Front porch fairhope style

This is my front porch. We live in a cottage close to downtown Fairhope. We totally lucked out finding this gem 2 blocks from downtown. We walk all over the place and love it here….

 I think I heard the hallelujah chorus cued when our weatherman announced that the heavy humidity is FINALLY leaving us Sunday. It was like manna from Heaven. I haven’t been able to sit out in my comfy rocker for months. Summers are killer in southern Alabama….In the next few months this is where I’ll be in my free time with a big ol’ glass of tea and a good book. This place is now a sanctuary for me, but before it was just a drab white blank canvas with a gray concrete floor.  It didn’t beckon to you, “Come join me…come sit a spell.” The use of color and different textures brought this space to life. This is now a happy spot and one of my favorite “rooms'” in this house.

 This front porch was such a fun project to do, and it cost around $200 total. I got the outdoor rugs and adorable green folding chairs at World Market for around $150….4 chairs and 3 rugs for $150. SCORE. The other things are items that I had laying around….in storage….in the attic…pieces I had stuck away and almost forgotten about. That red table used to be a dreary off white almost gray color. The little rocker was a $30 find at a flea market and was stained a dark green color. Someone told me it was called a nursing chair from a child’s nursery long long ago. I spray painted that rocker, half moon table, and one of those cheap accent $5 tables from the dollar store. It’s amazing how a can of spray paint can change the look of a piece immediately.

A cheap little table can be transformed into a fabulous pop of color as seen above. I used to be one of those people who was afraid to take on projects like this. What if I painted it, and it looked really cruddy???What if I ruined it?? Now, I realize that if I screw something up I can just repaint it. We don’t have to be afraid of furniture…Paint is not a scary monster. Look at some of the things around your house, stuck in corners, in your garage, or up in your attic. Look at your old things in a new light. Think about what they COULD be…What would a coat of paint do??? What about a different fabric on the seat?? What could this piece BE? Open up your eyes and really look at your things. You probably have a gem sitting right under your eyes…. a boring mirror, an empty antique frame, a lumpy frumpy chair,  a bench, a stool…start with anything…look at your end tables with a new light…that old chest in your guest room…that ugly brass lamp your Aunt Agnes gave you when you got married…All these things can be transformed into something new and wonderful. I know that all of us are feeling the financial crisis that is plaguing our country. We don’t have the money to go buy new furniture or expensive pieces of art, BUT we can afford a $3 can of spray paint, a roll of raffia ribbon for $2, or a little bit of sandpaper and elbow grease. We can use what we have and the simple things around us to transform our homes into the perfect place for us. Go look around your house and choose one thing you would like to change… I’m going to be doing several furniture projects over the next couple of months. I’ll show you the things I’ve learned and figured out… Together we can transform our spaces and make our old things new.