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.

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.

To start a room design board, I ask the client for inspiration pictures and color tones that they love.  The pictures are everything to me because what one person may call classic/traditional, another maybe call modern… ya never know.  The color pallet immediate puts a vision of the large items in the room and ways to build around those with fun patterns.  And have I mentioned that it’s super fun spending other people’s money? My husband just loves that part of these projects

I still have some tweaking to do, but it’s coming along… just gonna need that baby girl to really complete it!

Wall Colors: Benjamin Moore Love and Happiness (pink) and Benjamin Moore White Dove

Sources: (affiliates present)

| Floral Pillow | Buffalo Check Pillow | Rug | Crib | Curtains | Fringe Tassel | Ballerina Painting |

I have to mention that the painting can be customized and is done by my beautiful and talented friend Courtney, at Etsy shop, SurLaToile.  Her work is just gorgeous and so heartfelt!

I look forward to showing the final reveal!

xoxo

B

The post Bohemian and Classic Nursery appeared first on Windgate Lane.

These 3 little wall hangings sent to me from Trisha at Black and White Obsession, had passed their prime.  It took me awhile to figure out what to do with them really, but when the boys started nagging about getting our outdoor Halloween stuff up I thought they could help me make a cute little sign!

First up was some black spray paint- and I didn’t let the boys do it- although they wanted to… #taggers.

Then I showed them some pictures of spiders and webs and gave them some white paint pens! I wrote the words Trick or Treat on them and then just screwed them into some scrap wood.  Pretty easy and the boys love that they made something special to add to the fun outdoor decorating!

Do y’all put up outdoor decor for Halloween? We do a little but it’s too much for me to do decor for every season Thats why I like my wreath (tutorial here) because it has spanned across several seasons!

Make sure you jump back to my Faux Marble Box post to find links to 40 other awesome thrift store make- overs!

xoxo

B

The post Halloween Outside Decor: #swapitlikeitshot appeared first on Windgate Lane.

Here are the links to my last projects if you want to see even more fun!

| Dough Bowl | Mid-Century Modern Side Table | Beverage Station |

This round I was thrilled to receive swap items from Trisha at Black and White Obsession, so if you are stopping by from her, welcome!

She sent me several things, this post is going to show just one, but later this week you will see the others so stay tuned:)

That little faux book box with angels on the front was the first thing I pulled out!  Sorry little angels, you had your day to shine, but don’t quite work with my decor.

First some white spray paint around the sides.  I didn’t bother to cover the top completely and will show you why in a minute…

After that I found my faux marble contact paper (purchased here and used on these side tables) and got to work!  I simply cut out the sizes I needed and made the top large enough to wrap around the edges for a clean look.

After it was wrapped, I glued on a fun leopard print handle I grabbed at Hobby Lobby in the clearance bin for $0.99!  I mean you just never know when you will need a single leopard print handle… obviously.  And I glued instead of drilling it on because I wanted the option of removing it should I want to stack something on the top of the box later.

But for now I love this pretty little box on the shelves in my family room that conveniently holds some extra charging cords that I need handy but love them being out of site!

Pin Below for tutorial later!

On Thursday I will be back to show you some of our outdoor Halloween and Fall decor and show you how I repurposed these little wall hangings!

I think you will be surprised!

NEXT STOP! –> Alice at Thoughts from Alice Run over to see what she did with the treasures I sent to her! Which included a small woodland creature…

And as for the 40 other bloggers!! Well here are all the links as it progresses through this whole week!

Search the hashtag #swapitlikeitshot on social media to follow along with all the fun or check out our Pinterest Board.

MONDAY

| That’s My Letter | DIY On the Cheap | Run To Radiance | The Gathered Home |

| Two Thirty Five Designs | Chaotically Creative | Decor Adventures |

| Homemade By Carmona |

TUESDAY

| Thoughts From Alice | Reinvented | Confessions Of A Serial Do-It-Yourselfer |

| Restoration Redoux | Always Never Done | I Am a Homemaker |

| Black and White Obsession | Windgate Lane |

WEDNESDAY

| Town and Country Living | brepurposed | The Charming Farmer |

| 58 Water Street | Designer Trapped In A Lawyer’s Body |

| Year of Serendipity | White House Black Shutters |Desert Domicile |

THURSDAY

| Two Purple Couches | Like A Saturday | Finding Silver Pennies |

| Artsy Chicks Rule | Something to Be Found | Shades of Blue Interiors |

| Simple Designing | Our Southern Home |

FRIDAY

| Evey’s Creations | Dragonfly and Lilypads | Weekend Craft |

| Ciburbanity | A Designer At Home | Polished Habitat |

| Blue I Style | Addicted 2 DIY |

Hope y’all have a fun time following along! so much inspiration!

xoxo

B

The post Faux Marble Thrift Store Box: #swapitlikeitshot appeared first on Windgate Lane.

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

The post Two Tone Dresser appeared first on Windgate Lane.

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.