Frugal Front Porch Refresh - the Reveal!

Well, our tiny front porch is finally presentable!   It was basically a blank slate with only two chairs, red pillows and a black rubber door mat.  Not exactly a cozy first impression. 

But now ... it's a comfy little space to enjoy a tall glass of sweet iced tea on a hot summer day.

At this point I should probably warn you ... this is going to be a looooong post with tons of photos!  You may want to grab that glass of sweet iced tea and find a comfy chair!

The backdrop for our porch is wall paint in Sherwin Williams Softer Tan and our front door is Rustoleum Regal Red.  The existing black chairs received a good (although a bit late) Spring cleaning and a fresh coat of black spray paint.

My inspiration piece was this multicolored door mat - love the color combination. 

Was happy to discover the door mat incorporated our existing deep red, along with dark aqua and bright green.  This allowed me to exercise my frugality and keep the deep red pillows that were already on the porch chairs.  A win-win! 

Another frugal find was this ceramic garden stool!  It was the last one at our nearest Costco ... and, would you believe it was only $19.99?  Have been wanting one for quite a while, but just couldn't bring myself to pay the $50-80 for the ones I drooled over at Home Goods and Target.  You better believe this one was in our shopping cart the moment I saw it - and, I guarded it all the way to our vehicle!  

Next was to add a pop of color with the addition of patterned pillows for the chairs, to coordinate with the existing deep red pillows.  After not finding any ready made pillows that I liked, I decided to try making them, even though I don't sew (well, I don't sew well). 

I stumbled across these fabric placemats at Walmart (our only shopping source locally - all the fun stores are at least an hour away).   Couldn't believe that they contained all the colors I was looking for and I recalled that pillows could be made out of placemats by ripping a small opening in one of the seams and filling with pillow stuffing.  At less than $4 each, they were in keeping with my frugal porch mindset. 

I didn't even have to buy the stuffing.  So glad I kept two old pillows that had faded - had planned to recover them but instead, I used the stuffing in the new placemat pillows.

To seal the seam opening without sewing, I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion Quick Dry Adhesive:

This stuff is amazing - works quickly and was super easy to use.  I applied the adhesive to the seam opening and pressed firmly to close.  Just to be sure that the opening stayed shut while drying, I placed big binder clips on the seam to clamp it shut.  Worked like a charm!  I sprayed the pillows with Scotchguard Fabric Protector and they were good to go.

Next, I searched my stash of items for something to hang on the wall behind the chairs.  So many things would work well, but I wanted to add a bit of texture, so chose a metal wall pocket and filled with natural elements, surrounded by a large empty frame. 

The wall pocket was a dark brown but of course I couldn't leave it that way.  I wanted it to be a distressed aqua.  Mixed two craft paints that I had on hand - Fern Green and Turquoise - and applied the paint to the pocket with ... you guessed it! .... my fingers!  Best paint applicators ever.

The picture frame would probably look best in black, but I love its gold distressed finish and don't want to paint it so will leave it as is.

We're almost finished - I promise!  All that's left to do are plants and a rug!

The rug is from Lowe's and is an Allen + Roth patio area rug in natural.  At 5 ft 3 x 7 ft 4 in, it was perfect for this small space. 

Last but not least ... plants!  I added a Boston fern on a stand, a small pot of white Vincas, an arrangement containing a Dracaena, red Vincas and Sweet Potato Vine, and potted white Pentas.  I dressed the Pentas up a bit by wrapping with burlap and tying with jute string.  Added a strip of red/natural jute upholstery webbing, and to give it a little bling, inserted brass brads through the webbing. 

A small red metal lantern completed the décor.  The absolute very last thing I did was paint the front door "wreath" frame.  Used the same mixture of craft paints used on the metal wall pocket.  

That wraps up our little front porch refresh!  Hope you enjoyed this lengthy tour of our home's smallest space. 

Will leave you with a few more pics ... And, if I ever learn how to use my really nice camera, photos should improve considerably.  :)

 Thanks for hanging in there!  

 Thank you to Must Love Home and A Delightsome Life for graciously featuring this post!

 

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