Our new seating areas
I've been wanting to do something different with the front porch for a while now, but didn't know exactly what.
We went to Nashville at the end of April/beginning of May and took a lot of back roads on the way home due to bad weather and traffic. On that drive we passed lots of old, small, country houses similar to ours. What did most of them have in common? Front porch swings.
We've been in our house just over nine years now and the idea of a front porch swing has crossed my mind several times, but once I saw all of those houses this past Spring with their swings, I couldn't get one for our porch out of my head. So I sent in my Mother's Day present request-a front porch swing. I even sent Pinterest pictures to Donald for reference. I was super excited. But then he mentioned not knowing what kind of supports were in the porch ceiling and didn't know if it would be possible to hang one. So he suggested we move the antique glider that was in the backyard to the front porch. It never glided smoothly in the backyard due to being on uneven ground. We briefly discussed having it sandblasted and painted, but then that would cover up the patina/rust we love (you'll see two more rusted objects in the pictures below) so much. We agreed just getting it out of the weather (directly) would
protect it and make it last longer.
Here is the "before."
I'd bought these crates off of a Facebook yardsale site for $4 a piece. It was my intention to use them in the back room/office instead of shelves. I assumed they were sturdy and similar to the two I'd purchased from Michael's, but they were not. Turns out these were used to hold and transport produce and were a bit rickety. But I'd already agreed to buy five of them and I figured I could use them somewhere for $20.
The rug belonged to my cousin Mary. She lived next door for two years and just moved this May. She was throwing it and another one out, but I love color and grabbed it since nothing appeared to be wrong with it and put it on the front porch.
Most of the accessories I used to decorate came from my house. I love to "shop" my home and move stuff around to give a space a different feel or look.
I had Donald hang the two "sturdiest" crates. The Vintage sign was handmade by a lady whose house I used to clean. The birdhouse is Amish built and was a gift from my ex-boyfriend's parents when they visited Amish country up in New England when I was in high school.
I've always loved it and have had it inside all these years.
We've discussed painting the ceiling blue for that true southern feel.
I'm sure it will happen this Fall now that we've done this
and a few other outdoor renovations.
The little red, round metal and iron side table was around $10 at Revive Consignment. It was in the guest room as a side table, but I found a new side table at another consignment sale that matches perfectly so out this one went.
I folded up and laid down a thick blanket on the glider for a little padding. Then I found this almond and red striped tablecloth for $3 at Goodwill. I just draped it over the chair to make it less jarring when your bare back hits that cold metal and to make it prettier.
The rusted potting stand is a favorite. It was given to me by a lady for who I used to nanny. I commented on how much I loved it and was looking for something similar. She ended up giving it to me because it wasn't even in use and was just taking up space in her garage.
Both signs were painted by me. The bird was done at a door sign painting party. The one above the door was just completed by me this week. I actually ended up moving it to our back porch yesterday and put another one I painted in it's place. You'll see further down below.
The third patina-ed item on our porch is the rusted metal step ladder. I got it at Goodwill a few years ago and it's been on the front porch ever since.
Stella climbs it almost every weekday morning to wave
and say her goodbyes to Donald.
As you can see, Bandit loves the front porch. He adores being outside. He'll sit on the top of the steps or just at the bottom in the grass. Sometimes I forget he's outside with us and I'll go in for a while. Half an hour may go by before I realize I left him out there. Usually I open the door and he's either on the porch right by the door or just snoozing in the grass. Such a good boy.
Here's the sign I swapped "The Bryan's" to. I figured since the bird already had a "B" for "Bryan" we didn't need two similar signs on the same porch.
Stella painted the little red heart.
I've got three pots all with shamrocks. I love them and their little white flowers. I'd love to get some purple ones too! I think it would go great with the sage color of the house.
I bought this fountain for $3, I think at a yard sale before I moved to Atlanta. This thing has worked all these years. Now, I haven't had it running constantly all that time, but I"m still impressed, nonetheless. I did have to hot glue the seal because it has started leaking a bit, but that was a quick and simple fix.
