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! :)

Baby Girl's Nursery Reveal!

I'm done! Well... for now. I have a Phase Two (My hubby says, "Of course you're not done...") that I will do in the future, but I'm done with what I wanted to finish before this baby girl comes.

I think there's virtually nothing in the room that hasn't been left in it's original state. Except for maybe the crib sheet and bumpers. That's it. And that is why it took so long. I like to create a lot of work for myself. Although thank heavens I didn't do it all alone! Thank you to my amazing and ultra-supportive family. It took me, my hubby, my mom, both of my sisters, and one of my brother-in-laws to get this room finished.

The first thing we did was put up crown molding at the top of the walls and add two chair rails. I loved how different this look was. I saw it in a picture on Pinterest and knew it was what I wanted to do. What I underestimated was how long it would take! If I ever do a chair rail again, it will only be ONE with no moulding!

But it was totally worth it for this room. Top it off with off-white paint for the borders and grey in between and I had a great neutral background for the room so that it can be a girl nursery, boy nursery, guest room, whatever it needs to be in the future.

Next we painted all the furniture. My sister Natalie brought down her paint sprayer and we set up a little painting booth in our unfinished basement. Oh my heavens it was a lot of work for her and I will owe her eternally for it. :) We chose off-white for the crib and glider to keep both very clean looking.

And yes my sister might just kill me for posting this pic, but I just love her in paint mode.

Then to spice things up, we did green for the dresser with a distressed look and a stained top. The stain is the same custom mix I did for my dining table and chairs and it worked perfectly! I still have some more for anyone who wants to use it!

 

Amazing transformation, huh? I got the dresser from Craigslist for $60. Between using paint and stain that we already had, as well as the same knobs for the top two drawers, the total cost for this awesome dresser with character is around $85 (I'm including the cost of the new knobs and polyurethane to the original price). You just can't beat that.

The next thing we did while my mom and Natalie were here was to make a roman shade for the window. This window is the only one in our house that gets direct sunlight (hence why our indoor plants always die...) and I knew I would need a good black-out curtain if this baby ever wanted to sleep during the day.

Sorry lighting is bad here!

 We followed this tutorial and made this black-out roman shade from a mini blind. These roman shades sell for $200 on Pottery Barn. Crazy. We made it for less than $35. I love this fabric. It was perfect for my color theme and I loved how it was polka dotted but didn't make you want to zone out while looking at it.

Oh so much more to share! Yay. Years ago we bought a very cheap bookcase (as $4. Seriously) and I wanted to use it in the baby's room, but it definitely needed some TLC. First of all, it was laminate so I had to prime it before painting it. Then for the color, I used a darker version of my grey wall color. Add a coat of polyurethane and it was ready to be moved into the room. But it really needed something to spice it up. Following a Pinterest find, I went to the dollar store and bought 2 foam boards to cut and fit in the back of the shelves. I then hot glued some great fabric I already had on hand to the foam boards and slid them in the back.

Why did I do it that way? Because now I flexibility of switching them out in the future if I move the bookcase to a different room. I love how it dresses up the plain bookcase. And since you've probably noticed, I didn't do it on the bottom shelf because in Phase Two, I will be putting some cute bins on the bottom shelf for baby toys. The rest of Phase Two involves hanging some more things on empty walls (like above the crib).

Above the bookcase I hung the awesome bow holder my friend Janell gave me at my baby shower. I hung it a little high so that I can add hooks sometime to the bottom for the baby headbands I have. That little box on top of the bookcase holds her little hats. The flower pot is one of my favorite little touches in the room. I got the bottom vase at Deseret Industries for $1 and the flower bunch for $1. All I did was spray paint the vase white and add the two together.

Back to the glider: After painting, I recovered the ugly blue cushions on the glider. Oh man that top cushion was a bit of a nightmare because of the inset sewing in the middle. I had to hand sew some of it (and I HATE hand sewing). But it was worth it. I got this fabric from Hobby Lobby and it's duck cloth, which is great for upholstery. This glider also has a footstool that I recovered just using a staple gun.

