Tag Archives: front porch make over

Front Porch Decor: A Wintery Welcome!

a wintery welcome

Last spring/summer, I was on a mission to give our front porch a facelift. It is a beautiful outdoor space, but I had never taken anytime to make it anything more than a place to sit. The overhaul involved several DIY projects and repurposing items we already had. I was really pleased with how it turned and we spent lots of time truly enjoying the new porch decor over the summer months. However, when fall rolled around, I quickly realized that the design was much more suitable for summer and that I would need to somehow “winterize” the look.

Over the past few months, I haven’t had much time for projects, but I did spend several hours gathering ideas and materials. Last weekend, I finally took the time and pulled many of them together to create a new look for winter and Christmas. I didn’t want it too be too Christmassy because I really didn’t want to have to rethink the space when the holidays are over. I think I managed to create a look that has a hint of Christmas, but with a few minor changes, it can transition into a look that will last the entire winter.

To achieve the look, I incorporated some of the pieces that I had used in my summer porch design such as the milk can and the Welcome sign. I may make a Christmas sign at some point, but for now this will work.

I had originally made this rustic tree branch tree for my front porch, but in the end, loved it so much that I decided to place it in the living room because our main tree is always set-up in the dining room where there is more room. We have a wood burning fireplace in the living room and having a smaller tree in this space will be perfect. (It is yet to be moved as we won’t be getting our live Christmas tree until next weekend!)

Pallet Trees:

I love the look of pallet Christmas trees and decided to pick some up through Kijiji. Although there are many places that offer them for free, I ended up purchased two for $30. That might seem silly but they were already stained a dark brown colour and there were no spaces between the planks, so there were plenty of planks to work with.

  1. The first thing I needed to do was dismantle the pallets. This is never a fun job, but I opted for what I deem to be the simplest solution. Use a sawzall!

2. Once the pallets were taken apart, I began to cut, build and assemble. I followed this tutorial from Funky Junk Interiors. I absolutely love the tree she created with old fencing, but I didn’t have the time or energy to recreate the look. The tutorial is super easy to follow and the only change I made was making the bottom plank on my largest tree larger so that the finished tree would be taller. I was on a bit of a roll and ended up making two larger trees for my front porch as well as three smaller ones…and I still have wood left.

3. Once my trees were built, I opted to finish off the look by adding some white using the “dry brush” technique. (Dry brushing is really just what it implies…you add a very sparse amount of paint using a very dry brush and apply it with very light strokes. This may also mean removing some of the paint you put on brush before actually applying it to the surface of your project. I will often use a scrap piece of cardboard to brush off the excess paint before applying it to my project.) Because the pallets were already stained a dark brown, white was the perfect finishing touch. It was well worth the $30 for all the extra planks I got as well as the time saved not having to stain and dry before applying the dry brushed white coat.

Other Elements in the Design:

  • I absolutely love the look of birch and had purchased some birch scrap wood a few weeks back knowing I wanted to somehow incorporate it into my finished project. I decided to use the milk can I already had as a “vase” for the birch. I wrapped the branches in twine, added a simple embellishment and a few sprigs of white “ting” to finish off the arrangement.
  • As mentioned before, I knew that I didn’t want the decor to be too Christmassy, so I aimed at more of a winter look. I found this old rotting sleigh on Kijiji for $30. I scraped and sanded it to removed most of the peeling paint and then gave it two coats of exterior white paint. Once thoroughly dry, I sanded it back to distress it slightly. I also gave the metal gliders a coat of black spray paint in my spray tent. I love the way it turned out. All I added to the sleigh was a plaid blanket that I picked up for a few bucks at a thrift store.
  • The front door holds the rag wreath that I made a few years ago. I still love the white shabby chic look.
Rag Wreath
  • On the opposite side of the front door, I placed a small artificial tree. I decorated it very simply with white lights, pinecones and tufts of white artificial snow. I purposely chose not to use ornaments as I figured the simple wintery look would allow me to leave the display up through the winter. ( I guess I could also use ornaments and then replace them with pinecones/snow after Christmas!?…Maybe next year!)
  • I picked up this beautiful antique speckled pot at an antique sale this fall. I love it and it is the perfect container for the collection of dollar store snowballs!
  • I used scrap wood to create these simple wooden presents that can be removed after Christmas. Once again, I applied white paint using the dry brush technique and then added burlap and twine for a simple rustic look.
  • The finishing touches: To finish off my winter/Christmas vignette, I added a few garage sale finds…..a vintage suitcase, an antique sewing machine drawer filled with pinecones and a very weathered chair (not bad for a $1). I also used a grapevine wreath I had in my basement, a galvanize pitcher and lantern from my summer decor and an antique type writer with the beginnings of a “letter to Santa”. (I will remove the typewriter after Christmas.)

