front porch makeover on the cheap

I have spent my life suffering from porch envy. Even as a child I dreamed of lazily swaying back and forth in a porch swing while my banana Creamie dripped down my arms. Over the years, I’m sad to say, it’s only gotten worse. Now I dream of a glorious wrap around porch with inviting seating, twinkle lights, and hanging baskets of beautiful flowers. And of course there’s a porch swing too.

This is my front porch. Neither glorious nor inviting.

For years I’ve wanted to do something to it. Anything. But I’ve always struggled coming up with any solution so I give up on it. I think it’s hard because it’s deep and narrow. Not ideal for an amazing porch. Not ideal for even an ok porch.

But I did my best and this is what I came up with. Also, I didn’t have a “porch makeover” budget so I could only use stuff I already had. Anybody else do things like that? I’m very happy with how it turned out. It has added a bit of life to my sad little porch.

I rounded up some plants I had in my house and a wicker chair.

More plants.

Remember when I made these trays? You can check out the tutorial here.

Here is the wreath I made for the door. I rather like it. Remember the million dollar lamp shades Alison and I made? Well I used the same technique to make this wreath. If you need a reminder click here.

I took a grapevine wreath that’s just been collecting dust in the basement and wrapped it with strips of fabric.

The fabric is actually an old sheet I’ve been hanging onto for awhile. After it was wrapped I cut out squares and started gluing them on using hot glue.

Now you may be wondering where the yellow comes into play. Are you ready for this? I spray painted it! Once I covered the wreath I lightly spray painted it until the yellow was to my liking. Then glued on a few flowers to finish it off. Doesn’t it look fantastic?!

It’s still no wrap around and there’s no porch swing, but I think it’s a huge improvement.

Until next time. Happy friday everyone!

-Meg