Decorating a new build comes with many, many challenges. First, picking, and sticking, with a style. You have intentions of one trend but once you see the items in your home, your vision isn’t quite coming together as planned; and if you’re anything like me, your decor changes seasonally (I guess that is one of the perks, or hassles depending on how you look at it, with being an Instagram influencer). So, after months of trial and error, you find your niche. Second, being able to afford said style. Furniture and home accents are EXPENSIVE. I mean, really really expensive. You could be frugal on some items, yes, but even the Target Dollar Spot starts to add up, quickly. Not to mention, when you have children they ruin everything. AND I MEAN EVERYTHING. Tables are sticky, couches are covered in the wonderful orange Georgia clay, and let’s not even mention the floors I have to clean twice a day. But, needless to say, owning your home has an enormous sense of gratification.
As you know, we moved to Canton almost a year ago (WOW! I feel like I just started writing and posting about our new build yesterday!) from our first home in Roswell. Our home in Roswell was never intended to be our forever home and with those intentions, decorating and making it our own was always put on the back burner. I did not want to invest in a home that we would eventually leave. Well, since settling into our farmhouse and really grasping what we wanted, and didn’t want in our forever home, I knew exactly what was considered a maybe on the decor front and what was a nonnegotiable .
One, of the many nonnegotiables, was our kitchen. Open shelving, butcher block island and white quartz fully equipped with bright lighting and an eat in kitchen area with built in bench seating. We are finally at the point where tackling the small details of our home is within our budget. One thing I did not really think about when building our built-ins though, was comfort. Yes, I styled with some throw pillows for photo purposes but our seating was definitely missing that little something extra. When I found this Florida based cushion company, Patio Lane, I knew exactly what was missing. Custom cushions for my bench seating.
When I contacted them to see if they were able to customize a set for me, and more importantly that they would be able to work with me from such a far distance, and they said yes I was thrilled!! I sent them my dimensions via email, since speaking on the phone gives me a certain level of anxiety (I blame the millenial in me), they responded within hours which was shock number 1. I am so used to companies really utilizing that standard “reply within 24 hour” rule and it drives me CRAZY. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves to be honest, and it was not experienced through working with Patio Lane. Already, I am happy. Clearly, it doesn’t take much to keep me content HA! So, truth be told, we were exchanging emails for awhile between checking the correct dimensions and discussing my style.
Then, the hard part comes. Choosing a color for the cushion covers. I was sure that I wanted to stick with a shade of grey. If you know me personally , or just follow along with my daily Instagram posts, you know I am a neutral kind of gal. Give me all the whites and beiges and I am happy. So when I decided to go grey, it was out of my element. But, reverting back to the beginning of this blog post, KIDS. HA HA HA I would be a fool if I chose white cushion covers with these dirty, messy offspring of mine. I was set on grey. After the dozen emails going back and forth, they mentioned “well, let us send you samples.” They had me at samples. I was thinking – I am forever in debt to Patio Lane; I am hundreds upon hundreds of miles away from their warehouse, and they are treating me as if I matter! (This seems pretty standard, I know, but you would be surprised with the lack of customer service I receive daily – it’s actually quite astounding how some businesses stay afloat just based on their impersonal attitudes).
So let’s fast forward to a week after I agreed to view samples. I figured they would have sent me MAYBE three shades to choose from. NOPE. They sent me EVERY SINGLE shade of grey they offered. At this point, there was really nothing they could do to mess up with business relationship at this point. I chose my fabric, sent my dimensions along with a few photos to show them the space. Low and behold, there was concern about the trim on the built-ins. Not surprising to me in the least bit since I am incompetent with such mundane tasks like measuring. They immediately responded to my email stating that they were concerned about the trim and wanted to make sure these cushions fit this space perfectly. Mind Blown. Most companies would never go this length to provide this level of satisfaction with their customers. So, after remeasuring and confirming the final details of measurements, color selection and depth of the cushions, I placed my order and patiently awaited for this delivery.
Once the cushions were received a few weeks later (remember, custom sizing means special order which means playing the waiting game), I noticed how well they were packaged. With the utter most care. I carefully opened them since I didn’t want to damage them obviously, placed them on my benches and sat down on them to check out the comfort level. SO GOOD. I wound up choosing Cast Slate. I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER. Aside from the incredible quality of the fabric and cushion material, the best part is they are machine washable. Remember dirty children = always needing accents that are machine washable.
I was blown away by everything that I experienced through Patio Lane. I will be using them again in the future for our upstairs window seating, hopefully in the near future. If you are looking for custom cushioning and are at a loss as to where to start shopping, look no further. I did the back work, I tested the product and dealt with the customer service. THEY ARE AMAZING and most importantly , you will be satisfied.
My Georgian Farmhouse 