I love the way it all came together in the end. Sometimes it is hard to envision what the finished design will look like. I had so many ideas and items I wanted to incorporate, but really had to wait until I set it up to see what would work and where.

I’m already planning a fall porch design for next year….a back to school theme. I already have something on my “To Do List” for next summer! Yikes!!

Front Porch Makeover #4: It’s All in the Details

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time you will know that almost everything in my house is recycled, upcycled, salvaged or some kind of a DIY project. Our electronics, sofa/chair and mattresses would be the primary exceptions. I can stretch a dollar like there is no tomorrow and can transform a space on a very limited budget. However, this process definitely takes time, patience, perseverance and often, hard work, but the results always seem to be worth it.

On rare occasions, I will make one “splurge” in a space. Keep in mind a splurge for me is still not very extravagant, but rather implies I broke down and bought something brand new and didn’t get a great sale price 😥

The new cushions for our 10 year old wicker patio furniture would be my front porch splurge. We have needed to replace the very old and worn out original seat covers for more than a few summers now, but despite looking, I never followed through. As mentioned in my first Front Porch post, I felt very limited because of the colour of my house. I tried to find cushions that would match, but to no avail. It’s just a weird colour. Out of pure desperation, I made a decision that I had to commit to something as the old ones were literally falling apart. It was actually when I decided to stop trying to “match” the colour that I finally had a break through. If we were to paint the exterior of our house, I would love to paint it navy with white trim. There are a few houses in our neighbourhood with navy stucco and white trim and they are beautiful. As I thought about this, it suddenly dawned on me that just maybe navy blue would work with my current house colour. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any cushions locally, so I resorted to ordering from Wayfair. Although we do quite a bit of online shopping, I hated the idea of ordering expensive cushions online. I would have much preferred to buy them locally, try them out and then return them if I didn’t like the look. Going with an accent colour seemed a bit risky because of the colour of our house, but we took the plunge and ordered despite our reservations. After pondering the new cushions for a few days, we both decided we loved the look!

The other strange part of this front porch makeover was that we have these old cedar deck chairs that were purchased when we owned our cottage about 18 years ago. The canvas seats are still in perfect condition and wash well in the washing machine as needed. The issue was that the canvas was green. Again, I felt completely at a loss with this green? We love the chairs, but I could not get my head around how to work with the house colour, the green canvas and new cushions. My neighbour is great with colour and she said to look at the green as a neutral colour and an extension of my garden and plants. I had never considered this before, but sure enough the new cushions, green canvas and house colour all miraculously came together! In fact, I don’t even hate my house colour as much now that I learned to work with it and not fight it.

So, with our existing wicker furniture and new cushions, our old cedar chairs with the green canvas seats and our freshly painted swing and white shelf, the foundation for our space was set.

