Finishes paint called Luxurious and with out any prep work, just started painting it on the dresser.  I can’t tell you how easily this paint goes on and how it self levels.  I didn’t have any rollers so I had to brush it on and there is not one brush stroke to be seen!  And with that I will stop yapping and show you the finished project

I have to say… the new knobs… they make me swoon! I am keeping the old ones because usually original hardware is my fave, but when I saw these at Hobby Lobby, they had to go somewhere and fast!

And can you see how amazingly smooth that paint looks?! Don’t forget- I brushed it on! I did also do a quick protective coat with the Velvet Finishes top coat and it also went on very smooth.

And how about a bit of a peak at how it flows in the room… the mantel is in transition to fall decor but I don’t hate it.  And yes, maybe you are wondering why I have a crystal ball on display but for $2 at the antique store it needed to be mine and is going to be fun with fall and Halloween decor!

The room is coming together… I say that a lot though… and then I change something else… but let’s just appreciate it for now, shall we?

 **Product was provided for this post by Velvet Finishes but all rave reviews are my own**

*Affiliates are present*

I hope y’all have a wonderful day!

xoxo

B

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I fell in love with Velvet Finishes by Kellie Smith awhile ago when I did my green and gold dresser.  It is beautiful paint and goes on with no priming or sanding and levels out to the smoothest finish all on its own! Kellie was kind enough to provide me with some paint for a couple of projects but all thoughts on it are my own.

Once I saw Ethereal, the most gorgeous pink ever, the only problem was not painting ALL THE THINGS pink!

I got a grip on myself though and picked one thing… for now.  This lamp was $6 at my local resale store and I loved the shape of it! The color, not so much.  I am a big fan of brass but this was not a good brass.

I have needed a new lamp in a corner of my family room and I can’t wait to show you where this beauty is going to end up- but I am to impatient to wait because it’s just so gorgeous- so here she is with zero prep work, and two quick coats of Velvet Finishes in Ethereal…. (feel free to applaud)

I love it so much I want to cry.  And it is going to look awesome in the family room!

Did I mention that one little pot of paint lasts for ever? Like it doesn’t even look like I have used any.

So help me out here people… spread the word… pin it, shout it, share it, smoke signal it… Pink is the New Neutral!

Check back next week to see where this pretty lady will live!

xoxo

B

Sharing With:

Think and Make Thursdays!

The post Pink: The New Neutral appeared first on Windgate Lane.

This piano sits in the entryway of the home and her style is very classic but with pops of greens and blues and blacks.  It seemed like an easy solution to go black but leave some wood accents to pull in the gorgeous wood floors that lead into the family room.

This project took longer than I had hoped because this sucker sucked up paint like nobody has ever seen! But when you have a fun friend to chat with while working it makes it go fast

I began by taping off the areas that would remain unpainted- and instead of taping on the keys, I used a trusty costco paper plate to slide along while I painted in front of them.

I gave everywhere a quick coat of Annie Sloan’s Graphite.  I would describe it as a very dark grey.  I always do a quick coat first because I just use that as a base coat.  I then did two more coats (remember it liked to eat paint) and then the next day came back to do a coat of dark walnut stain over it.  I wanted it to look slightly imperfect because it is clearly an older piece, but this also gave it a glossier black look.

Another day and another coat of stain- and then she got a nice coat of poly! Such a pretty lady, and looks just beautiful in their entry way!

I hope y’all are having a wonderful day!

xoxo

B

The post Painted Piano appeared first on Windgate Lane.

It wasn’t pretty… it was stripped… but it wasn’t pretty.

They (yes, there are actually two side tables that tortured me) started out as the old deep cherry stained side tables.  Found them at a garage sale a few months ago and have patiently been waiting for their make over ever since.

Such pretty legs and lines… this post is going to get the wrong type of readers I’m afraid… stripping… legs… ugh.

After I stripped them, with Citristrip, I cleaned them up with Mineral Spirits and was pretty disappointed and had no idea how to salvage them.  The woods were all different, some looked orange (and not a pretty poppy orange), the top refused to be totally stripped, and my patience was gone.

Yes, painting them would salvage it- but that wasn’t the look I was going for in the family room- I just wanted a natural wood tone next to our leather couch.  And if I painted them white, I would go against everything I believe about having painted white furniture around my children!

But the only other choice was the garbage… so at 2am, when all of my ideas come to me, I decided on a plan.  They would be painted but not all of them! and we would just roll the dice until I could find something else that worked in the space.

