Lemon Thistle

Jun 19

Summer Patio Update

Jun 19

Sharing some updates we made to our brick patio for the summer- modern lounge furniture with a dark and moody vibe.

Today I’m excited to be joining forces with some amazing home decor bloggers to share our summer patio spaces! You can see all those down at the bottom of this post. This patio has seen some changes since I shared it in the spring and I’m so happy with how it’s functioning for our family as an outdoor living room. I have moved the furniture that was here in the spring to another patio that we are working on making over and I am hoping to have that one finished to share for the end of summer… but renovations are a funny thing and I can never seem to predict when I’ll be done a space.

On that note… these photos are all nicely zoomed in on because we are mid remodel on our other patios and exterior. In my mind… I would have been done the lower wood patio by now to share with you but it just hasn’t happened. I have mentioned before that I always want to be transparent as we go through this remodel the DIY way so I don’t give a false picture of what living through renovations looks like. So in the spirit of transparency (I know, this is the sort of things you share in IG stories- not on the blog), I wanted to share a nice zoomed out shot so you can see what a work in progress the rest of our patio space is! Continue Reading…

Jun 18

Finding Furniture for our Bay Window Reading Nook (Master Bedroom Makeover Progress)

Jun 18

We’re turning our bedroom bay window space into a little reading nook and today I’m sharing some furniture combinations I’m considering – armchair, side table, ottoman and floor lamps with consideration for budget, size, and style!

We are slowly, surely making progress in our master bedroom and while I’m loving where we’re at… there’s some gaps that I’m excited to fill in! If you didn’t catch the other posts in the makeover, let’s catch you up to date! When we bought this house last year (you can see the whole thing right here), the bedroom was beachy and not at all our modern style. We started by painting the whole room black (yeaaaaah!) and replaced the floors when we did our whole main floor last fall.

You can see the plans we had for the space right here. Once the floors were done, we tackled a feature wall on the headboard wall of the room. We made a modern picture frame moulding using doorstops and painted it all out black. I’m obsessed with this wall. You can see it with the lights and the flooring we chose in this post too. We also made over the small walk in closet which allowed us to ditch the dresser and free up floor space. Now that we don’t have a dresser in here, there’s a bit of extra space and we’d love to score a little reading nook… away from the chaos of our kids and main living. So since I’ve spent so much time browsing and picking the perfect pieces, I thought I’d share some of the ones that I’m having a tough time deciding between!

I think all of these combinations would make for gorgeous, modern vignettes for a reading nook in a bay window. I might end up doing a little bit of DIY (can you guess what for?!) but in a perfect world, this space would house a small armchair, a floor lamp, small end table for my coffee, and a pouf or ottoman for my feet to kick up.

But first… want to see the space I’m talking about?

Jun 14

Plywood DIY Double Desk: IKEA Hack!

Jun 14

This plywood DIY double desk is the perfect solution for a shared kids space- plus it’s an IKEA hack! Using scandi inspired maple plywood with a waterfall edge and vertical shiplap under the desk top, this desk isn’t just practical but a modern design element.

When we made over our boys’ bedroom for the One Room Challenge, this was the one biggest request… a desk. But not just any desk… a desk with drawers. But the challenge was that I wanted a desk big enough to sit both of the boys. And that really meant building a desk or paying a price that we just weren’t up for. But building drawers? We’ve done it before, but it’s definitely not something I was eager to take on as one little part of a 6 week room makeover. So IKEA it was!

I was half excited about this and half feeling like it was a compromise. But the more planning and the closer we got to finishing this baby, the more I felt like it was the perfect piece for our boys’ space. Especially once we decided on the skinny shiplap under the desk to match the feature wall in their room. It’s seriously such a perfect piece in here! And simple to make to boot.

One of my goals with this space was to keep the it quiet. Does that sound crazy? Probably. What I mean is that it’s a LOT of things to fit into a bedroom. THREE kids beds, a toy chest, a desk… NO a double desk. It’s a lot. I didn’t want it to look cluttered and busy but I wanted there to be design and texture. So keeping with the muted blues of the walls and the same light wood tones as the floor made it feel like a part of the room, not another thing thrown in there. The waterfall desk top looks so nice and clean compared to the boards we were going to put together or the live edge we were considering but it’s still so interesting. I’m in love with it, you guys.

