DIY Lettered Canvas

Is it weird that I'm always picking up used canvases?  

Because I do.  

I see potential in them.  

Last week I sneaked at something I was working on my Instagram account.  

It started like this... 

Not so pretty.  But I just painted over it with some white and cream paint. 

It did take a few tries to get the pink highlighter color to be fully covered. 

So 3 coats is what I ended up doing. 

Then I found some inspiration on Pinterest and Google Images...

1 // 2 // 3

And then just started going freehand and this is how it turned out...

And here it is on the growing black and white gallery wall that is now in my bedroom...

Work in progress..

I think it still needs a border or accents or something, but for now, it works.

Patio Reveal { Just in Time For Winter }

Ok... so it's not exactly as I'd like it to be, but I didn't want to wait forever to share with you all!

Yesterday I shared my patio -- the DIY cement mold surface.  It was the hardest thing we've ever done, and not perfect, but if/when we move (if ever), we put so much love and sweat into that thing it'll have to come with us!

It does, however, look almost perfect to me once I got all my things set up out there!  Most of these pieces I had or were under $15.

So... here she is...
My fun, funky, sassy, diy patio reveal ::

I made the table from an old barn door that was just laying around in my garage.  I love that it's not perfectly flat, it has the hardware, and it's unusual.  It's not something you see everyday and that's how I prefer to roll. 

I had some trestle legs that I purchased from Ikea for my office and sprayed them white so they make up the base of the table.  

I love my randomness of terra cotta pots on the table.  

We tried to grow herbs in them but didn't have much luck.  

So now we have some mums and lavender (that's seen better days) and succulents. 

And you can't forget about our fairy houses.  

The two larges pots are fairy houses created by Ells with things we gathered from the park. 

The peacock chairs are finds from an antique store and they were $10 each.  Seriously.  I. About. Died. 

I wish I had a sun room to use these in year round.  They are absolutely fabulous! 

The bench used to be on my front porch, but got a little paint job and now works perfectly here. 

And these folding chairs are from an old baptist church and were $15 for the pair!  

I added H&M Cushions to them for a little extra pattern and comfort. 

We've had this little firepit for FOREVER and have only ever used it once.  Hoping to replace the garden stools with Adirondacks soon enough.  

Then we can enjoy the fall weather with a small fire and a beer or hot chocolate!  

But yea... seriously loving it!  I love the statement the peacock chairs make and I can't wait to get the lights up and everything finished for real!  Yay!  

And at least I got it done before winter came!

My Latest Craigslist Find

Last week I shared with you my latest craigslist find.  All credit really goes to my mom who found it, wheeled and dealed for it, and brought the muscle including my little brother and sister down to help unearth it from it's million dollar home... And bring it to my NOT million dollar home. 

We grabbed it and it sat in my living room entryway for about a week, but I figured the only really good place for it would be at the top of my stairs...

Unfortunately, that's where my gallery wall was...

And I kinda liked it too, but I knew this is the only space in my current house that fits this piece. 

So I took all my pictures off the wall...

And we moved this guy from downstairs...

To upstairs... and it's new home...

Tada... Sorry for somewhat grainy pictures as I take them at night which I know I shouldn't!

But I felt like I should do a little mini staging set up...

So here's what I came up with...

All things I had on hand.

And now I'm not sure what to do here?

I was thinking about maybe keeping this bench here but painting it or adding some pillows and fun accents and then using Staples to blow up a huge print and hang it above.  Unsure as usual.

Notice how these things always seem to creep into my photos... my house is never clean I swear!  Or picked up...

xoxo

Pianos & Soldier Boys

This morning just a few updates...

Warning ::  Crappy Before Pictures

Just Sayin...

So I am a lover of finding cheap things.  I have a slight obsession with finding something for cheaper once I've seen it.  So I came across this Jaymar Piano a while back on ShopGoodwill.com.  I only buy things off there from Indianapolis because I can pick them up.  Otherwise their shipping usually runs at least $15 on top of the purchase price.  Not happening.  So I saw this one on the Indy site and grabbed it up.  I love it.  I love the warped sound, but I wanted to give it a fresh look. 

And with a new obsession with Kelly Green, I figured I could spray paint this piano and it would be perfect in PlayLand.

And it was...

I'm loving it...

And last night Ells was standing playing it...

Too sweet.

I also had this little guy hanging out in my garage from FOREVER ago.  I got him to go in my little brothers room when we made it over a couple years ago but no one liked him as much as I did so all this time he's been sitting in my garage. I always thought I'd paint him white. 

PlayLand needed a little more light at night. So...

I love how he pops on the table...

And blends in with the bright décor in here.

And the brown shade was just something I had on hand so it's probably not permanent.

Do you like my new Solider Boy!?

xo

New Floors { Y A Y }

The day had come... 

I'd been holding onto my gift card for about 6 months or so... 

Our carpet was starting to rip up in some areas...

I couldn't wait... 

So Mr K & I hopped in the car while Ells was at the babysitter and went and purchased our flooring. 

Hello Home Depot. 

They barely fit in our car.
We need a truck.

When we got home, we tore up the carpet even though the floors needed to "acclimate" for about 48 hours.
The carpet was just gross.  Like so glad I didn't take a picture of it gross because you might never read my blog again.  Well not that gross, but still...

No turning back now... 

Then we waited the 48ish hours and started... 

The neighbors thought we were having a garage sale because this is where we moved the furniture during the process.  Thank goodness it didn't rain. 

And we used the middle grade of subfloor that you could get.  We looked for the cheapest and then we looked for the second cheapest and honestly there is no cheap.  

So middle ground ran us about $35 per roll. 

Rolled that out first.  We only did one area at a time due to the room and area we were working in. 

Then it was time to start on the floors.  

See the frustration? 

Starting the floors was the hardest part.  Once we got going it wasn't too bad.  

My little cutie brother trying to figure it out with Mr K. 

Doesn't it look so much better?  I can't even believe we waited so long!

Taking a break... 

It kills your back, your hips, your feet, your knees... 

Ugh... I needed another vacation afterwards just to recoup from the pains

I couldn't skip this picutre... if you follow me on IG, you already saw it.  

And if you don't, then go follow me!  @lmmblog on Instagram. 

Doesn't he look like a high school gym teacher with those socks?  

Happy Anniversary Hun!

My little tornado seems to like it... 

And yes, she dumped the tokens all over the floor and then made floor angels we were calling them. 

And yes, this is typically what my house looks like.  

No judging. 

Once all the floor was down, we did hit one little snag... 

The transition.  We are baffled and will have to cut it down, but we haven't gotten there yet. 

But what do you think? 

Before:

After:

It really opens it up and I couldn't be happier!  :)

Soon i'll post the room all put back together, but we still need to finish up the quarter round and the transition strips.  Once those are good, everything will go back to it's home for good!  :)