The Plan:

Sand the top in hopes of removing just one more layer of the cherry stain that wouldn’t die.

One coat of Pure White Chalk Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Two coats of Sherwin Williams Snow White

Paint the decorative edge black with CeCe Caldwell Chalk Paint that I had a sample of to show less wear and tear on the edges.

Poly the heck out of the whole thing and call it a day!

They turned out pretty! I was actually really excited to show y’all! I am only letting you see one because soon enough you will get to see the whole family room reveal with a new rug on it’s way- but I think I can live with these beauties for awhile.

It’s my two favorite things- the old- with a touch of new.  Like this sad stripped furniture put on a black and white tuxedo and James Bond appeared!  I know, my analogies amaze everyone… you are welcome.

Hope it’s a beautiful day!

xoxo

B

Linking to:

Think and Make Thursday Party

The post Stripping Furniture |A Tuxedo Table| appeared first on Windgate Lane.

It is a great resource for anyone!

Not a big surprise that my topic was Ikea Hacks!:) Gotta love ’em- take that ordinary and make it extraordinary… Ikea… hit me up for my mad marketing skills.

I love all of these projects because they are for different areas of your home- from the outdoors in!  There isn’t a room that can’t be covered by Ikea- but the fun is in how you make it your own…

To click through these awesome projects- jump over to my Hometalk Board and follow along!

xoxo

B

The post Hometalk Curated Ikea Hack Board appeared first on Windgate Lane.

I am super excited to share with y’all a new product I got to use from Thompson’s WaterSeal! They recently contacted me and offered to let me try out their spray stain in Cedar, the spray sealer and also do an awesome giveaway for y’all… ummm…. YES!

I am not by nature a patient person- I start something and I want it done… in like two seconds.  Staining is never a painless job for me.  It takes time and clean up and waiting and then doing it all over again!

So when I heard about the spray stain, that got me pretty psyched! Admittedly a little skeptical too, thinking it might not cover well or it might show drips, etc.  But I had this adirondack chair that was begging to be stained (I had been avoiding eye contact with it for awhile)….

People… I was Thrilled!! It was the perfect test piece!

I was done staining this entire chair in five minutes- and that includes a couple spots that I could see were soaking up the stain more so I sprayed over then again quickly.  Are you excited yet? Get excited! That is crazy awesome! And did I mention the stain is a waterproofer as well?!

I loved it as is- but wanted to add a little punch of something, so I got out my chalk paint and taped off a stripe to add interest.

At that point I used the spray sealer that Thompson’s sent me as well, just to go over the paint, since the stain is already a waterproofer.  Once again- I was not disappointed.  And it is great for sealing all sorts of things- I am going to paint and seal some flower pots using it soon!

Ok- enough chit chat- you want your chance at some Thompson’s products too? This is going to be easy!
Thompson’s WaterSeal is generously giving away a Deck Care Kit- a $140 value! It includes 4 gallons of Deck Cleaner and 4 Gallons of their New Waterproofing Stain that comes in 5 colors and each one has 3 opacities it can be in- so you have up to 15 different looks!

You can check out all of the options here: Thompson’s WaterSeal

You have three chances to enter and the giveaway closes on Sunday, July 27th:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So exciting- can’t wait to see who wins and the awesome deck updates they get to do!
xoxo
B

*Windgate Lane was provided with Thompson’s WaterSeal product but all opinions are my own.

The post Thompson’s WaterSeal Spray Stain and a Giveaway! appeared first on Windgate Lane.

I was all set except for an empty spot above the tv.

It needed to be something simple but I couldn’t find anything around the house- so next best thing? Make it! I considered word art/ an arrow but nothing was looking right to me.

Then it struck me that I have a couple little horse details in the room and a sketch of one might just be what I was looking for!

I had a blank canvas (go buy one at Hobby Lobby/ Micheals/ JoAnne) and started out by painting a black frame around the outside.

I didn’t want it to look perfect so I just quickly brushed on some black craft paint that I had on hand.

After that I used an old horse I had on a wooden compass and traced around it.  If you don’t happen to have a random horse sitting around for this- you can always find an image from google images and print it out- which opens the possibility up to really anything!

Once it was traced- I simply took a pencil and quickly colored it in! I didn’t want it to cover the space- so I just quickly did sweeps with the pencil so that it would just abstractly form the image.

This was one of the easiest projects I’ve done to date and also one of my faves! I love it up there and it only cost me probably $3 for that matt because I snatch up a few when I see them on sale.

Hope you are having an amazing day!
xoxo
B

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