Ready for the DIY?

Jun 11

Summer Home Tour!

Jun 11

Today I’m excited to be sharing my summer home tour! My style is a bit minimal, a bit modern, and a whole lot of foraging and plants (hello botanical!) for our family friendly home.

It’s home tour time! I’ve done a handful of home tours now but one season I’ve never jumped on board with the ‘touring’ is summer. Because we’ve either been moving, in full remodel mode, or just… busy. This year I’m excited to be somewhere in between all of that and jumping in on the Summer Seasonal Simplicity home tours! If you are coming over from She Gave it a Go, a big WELCOME! I’ve got all the tours linked at the bottom of this post, if you’re looking for more!

So even though it doesn’t look like we’re in major remodel mode from these photos… we are. I’m just not showing it. Currently, we’re working on our exterior which is plywood at the moment. We’re also replacing windows and so some of them that were done this week are missing trim so I’m not sharing those views (or I am, just with curtains closed… hello living room! We’re also still working our way towards a finished entry– we have some painting, lighting, handrails and art to go! so I’ve only shared bits of that.

BUT that said, this is the most complete and ‘me’ that our home has been since we moved in almost a year ago. So I’m so excited to share it with you! Since our last home tour in the spring, there’s been some ch-ch-changes! Notice anything BIG? Like that sofa ;) And the entry bench? I’m so happy to see this space transform into what I’d imagined when we bought this place. But enough about that… let’s talk about decor!

Jun 04

Personalized Fathers Day Gift Ideas | Daddy And Me Gifts

Jun 04

Father’s Day always sneaks up on me. It’s Mother’s Day and then you blink and then it’s Dad’s turn. And guess what time it is? Time to get your Father’s Day plans in order! I’ve shared some DIY gift ideas for Father’s day in the past but today I’m excited to be sharing some super sweet personalized Father’s Day gift ideas. And better yet, they’re daddy and me gifts so your littles will be just as obsessed with giving these gifts as you will seeing them twinning. Not self serving at all ;P

I have two different themes for these gift ideas but you could honestly take it any which way. The other ladies from our Modern Handmade Home series are sharing some of their Father’s Day gift ideas that they’ve personalized in partnership with Personalization Mall today as well. This is a little different for us but we’ve worked with Personalization Mall before and totally LOVE their quality and their service so it was a no brainer to spread the love to the Dads in our lives too!

To make this extra fun, I made a video about these gift ideas! I shared why I chose them and you can see them a bit closer in here. If you’re not following me over on YouTube yet, I’d so love if you did that here!Continue Reading…

May 30

Your Greatness is Not What You Have – June Tech Wallpapers

May 30

9 New free tech wallpapers + printable for the month of June! Get new free backgrounds for your phone, tablet + computer in calendar, monthly script, and handlettered quotes each month!

Sorry for the hiatus pals! Life be crazy sometimes! If you’re on my email list (if not… why the heck not!?) I shared a bit of what’s been going on over here last time. I’m sending out a new one today with the freebie from this set, and guys, our month of setbacks just keeps going. But there’s also some wins in there too (permits! woohoo!). SO without further to do… Here’s our June tech wallpapers, aren’t they so moody and lovely? I am in love with these colours right now. If you recognize the photo… that’s because it’s from this post a few weeks ago!

If you’re new to Lemon Thistle, every month, I create free handlettered backgrounds for you to download. I make each a quote version, a calendar version, and a monthly script version in each desktop, phone, and tablet sizes. You can take your pick! I also create a free printable 8×10 version of the quote for my e-mail friends. If you’re not yet signed up for my list, you can get in on the updates and freebies right here!

Enough with the chatter, am I right? JUST GIVE ME THE GOODS! Just click the linked words below to download the tech wallpapers!Continue Reading…

2019 Calendars - Free Printable 4 Styles

DIY Metallic Leather Passport Holder with Cricut

Modern Olive Green Kitchen Before + After!

3 Ways: How to use Printable Practice Sheets for Hand Lettering

Summer Patio Update

Finding Furniture for our Bay Window Reading Nook (Master Bedroom Makeover Progress)

Plywood DIY Double Desk: IKEA Hack!

Summer Home Tour!

Personalized Fathers Day Gift Ideas | Daddy And Me Gifts

Your Greatness is Not What You Have – June Tech Wallpapers

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