Front Porch Re-do

I have been so excited to share this with you guys! It has been months in the making and of course I tackle this project right before and after having a baby, but it seems to be when I most motivated. :)

So when we were first looking at buying a house back in 2009, I remember pulling up in front of what is our house now and thinking, "I don't know about this one." The outside was DRAB. Everything was brown and there was very little color in the landscaping. It did not fit my personality at all. But, when we walked through the house, we fell in love with the inside. It was by far, the best fit we had seen for our needs and wants and so we bought it!

For the first few years, we started planting flowers and bushes and trees in the front of our house to lighten it up. I really didn't do much to the front porch other than put a wreath on the front door and add a big pot next to the door. I think I was overwhelmed by the space and I was spending my decorating budget on the inside of the house instead.

At the beginning of this year, I just couldn't stand my bare porch any longer! So I did what I always do when I want to decorate: I went to Pinterest for inspiration. The biggest goal for me was to lighten up my front porch with bright colors, but do it ON A BUDGET. We were about to have another baby after all!

So without further ado, here's a before and after!

The first thing I wanted to do right away was paint my front door. I really wanted to paint it a bright blue (have I mentioned how much I love all shades of blue?!?), but my hubby wouldn't go for it. So I convinced him a dark red would look nice. I went to Ace Hardware and bought a quart of their Clark&Kensington Semi-gloss Exterior Paint and got to it!

It is SO easy to paint your front door people. I'm serious. You don't even have to take it off the hinges. Just do a really good job taping around the hinges and hardware. Start with a paint brush for the indentations and around the hardware, followed up by a small roller brush for the flat surfaces. I did 2 coats of paint and wa-lah!

 It took me like an hour total (granted I didn't paint the inside of my door, just the outside and inside hinges that would show when the door was open). Isn't that wreath so cute? Would you believe me when I said that it's made out of paper and cost me $4??? When I saw the tutorial for it here, I knew I had to make it. She has had it for years and it's held up just fine so I thought I'd give it shot too. The rug came from Wal-Mart and perfectly matched the colors I'd already chosen (I love it when that happens).

Next, I wanted some kind of fun chair or rocker for the right corner. And I adore the old milk cans. So I hit the local yard sales and found a rocker for $15 and this milk can for $15. Add some paint (and polyurethane to protect from the elements) and they were transformed! Do you see the vinyl on the milk can? The numbers on our house are hard to see because of our dark brown siding, so I did the vinyl so people would stop knocking on our neighbors asking where 780 was. :)

 The blue pot came from the dollar store (I spray painted it of course), the watering can came from a yard sale for $1, and I made the pillow from a pillow form and outdoor fabric from JoAnns ($8 total).

Next I loved the idea of doing something fun on the right wall, but I didn't want to drill holes in the siding or anything. Then I found out they make awesome hooks that you just hook under your siding. You can find them on Amazon. I bought 2 heavy duty ones for the basket and then one small one for the star (that I already had, I just spray painted it). I found the hanging basket at a yard sale for $5 and the basket liner at Lowes for $6.

The hardest part was knowing what to do with the large empty space under my windows on my porch. I immediately thought a bench would be nice, but every bench I liked was well over $150! Then I found this tutorial on Pinterest for a bench and two tables and knew we had to make it! I heart people who post tutorials online for free.

I have to say I am so proud of me and my hubby for making them. The tutorial is pretty straightforward, but we'd never built furniture before. They turned out wonderfully simple and clean looking. I was very happy. With wood and paint, it cost about $55 to make the bench AND the tables.

A bench is not cute without pillows though, am I right? Well lucky for me my indoor couch came with a bunch of excess pillows (I'd like to have room to sit on it...) so I used three of them as the pillow forms for the 3 pillows you see above. Then I used the same bright fun fabric from JoAnns as my other pillow and some white burlap for the small pillow. I personalized it by painting an A on it (with just plain old craft paint)! Total cost for pillows: $10

Now I had two tables to decorate. Groupings of three is best for decorating, so I had to find 3 things I could use that would incorporate the turquoise and bright yellow that I had chosen for the front porch. This cute turquoise vase came from Ross for $11 and I found the old tool box from a garage sale for $2. All I did was paint it and then I used this cool tutorial to add the "Welcome" with wax paper and my own printer. The little house thing came from Deseret Industries for 50 cents!

On the other table, I really wanted a bird cage. I love bird cages for outdoor spaces. Well lucky for me I found a nice big one at a garage sale for $8. Add some turquoise spray paint and hello beautiful. I also love lanterns for outdoors and this one I already had from Ross. I just spray painted it that bright yellow (can you tell I love spray paint?). Then add an IKEA plant and pot that I already had and this table was good to go.

Last, but not least, I needed something above the bench. This flower arrangement was inspired by this post I found. I went to Hobby Lobby for the container and flowers, but I painted the container to match my front door. Got to tie in that red somewhere! Then I got the burlap ribbon from Wal-Mart. I spent about $20 on this arrangement.

And there you have it! All in all, I spent under $175 on all of this. I was very happy with how it turned out! I've also had a few different people refer to our house as "the one with a cute front porch" so that's been very rewarding after all the hard work! :)