It’s All in the Details:

  • We decided to keep one of the end tables that I had previously upcycled several years ago, but needed to take some time to think about how to accessorize it a bit. We had this old camping lantern that we used when I was a kid, stored in the basement. We have never actually used it, but it still works fine. It brings back fond memories and I could never let it go for sentimental reasons. It now has the perfect home on our front porch. Beside it, I placed this cute little decorative watering from the dollar store. I added a sprig of dollar store greenery and “Voila!” the table was set.
  • The DIY Welcome Sign really helped to make the porch appear more inviting. The sign on its own wasn’t enough, so I added in the DIY Pillar Candle Holders I had made from salvaged couch legs. I picked up the galvanized pitcher at Michael’s for half price (maybe 60% off ) and slipped a 500ml empty plastic coke bottle into it so that I could add water and fresh greenery. The final item in this little display is another dollar store find….a second miniature watering can with a sprig of artificial greenery.
  • Although I am yet to start or complete my mailbox makeover, the Upcycled Vanity and flowers really helped to dress up this corner by our door. I love how the distressed shutter helps to soften the backdrop for the pink flowers which might not be a perfect colour match for the house and yet, they seem to work.
  • The freshly painted shelf certainly helps to anchor the space below the porch wall. It was a tricky space to work with because we needed to honour the space needed for the swing. We needed something narrow that wouldn’t interfere with the swing when in motion. This little shelf fit perfectly. I added a set of 3 dollar store plants, a stack of garage sale vintage books and an old drawer from our vintage sewing machine makeover. I may still add some little legs to it and actually put something in it, but for now it is just there!
  • I’m sort of into birdhouses this summer. Not sure how or why that started, but it did. I picked up both of these birdhouses at the dollar store. I set one on the shelf and the other beside the milk jug I bought with the galvanized pitcher from Michael’s.
  • Of course, we needed some new throw cushions. I would have to say I am still working on this. I had picked up 6 napkins and 2 placemats from a garage sale for $1 (for the whole set). I simply paired them up and sewed them all together leaving one side open. On the open side I added a velcro strip to close it. I actually can’t believe this deal. In the end, I got 4 throw pillows for $1. I had the velcro and navy thread on hand. I upcycled the old patio furniture cushions as well as a few I had in storage by adding more batting to them to fluff them up and give them new life. I had scrap white fabric on hand that I used to sew the new basic covers for the cushion inserts with the extra batting. I love the velvet edge that these cushions have. What a great deal and they look great. I am still sorting out how I am going to use the four cushions as I have another space where navy cushions will work as well. The green cushion and insert were picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents each.
  • We have these beautiful arches on our porch and for several years placed hanging plants there during the summer. The issue was that the porch doesn’t get much sunlight and some areas more than others. In addition, I found that I wasn’t great at tending to the plants and they quickly became more of an eye sore than focal point. This year, we opted to purchase some inexpensive Ikea lanterns to hang in lieu of the live plants. I love the look and the candle light is beautiful when sitting out on a summer evening.

Front Porch Makeover Before and After Shots:

BEFORE:

You can see a striped seat cushion on the single chair by the swing. The old seat cushions were reversible with solid brown on one side and a striped pattern on the other. The porch was certainly “okay”, but I had never taken any time to actually decorate the space.

AFTER:

Some paint, a few purchases and a bucket load of DIY projects later…here is the front porch. I still have a couple little decor project on my “to do” list, but here it is so far! The porch extends the whole width of our house which is 27 feet. The sitting area and entrance are about 8 1/2 feet deep and the swing end is about 6 1/2 feet wide. So this is a pretty large space and easily accommodates the two separate spaces. (If you click an image it will take you to slide show mode.)

Front Porch Make over

Feeling so grateful to have our porch looking more presentable and inviting!

Front Porch Makeover #2: Antique Vanity Upcycle

I bought this antique vanity several years ago with good intentions, but it was just one of those projects that I never got to. It was super cheap (maybe $15 or something) and I jumped on it. To be honest, I have even reposted in on Kijiji, just wanting to get rid of it, but not many people were chomping at the bit to pick up this puppy…not sure why??? Okay, I get it…it is (was) super ugly!

