Little Porch Updates

I started adding little things to the porch in early Spring as it had been a very long winter and very cold here in NC. I was really over it come March.  I still have some things I need to get done, like obviously my patio table and chairs need some love.  I will likely tackle this soon as I can use my paint that I already own.   I added a cute, already blooming, hydrangea to my hanging basket. 

My little table got a big ceramic green candle, a little ceramic house, and some faux yellow tulips in a blue and white pot.  Look at that table...definitely needs some touch ups!

Initially I bought some green tropical looking beaded throw pillows for the porch, but as you can see below I swapped them out for some blue and white striped pillows.

In my two new black planters that hang from the porch railing, I planted a mixture of pansies, white snap dragons, and black petunias, and put a boxwood in the middle. 

Back to the porch,  I love stripes lately and ruffles so these pillows just had me at hello. 

As I write this post, so much has already changed.  I have since added two ferns to the rattan planters and the other plants have grown quite a bit. 

For some reason I have been adding lots more hydrangeas over the years. They have the most beautiful flowers and they do really well in the afternoon shade of the front of my house. I need take some summer photos to show just how this hydrangea has filled out! Spring is coming to a close soon and  things will be so full and overgrown!  But hopefully I can sit and relax and enjoy the season while it comes to an end.

xo

Cathleen

 

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 🌸