Front Porch Decor at Royalview

Artificial Topiary Cedar Trees from Amazon (Paid Link)

It’s been really fun shopping for front entryway decorations for Royalview.

I knew I wanted faux plants, and the main reason why, is because I have the opposite of a green thumb. Willie gets good laughs from this fact. I love plants so much. I don’t know what’s up with my efforts, because I certainly try…

So, artificial entryway greenery, it had to be, and of course we needed a beautiful front door mat that ties in with the colors we’re utilizing indoors.

As soon as I saw this CHICHIC Door Mat, I knew this was the one. I love the mosaic design and the colors are so gorgeous in blue and beige tones! It has a nice heft to it, and it’s been wonderful, even during some of our recent storms. The size is 24×36 and it weighs 7.2 pounds. We love it!

CHICHIC Door Mat from Amazon (Paid Link)

For our plants, I was so happy to find a pair of cedar trees. I searched for a while to find just the right look and size for us, and I really like the size of these trees (height and width). I chose 3 ft. trees, but they also come in 4 and 5 foot tall varieties. They really do look real. I already received the highest compliment from my niece, Amy, who, when I was telling her about ordering these, she replied, “They’re not real?” We’ve been interviewing landscapers recently, and they’ve commented favorably on our entryway trees. And we of course are very happy with them, so yay!

Classic Home and Garden Spartan Urn from Amazon (Paid Link)

For our pots to hold our beautiful trees, this was a more difficult decision it seems, but when I came across these cast iron look planters, we knew they would contrast well since our home is detailed in black. These are not a stark black, but have a more “worn” iron look. They appear to be very heavy, but they are not. They do have a nice heft to them, but they are easy for me to lift and put into place. These are made of a silicone, polypropylene, and stone dust blend.

The urns arrived already assembled, so we were ready to go!

The cedar trees did arrive needing to be assembled, but it was very easy. Everything was wrapped up very well. The trees are put together like a Christmas Tree, with the top part fitting right into the bottom connection. The plants came in their own pots and are set in cement, so they are a nice weight. We fluffed out the branches (they have an instructional provided to show you how). The branches need to be going upright to give them a real cedar look. It’s not difficult to do, as they look best a bit unkempt to seem more natural.

Before putting the cedar trees in the urns, Willie drilled holes in the bottoms of the urns for drainage.

Once we had placed the tree pots into the urns we added white rocks, and now they aren’t going anywhere. They are very steady and stable. We are loving the whole look together.

We are debating adding chairs to our front porch, and which type. We’ll keep you updated of course.

In our conversations with landscapers, we may add a swing or a bench or two to the bottom of our hill area, so we’ll see what kind of look comes together for everything.

Till next time, stay safe, and follow your joy!

Johanna and Willie

acrossthelake.blog

Links to our Amazon finds:

CHICHIC Door Mat

Artificial Topiary Cedar Trees

Classic Home and Garden Spartan Urn

Front Door Decor, Front Door Decorations, Artificial Plant for Front Door, Faux Cedar Trees, Faux Cast Iron Planting Urn, Beautiful Welcome Mat in Blue Tones

February 16, 2025 0

Choosing Furniture for Royalview

Such a fun, and important part of our move, has been, and still is, choosing furniture pieces for our new home.

We are going for a lake house/French country home aesthetic and vibe. The kitchen island generously included with our home, has been a source of inspiration in the creative process.

We’re really loving the vintage white-washed look, so that is the direction we are going for our wood-tones.

We decided before we moved that we wanted to keep our dining room table and chairs as well as our coffee and end tables that we’ve had since we moved into our former home back in the 90’s. Everything is still in very good condition. The color was the only issue, so we had all the Hunter Green areas painted white. This was done outside our former home in our driveway.

The transformation was amazing, and we are both very happy that we made the choice to preserve our wooden furniture pieces. Here they are now, in our new home:

Willie and I also made the decision to not bring much of our other furniture pieces along, so we did some shopping before our move, for our living room furniture so that we would have something to sit on soon after our arrival. We purchased a living room set consisting of a couch, love seat, and 3 chairs, which were delivered the day after we moved in. We went with a blue toned set to fit in with our theme.