I grabbed an old metal fan from the storage house we weren't using and have it sitting out ready to plug in at a moment's notice. It's been so pleasant out lately, especially in the shade of the porch, but this is still the South which means mosquitoes and other annoying bugs are still buzzing around.
Here's a shot of the candles lit up at dusk the other night.
And this thing-heck I don't even know what to call it. I think I got it at Goodwill. It's just these tin/aluminum cups screwed in to a piece of wood. That's it. They almost look like little vintage Jell-O molds. But I loved it.
So I filled them with battery operated tea lights.
I replaced the old, half-dead summer flowers with new Fall-colored stuff: Rainbow Chard, chartreuse and eggplant colored Coleus and orange marigolds.
I'm very happy with how the front porch turned out.
Stella has been riding her bike almost every afternoon or evening or playing with the neighbor a lot more so this way I can sit out and
keep an eye on her or them.
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Backyard Seating & Firepit
I can't even remember when we made this firepit. I mean, I vividly remember doing it, but I don't remember what month or year we did it. I don't even know if we were engaged yet or married. I do know it's been here for a while and gets used on occasion. But, it was boring.
So Donald measured and roped off the area. He dug out some grass and dirt on the higher side some, then sprinkled sand down for the blocks.
Here, you can just see half of the glider and approximately where it used to sit.
You should also be able to see one block up on top of the other blocks just in front of the glider. That was our "extra" block. I say was because when he was pounding the blocks into the sand with a rubber mallet, one corner of one of the blocks broke off, leaving us without an extra. What I'm getting at is Donald estimated how many blocks we would need for this project and ended up getting the exact amount plus one. It was amazing and also irritating
to me at the same time.
One evening he came home with a truck load of crush and run and spread it. The next evening he came home with a truck load of pea gravel.
Here's the finished area before we had seating.
So these chairs were on the back porch at the beach. They looked great, but no one ever really sat on them. Occasionally Stella would go out there and sit with B, but usually it was just so dang hot out there, that no one spent any time out there. So I suggested, instead of buying new or gently used Adirondack-type chairs, we bring these up and put them in our new fire pit area.
Donald agreed it was a good idea.
I was okay with the light blue paint on the chairs. I cleaned these up pretty well with a Magic Eraser, but they were screaming for a new coat of pain. You could tell the chairs had faded a lot, had gotten paint dripped on them and various other things splattered on them here and there. This stuff did not come off with the Magic Eraser. I've been painting some furniture the past few weeks but didn't have it in me to start this project. Luckily, Donald did.
Yep, we went with orange. Now I love color and lots of it, but when he originally told me orange, I wasn't so sure. I thought navy perhaps? Or even gray? Oh and we have that never ending can of red paint. And of course, an Army Green color flashed in my mind since I love green. But then Donald pointed out how we already have a good bit of red in places around the yard since we've been trying to get rid of that can of paint for-ev-er. Then he said how both the house and storage house are green and obviously, the grass. He thought orange would go well with the color of the pebbles and pop in the backyard. He was so right!
The green metal table was purchased at Goodwill two weeks ago for $6.
It was already lime green and ends folds flat.
I think our fire pit area looks a million times better. I love this space and can't wait to use it more this Fall and Winter. I'm imagining sitting out here bundled up with a big mug of cider or hot tea early
in the morning or late in the evening.
And now since it's September, we can start burning again and hopefully decrease the ridiculous pile of leaves and sticks growing rapidly in the back corner of our yard.
Our K-mart is closing it's doors soon and I'm considering stopping by this week so see if they have any outdoor pillows that will match. I'm not certain I want pillows but if I happen to find something.....
And no, the new swing doesn't hit any of the chairs.
Donald even fixed up this area. We'd been filling it with mulch the past few years, but it would always fade so much or wash away. So he dug up the random crab grass and weeds, smoothed out the dirt and......
...put the remainder of the pea gravel here. It looks much better.
That's all for now. Maybe one day we'll paint the porch ceiling. And paint the picnic table. We're thinking of planting mondo grass around the perimeter of the seating area of the fire pit but we want to wait until it's cooler before we tackle these projects.
