Our new front porch

Well…it finally happened. Spring (kinda) arrived. Seriously, this winter was so rough. I didn't even mind it too much until the warmer weather showed about a month late. It’s only about now that I’m so OVER the cold that I care barely stand it. :)

We’ve had some beautiful days here and there but it’s only this week that will finally feel like spring to me – they say it will hit the 80’s, which I’m totally fine with right now. Bring it.

Usually spring is one of my favorite times of the year, but it’s feeling a bit less exciting this time around. The poor plants are feeling it -- our azaleas aren’t even close to blooming yet. Most of the trees and bushes are greening up, but some are still half bare with buds barely starting. My favorite tree in the spring, our redbud, barely bloomed:

And my viburnum bush that is usually GORGEOUS in the spring flowered about half way too. It’s all a bit of a bummer – I just hope everything fills out soon. I’ve noticed in just the past few days that things are starting to grow like crazy so that gives me hope!

Anyway, the weather was great this weekend so I finally got out to start working in the beds. I still have a ton of work to do but the front is looking so much better. This time of year is always an expensive one for us – gardening stuff isn’t cheap! But I love it -- I really enjoy planting, pruning, tending to plants and figuring out what works where outside.

I picked up some new planters for the front porch at Home Depot and $6 ferns:

I have to fine just the right size for our porch since it’s so small. The tall copper pots I got at Target a couple years back were perfect, but they didn’t hold up well at all.

I love the rattan look of these! And I didn’t even plant the ferns – I just dropped the ferns (in their pots) in the planters. I also swept the porch, cleaned out the flower beds and hung a new flag – I love having a flag flying out front. :)

I also got a little project done that I’ve wanted to tackle for years. I’d love to have a big front porch on our house – it would be positively dreamy. But it’s not going to happen so I’ve had a plan in my head for years to create a porch without a porch.  

What I really want to do on a porch is sit and watch the kids play, wave hello to the neighbors as they walk by and have an occasional glass of wine in the evenings. We have a gorgeous backyard that I love, but sometimes it’s nice to be out front where everyone is.

My plan involved two adirondack chairs and goodness, did you know they are crazy expensive? Two years now I’ve tried to find them at a decent price. I put an alert on my craigslist app and the only ones that came up were handmade versions that were hundreds each.

I finally found a couple unassembled two years ago on there and picked them up for $25 each – and then last year when I went to put them together realized all the parts weren’t in the boxes. Grrrr.

So the plan was on hold again. Until last week when the kiddo and I walked through Menards and I saw some that weren’t crazy expensive and they were the perfect color. They were also faux wood which is a major bonus. We had a couple similar chairs in wood years and years ago (in the backyard) and they quite literally fell apart after being exposed to the elements for two years.

Hopefully these hold up better. I pulled out the boxes this weekend and they were super easy to put together too. Now we have a new “front porch” – I can’t even tell you how much I love it:

Right now they sit on the grass but my plan has always been to extend the mulch and put them on there. That way we won’t have to move them around to mow. And I can see eventually planting some colorful flowers around them as well.

For now I took some inspiration from an expensive planter I saw at Home Depot and recreated it – red geraniums with a purple grassy plant in the middle:

I took these pics at different times, hence the cat in both windows. Many of you have noticed lately that he must be in every photo, one way or another. :)

The chairs are the perfect size and incredibly comfy. I didn’t see the foot rest part at Menards, but I don’t think we’ll need them. I am a tuck my feet up kind of person anyway and there’s plenty of room for that.

I love the way they look out front! Every time we drive up I tell my husband how adorable they are. He agrees:

The brand is Backyard Creations from Menards but I can’t find them online. They were a splurge for two but the price was way better than anything else I’ve found for the size and the faux wood (that should hold up better).

AND I waited patiently for two years. :)

I pulled the pillows from the back patio – love them. I wanted to pull some red tones in to work with the front door. The chairs came in both gray and brown – they didn’t have brown in stock but the gray ended up working great with our shutters since they lean a bit that color:

I want to do a lot to that area still, so I’ll share updates as it comes together even more. But for now I just can’t wait to sit out there with a glass of wine. Tonight perhaps? :)

Have you started working on any outdoor projects? I still have so much to do just to get the beds ready for new mulch. But I’m SO HAPPY to be working outside again. Gardening has become a passion of mine over the past few years and I get excited at the possibilities.