Front porch makeover (decorated for summer in red, white, and blue)

Can’t wait to show you my summer front porch!  I just love red, white, and blue and using it to decorate outdoors for summer just seems so fitting! 

But first let’s stop back a bit and look at how we got to that pretty decorated porch.  It required lots of painting, staining, and cleaning!

The white rails weren’t too bad but I knew a fresh paint job would definitely make them better.  I think it had been 2 years since I painted them. 

And after painting my door, I didn’t want the framing with it’s chips and dings to detract from it. 

Sometimes you think a white railing is pretty good… until you start painting on the fresh bright white paint.  Then you really see how much difference it makes. 

Then it was time to address the deck boards.  They hadn’t been stained in 2 years either and with the new black shutters and door I was really wanting to make them a bit darker. 

So I used my stain I have used from day 1 on this deck and mixed in some of my black paint I used on the doors and shutters.  Stain lasts forever – this stain is probably 8-9 years old and I haven’t used 1/2 a gallon of it. 

So the rails were much better and the deck was darker and nicely stained.  (Sorry I should have rinsed it before I took these pictures but we have been having daily rain so it wouldn’t have stayed clean for long.)

Then I addressed the bench.  This is it’s 3rd summer on my porch and the sun had really started destroying the finish on the exposed areas – the top rail and the front seat board.

Nothing a quick coat of dark walnut stain couldn’t fix.  I do wish I would have taken time to sand more and/or apply a wood conditioner so I would have gotten a more even coverage, but I can always do that next summer. 

And don’t forget the door (and shutters) got a paint job too and went from this…

to this!

So here’s the whole porch!  Only thing new is the red garden stool which I saw on Young House Love’s show home they just completed and was super surprised when I saw the price at Lowe’s – so I had one shipped to me too!   

Everything else is just fresh paint and stain and it makes a world of difference.   The pillows are covers I made previously with the addition of a 50¢ thrift store flag pillow I found a few weeks ago.

I didn’t take a before picture from this angle of the porch but here is one from 2 years ago summer with the burgundy shutters and door.

And here it is today.

I LOVE it!   My front porch isn’t big and since the door is at the very end it doesn’t allow for a really pretty sitting area or swing but I think I have made the space I have work as best as possible. 

Do you decorate your porch?  Have a sitting area?  Been doing some painting this summer?  I would love to see pictures of your porch – link them in the comments or share on facebook.