Pinterest Board

I spent some time today creating a board on my Pinterest Account that is just for my Windgate Lane projects! I thought this would create a place where you can see all of my projects and quickly repin or find for tutorials:)
That way if you are looking for something I specifically did you won't have to search through a million DIY projects!
Follow along~ and Happy 3 Day Weekend!

Gold Leaf Mirror

In an effort to pull together the final touches in the bedroom I forced myself to decide on a paint color for the mirrors I wanted to hang.  I found these mirrors at Hobby Lobby 6 months ago the other day on major clearance! Like $12 each- so it was a no brainer that they were coming home with me but I didn't have a certain place for them quite yet... cue 6 months later.  Anyhooo....
Great shape and size... but the colors were just not to my liking...

I knew I wanted to paint the green part, gray, so I did that.  Then I put it up for debate on Facebook and Instagram (follow there for projects sneak peaks- Windgate Lane on Facebook- and Bee Mottl on Instagram) about whether to keep the red or paint it gold- and after a heated argument few opinions were given, I went with gold! I liked the red- but decided the gold would compliment the room better.  And thanks to 3M again for the Scotch Bright Tape that I used to tape off the red - and the best part- it came off without pulling any of the gray paint off or leaving a residue! Awesome!

Photo bomb by my special assistant...

Seriously though- no residue and not a chip of fresh paint pulled off!

I didn't want the red to show through if the gold didn't completely cover, so I decided to mix some Annie Sloan paints to have a greenish blue showing through almost like a patina.  There wasn't a lot of thought put into the mixing- just a bit of Florence and a bit of Aubusson Blue- love how you can just mix and play with the chalk paint.

And then waited only about ten minutes for that to dry and started putting on the gold rub and buff! I love it! Can't wait to show them to you in the room reveal!

And I always love a good side by side comparison...

xoxo
B

Linking to:

Beneath My Heart Linky Party

Eye Candy

I'm working on my professional Time Waster degree so I was oogling over some fab blue and white lovelies on Pinterest and figured I would share.  I know that it has become the new thing but I have always loved blue/white and will always love it! I will be a little old lady and still have my brass and blue and white lovelies... just try and take them away... I dare you.  Feel free to follow this board and others if you wish to see what's twirling around in my mind;)

Chore Charts

I'm sure everyone has seen all of the awesome Chore Charts on Pinterest and I have friends who have made just gorgeous ones! But I just wanted something practical- that my boys would find fun- and that looked cute enough to display... cause let's face it.. I'm a girl trying to survive in a boy world! So I gathered any and all things that I could possibly use on hand and got to work!

After Haven I was contacted by the representative that was there for 3M and they asked if I needed any products for upcoming projects... ummm... YES! Love 3M- so many different products and their tape rocks! The spot where I need to hang the Chore Chart had previously had some hooks on it so I needed to patch those holes first so she also sent me the 3M Patch and Fill- which is so nice because it is a filler and primer so you can just paint over it with your wall color once it's dry- no priming.  I love something that eliminates a step for me.

My next step was taping off lines on the magnetic boards I bought at Target- I used the 3M Scotch Blue Tape and then painted stripes in my new Annie Sloan yellow and a pretty blue.

This was impressive to me- there wasn't a messy spot on the line after I pulled up the 3M Tape! And also no tape residue~

Once I had my lines done, I let the boys stamp their names on the top and then on one side put 'To Do' and the other side put 'Done'.  This was the part I had to relinquish my perfectionist attitude about because I wanted them to feel involved:) 

The little magnets that they helped me with are just clear stones with mod podged pictures on them with magnets hot glued to the backs.  I'm pretty sure the gluing was their favorite part of the whole project!

And I tell you what... they did every single chore on them so that they could move their magnets to the Done column! Even brushed their teeth an extra time:)

We are going to hang them up tomorrow but here is the finished product- sorry- blurred out the boy's names for privacy... wouldn't want the paparazzi to start stalking them!

3M did not sponsor this post but did provide some products- but all views and opinions were my own after using the products.

Have a great week!

B

xoxo

Haven

A couple of weeks ago I was blessed to be able to attend a DIY Bloggers Conference called Haven.  It was an amazing experience and I brought back so much knowledge, swag, and above all else, a great feeling of love and support from a group of 350 people who love the same or similar things that I do!

