Front Porch Refresh

I’m excited to share the big accomplishment of the season thus far – my updated front porch! Talk about thrifty: with a $13 can of Vintage Coral paint, Paul and I brightened all of our porch furniture and flipped an unused door into a bright vertical planter table. Raiding our Trash Day loot pile, we added a fence feature to the front garden bed and flipped a salvaged cabinet door into an additional vertical planter.

Why so many vertical planters, you may ask? My siding is UGLY and I’m desperately trying to hide it. Last year we tried to have it power washed. But nasty black growth is happening in between layers of paint on the period- inappropriate 70’s vinyl siding that is hiding the pretty original wood clapboard siding (sigh). Until I can afford to tear it all off, I will do the next best thing – disguise, disguise, disguise!

Speaking of vertical gardens – I found these neat pot clips on Amazon that very inexpensively mount a terra cotta pot to any darn vertical surface you’d like. And they are amazingly sturdy!

I took cheap 8-inch pots from good ole’ HD and did a dry brushing technique with layers of fav green latex paint in flat, white latex flat paint, and a touch of black acrylic paint. Then I decoupaged on adorable vintage butterflies from the Graphic Fairy and a flower image that I’d had in my stash for a full year from the Breck’s catalog (never say that hoarding doesn’t pay!). I also decoupaged the trim of the cabinet door with pretty Dollar Tree floral napkins.

The door-turned-table/vertical planter is something I’ve been wanting to try for ages. And it was actually super easy! In fact the hardest part was trying to communicate to Paul why I wanted an old door to be a feature on our porch (I’ve been getting a lot of those “say what?!?” looks from him lately).

After painting and water sealing the door, we attached it to the siding using two furniture safety straps. We painted and water sealed a piece of MDF that we cut to the width of the door (the depth is a useful 17″- perfect for summer outdoor bar setup!) and attached the table top to the door using shelf brackets. We finished it off by attaching a vertical pot clip and decoupaged pot filled with begonia and sweet potato vines (which will hopefully spill beautifully down the sides of the pot), highlighted by a pretty, thrifted Ikea frame.

But the table still needed something.

I remembered a pile of wooden gift tags in my stash that were too small for project I initially intended them for. But, glued together with wood glue and painted white, they made the perfect table trim that is reminiscent of the dental molding on the porch. I love a free solution!

What do you think of my new lantern orbs?

As promised in my last post, here’s the tutorial!

Materials

2 plant hanging baskets (per orb – I got mine at Dollar Tree!)
Spray paint of your choosing (I used Rust-Oleum Bright Coat Metallic Copper Spray Paint)
Vase or jar
Electric candle (with timer)
2 reusable gear ties (these are fantastic!)
Chandelier canopy kit
Amazing Goop Marine Adhesive

First, remove the attached chains from the hanging baskets, lay out your canopy kit, baskets, and gear ties, and spray paint them all the same color (you’ll probably need a few coats). Once the paint is dry, attach your chandelier canopy to bottom (closed end) of one of the baskets using the Marine Adhesive; let dry several hours. Place your electric candle in your vase/jar with timer set (so you don’t have to open the basket every day). Secure the top basket to the bottom basket using your gear ties. Hang using the chains/hooks that came with your hanging baskets and enjoy!

I am LOVING sitting out on our pretty refreshed porch and observing my blooming garden.