Summer Vibes Porch

My instagram poll was no help. I posted whether I should paint my porch railings White or leave Cedar and the pollers were split 50/50!  I let the season guide my choice as well as the style of my house and the balance of colors outside.  So it turns out White was the winner and I'm pretty happy about that choice. I spent exactly 10 hours yesterday priming all the railing, painting it and then staining the deck.  About a week ago I power washed everything and let it dry for two days. Then I sanded everything. Can anyone say Karate Kid?    My arms are sore and my back hurts but I love how it turned out. 

It has a very coastal feel now.  I will post more pics of the view looking from the patio below once I get the patio cleaned up.  I got rid of the big black rug and replaced it with this Bohemian Jute rug.  

For the white paint I used Sherwin Williams HGTV's weathershield in white. The Stain is Cabot Wood Toned Stain and Sealer in Heartwood.  The Primer is Zinsser 123.

I decided to clean up the table a bit by not cluttering it with too many plants. Now we can actually have our breakfast out here in the morning. The two blue and white throw pillows are new from Lowes. They are indoor pillows so I coated them with Scotchgaurd. 

Before starting the painting process I had to carefully remove my climbing rose bush but am happy to report that I was able to reattach it and I gave it a nice pruning since it had a lot of damaged leaves from a recent house cleaning where they used bleach. Never again!

This arrow metal shelf got a new paint job in Hammered Black.  

The little white table is a thrift store find and the basket on top serves as a great glass holder.

Well what's the verdict? Farm House Fresh? Country Coastal? Coastal Craftsman? I know there are people who would hate the fact that I painted the wood. But after reading so many websites that said either way, Paint or Stain, there is maintenance involved and stain doesn't last as long.  The stain that was on there previously was faded and dirty. Yes it's easier to stain, but in the end I think I like the painted look better.  Feels fresh and beachy.  

So here's the real interesting bit. I stained the stairs and deck skirt a slate gray.  My plan in the next week or so is to stencil a pretty pattern onto the front risers to give it a more dynamic feel. And from down below on the patio you only see white and slate. And only a hint of the wood deck color.  So there's not three colors competing.  Stay tuned for more deck photos next week!

 Happy Porch Sitting Days ahead!

xo

Cathleen

Back yard is coming along

After finishing the front yard landscaping, I was ready to call it quits. Then my poor backyard just needed a few things to get us through the summer. It kicked off when a friend of mine was giving away her old futon.  I knew that it would be pretty cool to be able to sleep on the back porch so I jumped on the idea. It was originally brown and scratched up, but I knew I wanted to wanted to paint it anyway. This futon project got me a little too excited about sprucing up our backyard space just a tiny bit.  DIY'ers at heart, we know these things take time. Our back yard will slowly but surely be a lush garden sanctuary. 

So here's the futon, painted with Valspar's Chalky Paint Finish in "Woolen Stockings." I sanded the futon first and filled the scratch marks with wood filler.  Then I applied two coats of the chalk paint and finished with Annie Sloan's clear Wax.  I purchased a 10" Futon from Overstock in a creamy white color and quickly sprayed it with Scotch Guard fabric protector to keep it from getting stained and to repel water.  The gray throw pillows are Tommy Hilfiger and the white pillow is from Home Goods. The french linen throw is also from Home Goods. So far it was been quite comfortable to sit here and read or lie down and listen to the birds chirping.

We got an outdoor rug from Overstock as well, since we have two defined spaces out here now.

The table is also from Overstock.com. It's a gray wooden table which I think goes nicely with the white metal chairs that we got last summer from Target.

We added some tiki torches to the porch and back yard that I think look great in this black metal, which is way more durable than our old bamboo torches. This one attaches right to the deck. Clever right? We also put out new bird houses, because apparently the birds that were house shopping a few weeks ago thought the old houses were taken since nests were left there by birds from last summer.

Our lawn is finally greening up - and oh my so much grass to mow. In time though I see a patio out here with another covered porch with fireplace, and possibly a pool? How cool would that be? A girl can dream right?

I moved the Carolina Aster to the left side of the yard, seen very tiny near that trellis.   Also, a cute bird feeder and a blue jay house.

This view is looking down from our porch. We planted a Zwanzan Cherry Tree that will grow between 20-30 feet high, giving us a ton of pink blooms near our bedroom window. It should be quite the sight.

This is some basil I planted from seed indoors around early March. They are doing quite well now outside. 

I also moved one of my purple Verbena's to the left of the yard as well. The area that I'm redoing on the right side, has another vision.

