Saturday, June 15, 2019

Front Porch Before, Before, and After

Welcome to the new and improved front porch!

I'm going to start this post with an "after" pic from this last weekend and not the "before" or the "before, before", because I don't want to scare you all off.  That's what the "before, before" look of this house did to me. I really didn't want to go inside, because I was so turned off by the dated ranch look of it. But thank goodness my husband forced me to. 





Last Fall after our renovation guys got started here at the house we had an updated look with the natural timbers made from rough cedar. We had always planned on painting them, but did cedar because we were heading into the cold weather season and knew we wouldn't get around to painting it until Spring. Plus we felt like the cedar would be sturdier and outlast regular wood. We really loved the natural look, but it really wasn't an option because of the overhang of the white porch ceiling.




OK, so yikes, here is the photo from the listing last Summer. It's obvious that this house was built in the 60's because of the wrought iron work. It's not that I hate this look. I've actually seen this scrolly/filigree iron work on little cottages that looked darn cute, but to me it just didn't match the house... and it was a huge detriment to the overall look of the house in my opinion.




Here's the orange front door last week. Changing it up was another big priority of mine. I love orange, or "Pumpkin", just not on my front door. That shade was just too "in my face" and one more thing to tick off the boxes of things I wasn't happy about with the front porch.






When you look at the two colors you really can't tell much of a difference, but when I started painting the door panels we really got a sense of the darker color, which is "Spicy Hue" from Sherwin Williams. 



And no, I didn't take the door off the hinges, nor remove the hardware. I just taped them off, and honestly the paint is really good and doesn't drip, run, or splatter, so that wasn't a problem. I did one coat on Saturday, then the second and third coat on Sunday. We have the storm door, so it wasn't a problem. My husband did give it a good hand sanding before I started, but that's it. We used Sherwin Williams Resilience Exterior Paint, which was super easy to work with.



6342 Spicy Hue


I was going to go with something gray or black to play it safe, but my sis pointed out that the front porch was shaded and kind of dark so I had to think about what might work. A Gray and some sort of Red/Clay/Persimmon color combo kept coming up. My husband wanted a darker reddish burgundy, but I wanted something with a little more oomph to it. I felt like anything dark would just get lost there, and a dark red would look brown from the street.




I also painted the lower part of the door surround panels which had been painted gray
 to help balance out the look of the windows, but just didn't seem right to me.



I really love this color, and it still has some "brightness" to it, 
but it's not too light or scary. For me, it's a Goldilocks color.



 The door actually does look a little on the red side from the walkway and street.



 We used Sherwin Williams Exterior Duration for the porch
 in straight out of the can, no tint, white.










So now I feel like it looks more like what it should have looked all along. No, it's not over the top noticeable or WOW, but more in keeping with the cohesive look of the front of the house and porch. Hopefully, the next step will be removing the old shrubs and reworking the front landscaping. I'm a fan of Boxwood and Azaleas, so I hope to include those. There are a couple of smaller Hydrangea bushes I hope we can also keep, but I'm open to whatever the landscape people want to suggest. I'm sure hoping they can get to it by Fall. I didn't get to decorate my porches for Fall last year, and I missed out on the best kind of  "Pumpkin" time.

*this is not a sponsored post


Have a great weekend, friends!



joining in here:

 Celebrate Your Story at Celebrate and Decorate
Dishing It and Digging It at DIY180  
Tips and Tutorials at Home Stories A to Z
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
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Keep in Touch at Let's Add Sprinkles 
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Turnabout Tuesday at My Wee Abode 
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 Style Showcase at Shabby Fufu  
Vintage Charm at Our Hopeful Home
 Wonderful Wednesday at LeCultivateur 
Thursday Favorite Things at Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Grace at Home at Imparting Grace
Farmhouse Friday at The Painted Hinge

8 comments:

  1. What a great and updated look to the porch Debra. Beautiful. Looks so inviting.
    Happy Friday.
    Have a wonderful weekend.
    Hugs,
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I think it's "Wow!" Love it. Awesome door color!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debra,
    I agree, your porch looks amazing with a new door hue and painted white porch columns!
    Landscaping is always a challenge for me.
    I can pick out what I like, but getting it all placed properly. . .well that's why we hired a professional landscaper three years ago, and I couldn't be happier with our results.
    The hardest part is waiting for it to fill in!
    I know how you LOVE Autumn. . .and this porch has amazing decorating possibilities!
    Pat

    ReplyDelete
  4. It’s beautiful. I do love the painted columns. I liked the cedar but this provides such a statement. Cute house.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Debra!
    My first thought was, "WOW!" Your updated porch is beautiful - talking about curb appeal! The door color is lovely and stands out great against the new white columns. I love having you at Homestyle Gathering. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Debra!
    I'm stopping back by to let you know that your porch makeover is one of my features this week at Homestyle Gathering. I hope to see you there!
    >>> Kim

    ReplyDelete
  7. debra, this is amazing! I found this post on Katherine's Corner and now I am going to share it on the weekend edit. i love the vision! laura in CO

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the color you chose for the door! It is perfect! Changing out the wrought iron was such a smart idea! Alot of people would be overwhelmed by this and I am sure you will encourage many to make the change with their wrought iron porches!

    ReplyDelete

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