This spring when Tim and I decided that our backyard needed to be “dressed” up a bit, I decided to see what we could come up with from our own personal stash of goodies/junk (matter of perspective I guess). With Covid restrictions in place, there weren’t many other options available any way. I figured that if I could find some gems in our own collection, I would kill mulitiple birds with one stone, so to speak….purge, save money, save the landfill and pretty up our back yard.

We really didn’t see any value in this unit in the condition it was in, so the first thing we did was remove the drawers from one side and take them outside to add interest to our garden. Tim simply anchored them together in a staggered stack and we used them as planters. We were pleased with how they turned out and it was super easy because I liked the worn look and didn’t even both giving them fresh paint.

These photos were taken pretty early in the season, so the plants aren’t that big yet, but our vine is already going crazy!!! You can see the back from an old ladder back chair in the background as well…I had bought this back several years ago with a plan to incorporate it into our laundry room make over as a drying rack, but it never came to fruition, so we just stuck it in the flower bed too! Hmmm….what else do we have lying around??

Although the remaining vanity pieces could have easily made their way to the dump, I was desperately trying to make our front porch look more inviting and I was in need of a table for just outside our front door. The space wasn’t large and I thought this might be the perfect upcycle project.

Tim kindly cut the vanity apart and I set to work building a new top out of…you guessed it…reclaimed wood from an old table (from staircase make over last summer).

The first thing I had to do was build a little frame around the top because the original piece had curved edges.I then attached the boards to the top of the half vanity.

I’m not sure why I didn’t take a photo of it, but the right side of the cabinet was a little rough with a gap from where we cut it apart. I knew this would be against the house wall and not visible, so we just cut a very thin piece of scrap wood and covered it, bandage style! When everything was repainted, it was really not noticeable at all. I used exterior paint because this would need to withstand the elements out on our front porch.

I placed it in its spot, but it took me some time to decide what to do with the knobs and to pull together a finished look, but here it is all painted!

I finally decided to use a Pinterest idea I had pinned several years ago. I absolutely love the knobs in the tutorial, but unfortunately, the colour wouldn’t work for my project. I purchased old ceramic knobs for a dollar each at an antique store and then coloured them with Sharpie marker and baked them at 350 degrees for half an hour. (I actually like the original cream colour, but my project was quite a bright white and they didn’t look great together.) Here is the tutorial from School of Decorating. I’m still a little disappointed that I couldn’t use the teal colour from the tutorial, but it just wouldn’t work for this project. I did, however, want them to look somewhat like a natural stone (think emerald), so I opted to go for green to tie in with our deck chairs. I love the way they turned out!

Too bad I could not find an angle where I didn’t get reflections in the gold, but you get the idea. The uneven strokes with the Sharpie are what helps to give the finished drawer pulls some depth and interest.

To finish off this little niche I FINALLY used this old shutter that I had antiqued about a zillion years ago. I made it and loved it, but had never found a home for it until now! I simply sat it on the top of the vanity and leaned it against the house. The piece on top is a plastic medallion that I bought at the dollar store. I spray painted it white and then sanded it back a bit to antique it. I picked up the glass vase/jar at a thrift store for $2 and those pretty flowers are from the dollar store too! I do love how this little “vignette” is coming together, but I must say it also brings this old Sesame Song to mind….

I don’t know, but to me it looks like something in that picture just doesn’t belong….can you guess what it is?

If you guessed the mailbox…you’re right! It is on my hit list for this summer as well! Stay tuned!

Now before I sign off, I am mustering up the courage to get real and show you the before and afters. The vanity transformation is pretty cool, but hold on to your hat if you want to see how bad my porch looked before this tiny make over. Here goes….

I do not lie. I had that stupid table sitting there with nothing on it. It did occasionally hold a dead plant or ice candle at Christmas, but it was always such a sad and unwelcoming sight. So much happier with the new look.

Stay tuned for many more DIY, upcycling and make over projects….this summer has been so busy! We have worked on so many different things…so fun to transform a space!