The ugly start
Wow, my porch needs a lot of help. There are tons of flower petals, cobwebs and leaves from the fall and winter months. In Colorado, you never know if there’s another snow coming. Mid May is when I can pretty much say we are past the fridged cold snow days of spring. So, today is a sun-shinning beautiful day, but it snowed on Saturday so I lifted my cushions to drain the water out. Ideally, these cushions will be put away or covered during rain or snow- but this time was a surprise! This year, I don’t have a lot of extra money to go into sprucing up my porch. I’m gonna share some inexpensive, easy methods to spruce up the porch and make it inviting and beautiful as we enter the spring and summer season. I need to get this porch ready.
First of all, I need to sweep and take care of this ground. Then, I will ask my husband to use the leaf blower and I will come back with the broom to get any chunks that are stuck and need lifting out. This will create a clean base for my porch. This will be a time to clear off the broken pots and pieces that have accumulated.
I will rearrange the furniture where I would like them to stay for the summer. I have a challenge with Liam‘s hockey net as the front porch is currently the best place for him to play. I’m constantly thinking of the best way to get our porch ready for the summer.
A project within a project-cushions!
Next, I need to attack these cushions. Some of them are old and some of them are just stained. I would love to buy new cushions, but this year I’m going to clean and refresh them to get one more year out of them. By taking the cushion covers off and allow the spongy part to dry out completely in the sun. I will scrub the stains and wash the cushions in my washing machine. Finally, I will dry them on the clothesline before putting them back on.
Purchasing and planting takes time
Next, I’m going to fill my pots with flowers and herbs and all kinds of plants. This year I am planning on making a salad garden with herbs in my front two garden boxes. On the side of our house I’m going to tend to my strawberry plants and add some sunflowers and possibly some more berries. This area gets a lot of sun.
There’s a little seating area behind my back door. This area is so wonderful to have in the summer because there’s a good shade tree that shaped this area. I need to clean the cushions here and bring out the coffee table. I also need to see what can be done about the flag pole and the rip in the flag from our strong wind last week. Maybe a new one!
Another way to prep my porch is to have all of the seating areas clean and ready. Some of them could use a little table to hold a drink or book to make them inviting. I will add a little rug and table as needed. Oh the possibilities! How can I best make this porch ready for our family?!
The Porch is Ready!
Now that we have done a lot of work let’s share the late June porch! It is by no means perfect or exactly the way I want it. Yet, it does have a LOT of improvements. And at a very low cost. It’s porch ready!
Share the responsibility
Brian has taken the leaf blower to the porch a few times over the last month. I had my daughter take some time to sweep parts of the porch too. I found what pots are still usable and what needed to be tossed. Then, I moved unused pots to my secret garden table and filled other pots with dirt and seeds or flowers. Here are some similar planters boxes to the ones I have. I absolutely LOVE my window box. It was a perfect Mother’s Day gift a few years ago.
Being realistic is important
I arranged the furniture for the new season. Taking the couch set and lining it up nicely. I scooted the outdoor table and chairs to have enough room on either side to walk and sit. As I thought about the sun’s angle I turned the lounge chair in the ideal position. I adjusted some pots around with varying heights and colors. Succumbing to the fact that the hockey nets will be on the front porch I created some space for them. I moved the seating chairs I had originally wanted in that location. He plays often and the porch is really the best place for the nets. As much as I’d like to have a beautiful front porch with chairs or a swing-I have accepted this is the season we are in. We actually have TWO hockey nets on there for now.
Worth the effort
Oh! these cushions on the chairs and couch set were grossing me out. I wanted to purchase new ones and make a clean sweep. This set is my favorite outdoor set, if only we had a porch cover! Yet, when I looked up the prices to replace, I decided to wait another year. I pulled off each cushion cover. There was a lot of dust and cobwebs.
Then I used a stain removal bar and let those things soak really good. The inserts sat outside in the sun to dry and bleach out. I put the covers in the washer separately and hung to dry. They washed up so great! I was pretty impressed. A few of the cushions could have used another washing, but I was fine with it. Squishing them back on the cushion insert was probably the worst part. Just a tight squeeze and it took a bit of manipulation to get them just right. Once they were on, I felt amazing! All spruced up and set out for another summer of fun.
My pots and garden boxes were not planned this year. I typically plan out all of my garden spaces months before and this year I dropped the garden salad idea. This year I decided to just go to the store and grab what I wanted. It took me a few trips to fill most of the boxes, but it’s working out great. Many herbs, radish, and jalepanos. My cherry tomato plant along with marigolds and petunias. The splash of color with my herbs is very cheerful! I will continue that for next year!
Moving to the shaded seating area, it still could use some attention as I’d like to fill more of the pots. My American flag is in much need of an update. I probably will need to go a different route as this is the second or third time it’s ripped out. To be continued.
A little bit goes a long way
I had been looking for an inexpensive outdoor rug for a few areas of my porch. And luckily I came across one at Michaels! It was half off. I bought it for under my lounge chair. Here is a similar rug on Amazon. My husband and I trade off using the little table with his fire pit until I find a perfect one for me. Sharing is caring.
I have two larger planters flanking my front door. These I love to fill with sweet potato vines, petunias and geraniums. They are slowly filling the pot and will do well if my son’s hockey pucks don’t destroy them.
Porch ready is in the small details
I also added a small plant plate as our outdoor kitty, Stripe’s, food dish. I think it looks perfect and not to cheesy. The plastic kid bowl we were using was an absolute eye sore.
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There it is, an inexpensive porch lift for the summer season. As we move on I’ll continue to watch for more items to update and improve. Now on to spending time with my kids! Check out my kid’s summer folders post!
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