Soon after our move-in, we went furniture shopping again, this time for bedroom furniture, as well as an entertainment center, plus we both had been wanting an electric fireplace.

We had great luck in finding pieces that really appealed to us.

We really loved the look of this set, with the distressed white-washed wood, and thankfully this is real wood, so yay! Look at the tops on these pieces, so beautiful!

And the attention to detail. I love the brass handles.

We came across a really pretty entertainment center that came with an electric fireplace insert. So fabulous!

Of course, we choose the white-wash finish. We were really excited to have found these pieces, and before we left, we came across some beautiful bar chairs that go very well with our repainted dining room set, so we chose 4 of these to really bring the look together.

Nice! Let’s get it all to Royalview!

Things are progressing very nicely here, and at a good pace. It’s going to be really fun when we begin to get into all the decorating ideas/details. But we have a good foundation going, and we’re liking the look of all the colors/styles that we’ve chosen thus far.

Till next time, stay safe and follow your joy!

Johanna and Willie

acrossthelake.blog

Furniture Shopping, Lake House Furniture Ideas, French Country Home Style Decor, Furniture Refinishing

February 11, 2025 2

A New Beginning, Moving to Royalview

Our moving day to Royalview was a whirlwind of excitement for us. We’d been getting ourselves (mentally and physically) ready to move for quite some time, so definitely, we were excited to finally be on our way to our new home.

It’s so nice to begin with a clean slate. We’re looking forward to turning Royalview into a very comfy home.

We did have new flooring put in right before we moved in. Such a big difference (See before photo below). Shout out and thank you to Skinner’s Carpet and Flooring in Montgomery, Texas for doing such a beautiful and timely job for us, coordinating/meeting with us, and getting it all installed prior to move-in. (FYI, Skinner’s Carpet and Flooring is owned by my dear Uncle Russell Skinner. He treats all his customers very well. Not just his Niece and Nephew.)

When we moved, we decided we would begin anew with our bedroom furniture, so our first few nights were spent with our mattress set on the floor.

We had our dining room furniture repainted before moving in. The white areas were previously Hunter Green. We are very happy with the outcome and how the set now fits in with the feel of our new home.

New living room furniture was delivered the day after we moved in. We’re going for a Lake house/French country home style. We’ll see where we end up once the decorating truly begins. I’m looking forward to that part!

By the second night, we were feeling a little more at home.

There are many projects ahead for us to settle in here at Royalview (interior and exterior). We’re looking forward to it all, and also look forward to sharing the progress with you.

Till next time, be safe and follow your joy!

Johanna and Willie

acrossthelake.blog

January 20, 2025 0

Hello, and Welcome to Across the Lake, to Royalview

Hello everyone! So thankful to be here!

My name is Johanna. My husband, Willie, and I just made a huge change (and move) in our lives. We uprooted ourselves from our hometown and home of 31 years, and moved to a (new to us) small Texas town, in which we have purchased our new home, that we’re lovingly calling, Royalview.

We have been on a soul-searching and across-Texas journey for the past 2 years, longing to be a part of a smaller community, and to be in an area that still possesses a good amount of God’s natural beauty that we can enjoy right outside our own home.

We are both still pinching ourselves to believe the wonderful blessing that we have received in finding Royalview, and now being able to call her our home. Royalview is a 4 year old custom built home that sits on a hilltop, overlooking a beautiful lake.

We invite you to join us, in this new leg of our journey, as we get moved in (official move in date was December 18, 2024), get things fixed up, decorated (inside and out), and also as we get familiar with our new surroundings here, and around our new hometown.

Willie and I are in our early 60’s. Well, Willie is. I will be joining the 60’s club here in January. We have been married for 41 years, and are very excited to be embarking on this adventure together.

Introducing, Royalview:

We are loving the hilltop view of the lake.

View from our front door steps.

View from our driveway.

We will be sharing a lot more photos of Royalview in upcoming posts, sharing the inside of our home, as well as our backyard area. There are a lot of fun projects coming up, so we hope you’ll come along for all the excitement.

Sincerely,

Johanna and Willie

acrossthelake.blog

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January 6, 2025 0