Little Victorian

Modern Homemaking

The (pretty much) finished front porch

Before and after, DIY, Outside, The Victorian

The front porch makeover is finished!  There are a few little projects left, but it’s finished enough to show you pictures.  This time I’ll start with the “After.”

Blue green front porch potted flower bed spiral topiaries bistro set

Here’s the listing photo from when we purchased the house:

Victorian Front Porch Before

It was slightly different than this when we actually purchased it.  The big Maple in the front was cut down (and a lovely stump left a foot above the ground) and the Spruce that was overtaking the front porch was gone too.

We tossed the storm door.  We wanted so badly to keep the gorgeous original front door, but it was warped beyond repair.  For the first 6 months or so, we couldn’t just close the door, we had to slam it.  Hard.  Then lock it to get it to stay shut.  The neighbors probably thought we were just angry people.

Blue green front porch victorian

After giving the siding a good cleaning, here’s what we did:

  • Added house numbers to the front door
  • Painted the bistro set green
  • Made a rug out of a drop cloth and painted it
  • In the flower bed, we put down weed barrier, mulch and potted plants and flowers
  • Added topiaries on either side of the front door and more potted plants in various places
  • Lined the flower bed with stones from the rocky back yard
  • Added inexpensive solar path lights and string lights

And here’s the transformation:

Front Porch Before (1)  Front Porch After (3)

Front Porch Before (3) stone edged edging flower bed hydrangea azaela topiaries roses

It was a lot of work, but we had fun, but we are sooo glad it’s done.  This week, we’re moving on to my office and our electrical dilemmas.

What did you work on this weekend?

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  1. It was so worth the work. The porch looks very cozy, I can imagine myself there on a hot summer evening.

    You will not get the bench swing on the porch? I think I’ve seen one in every movie that has this style house in it 🙂

    Reply

  5. Your house is adorable. That porch is so sweet. What kind of solar lights did you use for the path and do you have any recommendations?

    Thanks for the inspiration.
    blessings,
    karianne

    Reply

    • Thank you so much! The path lights and the spotlights are both by Westinghouse and we highly recommend both. These are the pathlights: http://www .westinghousesolarlights.com/products/solar/product5.html I got them on sale at the grocery store in a box of 4 for $10, but I would pay more than that for them, they are high quality and bright.

      These are the solar string lights we have on the ceiling: http://www.target.com/p/Philips-50ct-Cool-White-Solar-LED-Mini-String-Lights/-/A-13480609 They are very nice for the ambiance, but they put out very little light. The price has also been raised twice since they started selling them, and personally, I’m not sure if I would pay $20 for another set, but I think they are worth it for the $15 we paid. The same for the path lights that Target sells for $2 and $3, they are good for the ambiance, but they don’t really light anything up.

      Hope that helps!

  7. Oh and just one tiny bit of a suggestion…it would be lovely if you ripped out the concrete slab leading to the porch and replaced with a brick pad, to tie back to your chimney. It would also add a little bit of reddish natural color that would go well with the mint that you selected.

    hope I didn’t open up a can of worms…i feel like we are never really ‘finished’ with projects :-/

    Reply

    • That is a great idea! Originally, I was planning on staining it blue like the wood, but after looking at it all “finished,” I wasn’t really liking that anymore and I had no idea what to do with it. Thanks!!

  9. This is so charming! It makes such a difference when vintage homes are painted with pretty trim and accent colors such as the ones you’ve chosen–I really like how it all goes together. We live in a Craftsman-style bungalow, built in 1920, and the walls are light green, with olive green trim and deep turquoise accent color–I just love it all together!

    Reply

  17. This is so cute! What are the colors you used? I would love to know the names and brand if you do not mind.

    Thank you,
    Laura

    Reply

    • Hi Laura!

      I’m sorry, I no longer have the card for the blue. 🙁 But that was painted 5 years ago, so I’m not sure they have the color anymore anyway. It was Benjamin Moore. The rest of the paint was actually various shades of Behr “Oops” paints mixed together.

      Sorry I couldn’t be more help!

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