I've been working on the back porch. I do it every year, tweak this, paint that,* but this time, I think I'm really, really happy. Ever since I stumbled upon this porch, I've had sheers on my mind. Hmmm... that might explain the foggy state of my brain lately, but I digress. Where was I? Sheers!
I...ahem, Mitch and I put sheers on the back porch. Mitch, I might add, has not had sheers on his mind and could care less if the porch has sheers or not, but he was oh so helpful in putting them up.
In addition to the sheers we hung matchstick blinds to soften some of the bright afternoon light this porch gets.
It's hard to get a good photo, they look better in person. I'll try later in the day to get a better shot. Our porch sits in an L at the back of the house and is accessible from the kitchen and the living room. In the above photo I'm standing just outside the living room door. Those windows are in the kitchen, the door is out of sight to the left of the screen. The windows you can see outside the porch are to the master bedroom.
The porch floor is concrete. We stained it years ago and it's one of the most satisfying diy projects we've ever done. It was fairly easy, just involved a lot of measuring and taping, on Mitch's part, it was not expensive and it's held up for years. We used concrete stain from Sherwin Williams. Rolled on the terracotta color and sponged a sand color on top. Mitch taped it off with 1/4 inch automotive tape.
I've been seeing lots of burlap used in home decor lately, and thought it would work nicely for the porch. I added some instructions using my much neglected embroidery machine and a little ric-rac for fun.
The wicker chairs got a fresh coat of spray paint. This year they went Mediterranean Blue- Valspar from Lowe's.
I like the burlap pillows, a lot, but I really, really like this pillow. The design is so sweet and happy. It just makes me smile every time I look at it.
If you have an embroidery machine or like to hand embroider, you must visit this site.
That little table up there, $15 on clearance at Walmart. Also got this clock for ten bucks.
OK, that's what I've been up to. Now I've got to go spray paint a flower pot, this porch isn't quite finished yet. Have a lovely Saturday, friends.
** Looking back at past photos of the porch, the bright colors photograph better. Some of you may be thinking it looked better before, you should have left well enough alone, some of you in addition to my husband. To me it feels more like a room now. Not as bright and cheery as in past years, but the soft neautral palate is calming and serene. Just what a back porch needs to be at the end of the day.