It feels rare to find a situation that is all about the positive anymore, but this was one! It was also like my Hollywood- I got to meet bloggers that I have admired and maybe communicated with through email and also ones that I felt like I should get their autograph!
Just to name a few...
My first two blog loves and just the most genuine people!
Traci from Beneath My Heart:

and Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick:

and just loved Beth, from Home Stories A to Z, even got to share a lunch with her one day and was thrilled to finally be able to thank someone in person for featuring my blog:)

The conference started out with Ana White doing the key note speech.  For those of you unfamiliar with her amazingness, she has created a blog that provides blue prints/ instructions for building amazing furniture.  She has been so successful that her blog is their sole provider now! Now some people are great at doing, but not so great at teaching- she is not one of them.  Her speech was inspiring and very educational- not to mention that the poor thing flew in from Alaska and is pregnant:)

One of the best things she said was...
"If you're not doing anything, no one is gonna hate you!" I loved that because it's so true- when you put something out there into the blogging universe, there will always be those that will point out the negatives and the positives- but if you don't put anything out there- then you get nothing back.

I attended multiple classes and learned so much- and all of the sponsors were amazing! Ballard Designs, Ryobi tools, 3M, Annie Sloan, and Home Depot just to name a few.  All of them had such neat things for us to look at and take home even.  And this lady was lucky enough to win a Ryobi 4pc Lithium- Ion Combo Kit! So amazing... I am ready to cut a bunch of stuff with my new saws!

And how cute are these bags that Ballard Designs gave us all!? adorbs.

I loved attending the Annie Sloan workshop where the reps showed us some new techniques and also the beauty of mixing their colors to form new ones- so fun and we got new tester pots to take home- yay!

and did I mention the new color they unveiled... and I might just have bought a pot of it today! squeal! anyone needing anything painted a gorgeous shade of yellow?

Some great speakers and tutorials and food and I was smitten with Atlanta and wanting it to last a whole week!:)
I came home thoughtful and thankful.  The biggest thing I learned? That not one of the bloggers I heard speak agreed 100% on how to manage and run a blog:) and I found a lot of comfort in that! It can be easy to get caught up in the hustle- the perfect posts- the perfect pictures- the back to back posts.  I'm not interested in that... so just a heads up if you are looking for perfection in your blog reading... look elsewhere!:)
I love projects, I love messy, and I love trying things I've never done before and reveling in my victories and laughing at my defeats (after I've said some profanities).  And if along the way I can help others and maybe help my family a bit... I'm thrilled!

Thanks to all that helped make my weekend so special...
Traci and Cyndi- you are bright souls who lifted me up and inspired- thank you for your kindness.
Sarah- Thanks for knowing my little Windgate Lane blog- and thanks for your candid take on blogging!
Melody- Thanks for hanging with me and making me laugh! you are headed for big things! check out her blog- My Passion for Decor!
Lindsay- from Life of Splendor- fell in love with your blog right away and your kind words were so appreciated!
Richella- what a kind heart- thank you for your encouragement! Imparting Grace
Sonya- I have loved your blog for awhile and loved getting to meet you and appreciated the smile you brought to my face the first night! At Home With the Barkers
And I'm sure I will think of more later!

And last but certainly not least... My husband (aka The Hubs, my CFO) thank you for supporting me and pushing me to attend this and loving our crazy boys while I work on crazy project after project- you are my love.

I'm done. mushy stuff is over. Prepare for sawing and painting and craziness to come!
xoxo
Bee

The HomeLand.. I mean HomeGoods

My husband is blessed.  Not only did he have two boys (ie $savings in clothes and accessories) but we also live about 20 minutes from the nearest Home Goods (more $savings).

I could happily spend days in Home Goods... just looking and planning and googling over all the pretty things... and their awesome price tags! Now you may be saying- if there are awesome price tags then why would your husband save money? Well because if we lived a bit closer and I could casually pop by anytime I wanted, I would be spending a considerable bit more on all of those amazing deals;)

I got a little Me time last Saturday and decided to head out there and see if I couldn't find a couple new goodies for my new bedroom bookshelves.  Yes, I have things I already want to put on them- but a couple new bobbles seem necessary... don't give me that look!

Here is the short back story for Home Goods- it is owned by TJ Maxx- and they have always had a small home furnishings section in their stores, but this is an entire store filled with it and is usually next to a TJ Maxx with all of their clothes, etc. And it makes me happy...

I AM!

I will share what I got for myself when I show you the new bookshelves (big bedroom reveals next week)- but for now I took some pics of some other eye candy in the store and what I usually look for when I am there...

