First of all, I am in NO way a decorator! When it comes time to decorate or remodel my house I get so overwhelmed I almost always ask for professional help. However this spring we purchased a small lake house in Nebraska and from the moment I saw it, it became very clear to me what I wanted it to look like. I knew exactly where to start.
PAINT- do not underestimate the power of some fresh bright paint.
Before I ever bought a single piece of furniture, I contacted a local painter and had her paint the entire house. With the wood ceilings in the main room, I wanted a soft white color on the surrounding walls. I also used white in my master bedroom. White walls are perfect when you want to let a lot of light in and want that fresh clean feel. For every other inch of wall space in the entire house, I used accessible beige by Sherwin Williams. I LOVE THIS PAINT COLOR. I have most of my house in Austin painted in this color and even convinced my mom to paint her house in it too!
I wanted a peaceful relaxing classic lake/beach house look. So I selected most items in neutrals like white and grey. I splashed in some color like navy and green in the details. Almost all the furnishings and decor pieces were purchased from Target, Wayfair, and Amazon. I bought almost everything online and had it shipped to the house before we arrived for our month long stay.
Because almost everything was purchased online from Texas, I read 1,000,000 reviews. I wanted to make sure I got everything right so that we could assemble and settle in as soon as possible.
I wanted the focus of the upstairs living area to be the windows and lake outside. So we removed the bulky black TV from the wall and swapped in a console table with a turquoise record player. I think this added in some fun classic charm and is now my favorite spot in the house.
Living Room Details
There wasn’t really space for a big kitchen table, but with little ones, I knew that I at least needed a small place where they could sit and slurp their cereal in the mornings. I love this small table that comes in several colors. I paired it with these white mid-century modern chairs that wipe up O so easy! Both pieces were affordable and super easy to put together.
To freshen up the kitchen, I swapped out the barstools to a more neutral modern look and added a rug runner with some navy and a splash of pink to pull in the living room.
Sidenote: 2 weeks after we closed, the refrigerator and dishwasher stopped working so we replaced all the appliances with stainless steal versions.
For the master bedroom we sent the existing bed downstairs to the guest room, and got ourselves an upholstered king size bed. With white walls I really wanted to add a colored bed frame. When my husband put the kibosh on a pink bed, I went with my second pick, this blue bed from Wayfair. I kept the bedding, throw pillows and curtains all pretty neutral with whites and beiges. I added some matching inexpensive nightstands, white lamps from Home Goods, and hung some floating frames above the headboard to finish off this space.
My girls wanted a colorful mermaid room to share for the summer. They love their bright room and the only complaint they have is who’s turn it is to sleep on the top bunk. Their small little nightstand is the perfect height to go beside a low to the ground kids bed or toddler bed. Their alarm clock also has sound machine and ok to wake functions.
For the upstairs spare bedroom, we ditched the bunk beds and added a queen bed with some neutral bedding and some minimal decor.
The front door needs a paint job but I’ll get to that next summer. For now it’s a sign with our last name and a fun welcoming door mat to set the tone for a fun time!
I’m still putting the final touches on the basement and hope to share some pics of it soon. I really like how my amateur remodel job has turned out so far. Especially considering how nearly everything came from online and I was trying to stay under budget. I’ve linked almost everything below. Please reach out if you have any questions!
Hope y’all are having a happy and sweet summertime so far!
xoxo
lana