The yard slopes some on the left, which we thought would be a great spot for a sunken in raised bed.  To utilize more of the slope Joe built the raised bed right into the ground.  It's really the perfect spot since this part of the yard was useless before. I have great visions of lots of flowering plants in here for cutting this summer.  So far there are a bunch of summer flowering bulbs in the back and little seedlings in the front I also started indoors in March. There's a few Marigolds and chives in there for good measure. If this bed proves to be a good idea Joe will make another one just like it on the other side for veggies.

We put in a few more trees on the left. This one is a Yoshino Flowering Cherry Tree. It will get around 30 feet tall.

This is a Maple Tree someone was giving away for free in our neighborhood. I transplanted it to the left side as well. After recently seeing a Crimson King Maple Tree, I may swap this out for one of those. I can always move this maple tree to the forest next to our house. :)

The right side is coming along slowly. The Crystal Obedient plant is spreading profusely that I planted last year. It sholud make a nice border of white flowers in the front of this bed come summer. There are now four pink Dianthus plants near the bird bath. Along the fence are three Italian Cypresses and inbetween those I will plant four white climbing Iceberg rose bushes. I put in trellis' for them, just need to order them online now. The goal is to have an English garden feel in this area.

Vision for this space above:

This doesn't look too spectacular now, but we added five Leyland Cypresses that will grow pretty quickly and high for privacy between the neighbor's house.

My hope is that it looks like this in a few years.

We expanded the rock area for our firepit by removing the existing pea gravel and adding black weed fabric underneath. We purchased 40 bags of pea gravel and added it in.  The old firepit area was too small and done improperly the first time. We think it came out pretty nice.

We replaced the plastic teal blue Adirondack chairs with nice gray wood ones from Safavieh. Before we had three adult size chairs and two small green ones. The kids were out growing those small ones and the cohesiveness of having five chairs of the same size looks a lot nicer.

Did I mention we purchased a paint sprayer and poor Joe spent two full days out there spraying the stain on the fence? It definitely went a lot faster than using a brush and it was definitely cheaper.  The color we chose was an HOA approved color, of "Natural Cedar." However I've been seeing a lot of shades of stain the neighborhood so when this color wears down I think I'll go with something in the darker brown family. This partial stone border was from our front yard. We changed the stone so decided to put this back here. We need to get more obviously if we want to continue around the whole bed.

The Adirondack chairs have a wine holder on one of the arm rests. By far the coolest feature in a chair. :)

In order to tied me over until I can get the David Austin Iceberg roses, I purchased this white rose bush from Lowes. It's beautiful and I can hopefully transplant it somewhere in the yard.

And just wow.  My all time favorite flower I think, the Dahlia. I picked up two of these because I just couldn't wait until the Dahlia's in my raised bed come up this summer. They look great on the wine barrel in the rock area.

I think it's now time to sit back, water my plants, and watch them grow. I'm all planted out for this Spring.  

xo

Cathleen 🌸

Staining the deck (or the most boring post you'll ever read)

It was time for the deck to be stained, according to how long the wood sat to dry out after construction. They say to wait at least two months before staining and sealing new wood. Here you can see the railing vs. the floor where I put stain.  For the HOA guidelines we had to choose a natural or clear stain.  

I chose Olympic's Elite Wood Stain and Sealer in a natural finish.  To coat the railing, I used a staining sponge, made sure to wear gloves and an apron. I stirred my stain constantly per the instructions while coating and made sure the temperature was between 50-90 degrees.  You can see here that I've already coated all the railing.

Here's the floor BEFORE I got to it. To apply this coat, I used a large polyester brush and simply dipped my brushed and painted it on.

Here's the 24 hours AFTER photo. 

It has a definite "honey" hue to it, a nice deep golden yellow.  

Here are some pics of the porch with our current furniture set-up..still looking for a sofa and a patio table so we can use the picnic table down below. For now the set-up works for meals on the porch and some lounging.

The white chairs are from Target, the Navy Blue and White patio chair cushions are Tommy Bahama and the round split table was a Habitat for Humanity Restore find. The rug is from Overstock.

Our little turquoise metal "arrow" holds the kids summer toys and our sleeping kitty rock.

I found the cute table cloth at Home Goods and is an indoor/outdoor fabric. The red citronella candle is from Lowes.  Joe made a plethora of the bird houses for each one of our son's Cub Scout den's members. The boys assembled the pieces and our son painted his with acrylic paint and I sealed it for him with clear lacquer spray paint.

Ready for some meals on the porch!  I'm looking forward to summer picnics outside and sipping cold drinks while the kids play.

xoxo
Cathleen