This is absolutely the place to buy lamps! They are all gorgeous and even when I don't need one, I have to walk through to check them all out.  I mean, how cute are these?!

Accent furniture there is also amazing- I was desperately trying to think of a place for those chairs!

My obsession with clocks is always fulfilled...

They also occasionally have original oil paintings and at great prices- 

And Mirrors.... oh the mirrors... so pretty... so cheap... 

Bedding and pillows are so fun and in so many different colors and styles.  It will make you want to redo every room in your house!

They have a huge bathroom accessories section that has such pretty things- I actually got a similar soap dispenser to this one, only in gold, a few months back and I have it in my kitchen- Lurve.

and who doesn't need a bedazzled toilet brush cleaner?!

You will also find the best deal on baskets- wood, canvas, everything- and this time they had all of these cute patterned ones that I was drooling over and only $6! Go buy some!

If I had a counter with a bar on it I would have snatched these up! only $59 and in red, blue and silver- not too mention that you could have painted them any color you wanted...

Strangely enough Homegoods is not paying me for this blog post... I am just that much in love with them!;)
So go find your Homegoods Happy and let me know if I need to go back!
Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo
B

Inspiration... Where art thou?!

I have always wanted to do inspiration boards online for myself and for others but I have just never jumped in and done it! I am old fashioned and still love my magazines and torn out pages and such... ya know like they did back in the olden days.
But recently I saw that Beth, from Home Stories A to Z, was doing a contest on Olio Boards partnering with West Elm, and I thought well it might be time to figure out this whole board thing.  I dove in and with a small learning curve I Loved it!
In fact, I loved it so much that I will soon be offering inspiration boards to clients!
I thought it would be fun to go on a little inspiration board journey with you though so you can see how it works... and doesn't:)
My first trial run is my master bedroom- I assured the Hubs that this was for the love of science and it had to be done- and we had to get a new rug...
and paint...
and some other stuff...
for all of you...
not me...
you're welcome.

Because I have the patience of an ant, I forgot to take a before pic, but here is a fairly recent one~

I did really like it- but it just wasn't meeting all of my needs- that little red table for instance was super cute- but not a great place to display anything- and my room is the only kid boy free zone that I have so all of my special stuff is, well stuffed onto my dresser.  And the paint color was starting to get old to me... ya know cause it has been up there for like two years;)
Oh and did I mention that the duvet that is on there finally drove my hubs and I mad?! When will I ever learn that duvets just aren't for me? They never stay in place and it drives me batty! So that had to be replaced.
Now that you see how dire the situation was, I will show you my inspiration Olio Board, which was held up due to four different samples of paint that I was completely undecided about.




I'm not gonna lie... I was doing a happy dance! And budget wise it wasn't too bad- the biggest expense would be the rug- but was still reasonably priced on Overstock for an 8x10.
Here are the items I already have:
Headboard
Grey Euro Pillows/Shams (Ikea)
Lamps (from Target)
End Tables (Joss and Main)
Dresser
Bookcase (Overstock)
Bamboo Chair (see post here)
Fabric for recovering chair  (Ikea)
Grey Pic Frames (Ikea)
I have curtains but have a spruce up plan for them

Things I need... ok, want:
Rug (Overstock)
Bench (Overstock)
Paint (Benjamin Moore- Northern Cliffs)
Oh and the energy to paint... thankfully that was given to me this weekend in the form of a McDonalds Coke!:)

So phase one was painting! If you follow me on Facebook you got a sneak peek, and if you don't, well, you should.  Now because I was doing all of this with little to no need for a bedroom redo- I had to put on my thinking cap budget wise.  This week was the Sherwin Williams 40% off paints sale- so in I went with my Benjamin Moore sample and sheepishly asked them to recreate two gallons of it.  Does anyone else feel bad about that? Like I cheated on Ben and made Sherwin feel like sloppy seconds? Just doesn't sit right- but it was all in the name of love... i.e. keeping my husband from having heart failure over my spending.

And I am in love with this color! Just a great blue gray that somehow has some warmth in it too!

Here is a shot before I got out the ladder and finished up top- heavily textured walls are so annoying, especially when you don't have crown molding- it's so hard to get a clean line whether you use tape or any other method... believe me... I've tried them all! But here you can see the difference in colors...

It's hard to capture a great photo right now with the room in total chaos but you will see more soon! And the best part... the rug and bench are on their way!
xoxo
B


Linking to:
Home Stories A to Z