Front Porch Make-Over

If you guys know anything about me by now it's that I like to keep busy and I love painting all the things.

Over the winter I started noticing that our front door was looking rather sad and faded.

Doesn't it look sad?

Obviously it needed a fresh coat of paint. Hunter green isn't my favorite color to begin with, and faded hunter green is worse. Also the paint on the trim was chipping and just looking in need of a little pick me up.

Before

Early this Spring I was at Lowe's shopping for some screws (aren't you jealous of my exciting life?). While there I thought I'd just pop over to the paint section to see what I could see. And what did my eyes see? Bright Red.

Typically when I redo something I spend a lot of time on Pinterest poring over ideas. I had mentioned to my BFF the desire to paint the door. Like all good BFFs, she sent me some ideas, then casually mentioned, what about red? So, while the girls and I were in Lowe's we went for it!

It took about one quart of exterior paint to do the door. Red always requires several coats and this project was no exception. It took four coats of paint before it was a solid red.

The past few years I have hung ferns on my porch and I love how they look. Unfortunately, so do the birds. If I don't pull their nests out soon enough they end up laying eggs in the ferns and then I feel bad dousing baby birds with water to keep my plants alive.

I wanted to try putting ferns in pots instead of hanging them to see if it makes a difference. The ferns have been in the pots for a couple weeks now and not a single bird has tried to nest in them. (Tall pots from Joss & Main // Ferns from Cinder Road Greenhouse)

After

Someone on Facebook told me that birds don't like Eucalyptus (thanks Paulette). I happened to have some already in the house so I hung it on the door instead of a wreath. I don't know if it's the Eucalyptus that has kept the birds away or not, but either way I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

I painted all the porch posts and trim in Bright White exterior paint that we already had in the garage. It took about a full gallon to do two coats.

Still need to repaint the rockers

Considering I paint words for a living one would think I would have painted the word "Welcome" on the door myself. Alas, I also know that if/when I want to repaint the door, that word would be two coats higher than the rest of the paint and I would end up sanding it down (which is my least favorite part of painting). So, I went on Etsy (of course) and found a high quality vinyl from a reputable seller. I'm very happy with the result. It was a great price ($10) from Fairy Dust Decals. There are so many great product in her shop!

Before

After

Before

AFTER

 

 

I would still like to make a few changes to the front of the house. I want to either repaint the shutters (black) or replace them with new, black shutters. (I'm not afraid of heights but am rather on the short side so standing on a ladder attempting to paint the second story shutters may not be the best idea.)

I need to give the rockers a fresh coat of white paint. I also want to add a bright red garden stool between the rocking chairs so I can set my coffee on it while I'm rocking, reading, and watching my babies.

I hope you all have enjoyed this front porch make over!