 

Another thing I made was this ruffled crib skirt. You can't see the ruffles very well because the crib is on the highest setting for a newborn but once we move it down a setting it will be perfect.

My sister Jennifer helped me with this and was kind enough to do all the math and most of the hemming. Love her for it. :) I got the idea for this crib skirt from Pottery Barn (they have SUCH cute stuff, just way too overpriced!). They were selling it for $70 and I made it for less than $10. Have I sold you on DIY yet???

Thank you to my friend Jess who made the green and white pompoms for my baby shower since I was planning on making some for the nursery anyways! And thank you to her for responding to my SOS when my first attempt at making the pink one failed miserably. :) I also love the bedding I have for the crib. It's all ready for a cute little baby!

I also added another flower accent to the room. I just love hydrangeas and there are some very pretty fake ones. I found this bunch at a Down East Outlet for $5. I bought just a clear vase from DI For $1.50, spray painted it the same white as the other vase and I love how clean and pretty it is on the dresser.

Another DI find: This lamp base for $6 and a plain ugly shade for $1. I spray painted the gold base the Oil Rubbed Bronze and then added ruffles to the shade to cover it and tie it in with the cribskirt. The inspiration for this came from here.

 Add a cute little flower made out of the roman shade material on it and it's perfectly girly.

Okay almost done. I needed a mirror above the dresser and when I saw my sister's friend's tutorial on making a sunburst mirror on their blog here, I knew it was perfect. To top it off, it was cheap to make!

Between the mirror (from Michael's, used a 40% off coupon), glue, paint sticks (free from Sherwin Williams -- thanks to the awesome guy who helped me!), and spray paint, this cost me $10 to make.

I love how this mirror makes a statement. It's very large, but I love that because it holds the entire wall's attention and really looks impressive above the dresser.

And that's it! Thank you to my sister-in-law for letting me use her camera so I could properly show you the nursery. Never to be left out of a photo session, here's the big-brother-to-be:

I think he's as relieved as I am happy to have the nursery done. I've spent a lot of time this last month working on it and he's noticed that I haven't been able to entertain him all day long. He better get used to it since that won't change once the baby comes along!

Pinmimic: Owl Taggie Toy

For an explanation of my Pinterest series, click here.

So last year I pinned this adorable owl taggie one day, thinking it would be so much fun to make. Little did I know, it was a picture from Life in the Sass Lane, an Etsy Shop, and it cost $24 to buy! Uhhh... I don't know about you, but I don't have money to throw around like that. I wanted to make one for my new niece and I thought, "I can make my own pattern and figure it out."

**Note here: If you copy someone's idea to sell when they're already selling it, then you are breaking the law. If you're copying their idea to just make for someone you know, that's okay. Just so you're clear on that.

So I did. And I learned a few things:

1) Minky fabric hates my guts.
2) It's hard to make ribbons stay in place.
3) I forgot to put on the feet. Oops.

It doesn't look exactly the same, but pretty darn close. And really, in the end, I was just proud of myself for figuring it out without a pattern!

Pinmimic: Pillowcase Dress

This pillowcase dress came from LBG Studio and it has two different versions. Maybe I'm totally bias, but I think my version is better. Just because that flower print is my favorite fabric of all time. That I've found so far at least. :)

The funniest part is I made this over a year and a half ago, just because. I didn't have a girl and it turned out so darn cute that I couldn't bear to give it away. So I've saved it. Now that I know that I'm pregnant with a girl, I'm excited to know it will be used... in another 2 years when it fits her. Hopefully it will still be adorable then!

I made my own bias tape so it took a little more time, but if you don't, you can definitely sew this dress as a beginner. Believe me, it's actually not as hard as it looks. And it's worth it, don't you think?

For the original pin and instructions on how to make this cute little dress, click here (if you click on it in Pinterest, it will have a pop up that says there's inappropriate content on the website. That is untrue so click "continue to link").