The long weekend here means catching up on some little projects that kept getting put off. Remember when I painted a foam playmat, thinking it’d be a great kitchen/cooking mat?

before…

after…

{painted foam playmat tutorial}

It looks great there, doesn’t it?

It really does. But, Mr. DIY is the cook and he’s not always neat, if you know what I mean. Food flies everywhere.  And you guys – it was just so pretty. I’ve never painted anything so large that came out so well and I just couldn’t let it get covered with food and smashed down by grown up weight and feet and ruined. I’m so proud of that painted playmat. I’ll make another for this area with a farmhouse theme, I promise.

In the meantime, we have this huge blank wall at the barn patio…

Know where I’m going with this? It can be affordable huge DIY wall art too and looks awesome here…

and just for fun, here is what this covered barn area looked like when we bought our house…

and now…

And there will be more projects here on this covered patio area {with better lighting and pictures} as I update this space. It’s great for entertaining: cook outs, picnics and bon fires. It’s a cozy comfortable place to relax and get away from the house too, to curl up with a good book with some privacy, even in the rain.

I love the way the playmat fills up the huge empty wall. What do you think?