Patriotic Porch for July

With July 4 on the horizon, I made plans for a new display for this month’s porch.  To be sure, the current political climate has me reluctant to express patriotism (more on that tomorrow).  There is a lot about my nation that I love; at our best, Americans can do some very good things. We are not at our best right now, but I haven’t given up hope.  This is as much my nation as it anyone else’s and I have no intention of giving up the battle on behalf of our better angels.   So I will celebrate our Declaration of Independence with some red, white, and blue and the enduring hope that we can do better.  

My front door wreath is a gift from my crafty friend daytime T.

The table has a red and white tablecloth and plenty of summer greenery and blooms to go with my charming white birdhouse.

The rocker is doing double duty as a place to relax and to dry out JT’s washed running gear.  Those double begonias are quite literally over the top..

The popsicle flag cheers my days and reminds me that simple pleasures make summer lovely.

This summer's flower baskets make me smile every day.  

That's happy!

Front Porch in June

With the arrival of June, the flowers and plants are all safely outside soaking up the sunlight.  June is front-porch weather at its very best and nearly every morning I pop outside to read and enjoy a few cups of coffee before the day really begins.  I sit in the rocking chair and the birds and flowers keep me company.  I find these blowzy double begonias utterly lovely.

T and JT gave me a new flag for the summer.  It’s quite cheery waving in the sunlight next to the baskets of New Guinea impatiens. 

I was lucky enough to find a bargain-priced striped tablecloth that perfectly matches the flag, which makes my matchy-matchy heart sing.  On the table, violets and impatiens bring beauty to my days.

The fuchsia is doing its best to recover from a Winter spent indoors.  The shefflura is looking to need a new pot by the end of the summer.

My June wreath is in place and ready to welcome visitors.

The porch has been especially welcoming as the inside of the house is in upheaval as we prepare for the floors to be refinished.  It’s nice to step out the door to find all the charms of Summer, ordered and ready for some much-appreciated relaxation.

Front Porch

When I first moved into Sassafras House eight years ago, the old-fashioned spacious front porch quickly became one of my favorite parts of the house.  In good weather, I spend a lot of time sitting outside on the porch.  In addition, the porch and front door are how we enter and leave the house each day.  So a homey, welcoming porch is a nice touch.    

Some time ago, I placed on my Life List the goal of a porch lovely enough to be on the cover of Country Living magazine.   I've since decided that the porch needn't be quite so perfect, but now that summer has arrived, I've gotten busy making our porch even more welcoming for leisurely summer enjoyment.  This bunny print, a gift from T, is my inspiration.

I've a cheerful flag, a large table, an old-fashioned rocker, and a handful of flower pots on the porch already.  In the coming weeks, I plan to spruce it up even more and I'll post some pictures when the happy project is complete.

Flowers!

Last Christmas my parents gave me two square-shaped white outdoor flower boxes.  I had wanted just such a set and I've spent the last two weeks thinking through my options with these lovely boxes.  For Mother's Day, T and JT gave me some flowers.  I chose begonias and Gerbera daisies and I decided to fill the flower boxes with them.  

I lined the bottom of the boxes with coir mats before filling them with potting soil.

Then T helped me to fill them with soil and flowers.  The bright orange Gerbera daisies are sitting next to the rhododendron by the front steps.

The second box, filled with coral double begonias, sits in a corner by the freshly painted porch.

With just two more weeks before the start of summer vacation, these flowers are a reminder of happy, lazy summer days ahead.

Halloween Decorations

Last year, when my next door neighbor gave me a table with a cast iron base, I immediately began to plan for its seasonal use on my porch.  After more than a year of setting out flowers and plants, I've come to the conclusion that the porch's best month is October.

I scored the tablecloth for less than $10 from an Etsy shop with a stock of used tablecloths.  The black metal cat hiding in the mums is also an Etsy find.  In the summer, I use these baskets to hold veggies and flowers picked from my garden.  Come October, my harvest dwindles and the baskets have been pressed into use for mums and pumpkins.  The ivy in the galvanized pail will soon come inside for the winter but the weather is plenty warm enough for it to spend October on the table with a ghost tucked in-between the leaves.

I've hung out my fall flag and put the ghost sign in the yard.  I'm ready for cool weather, goblins, ghosts, and a little Halloween candy.  Okay, a lot of candy.

JT's Latest Installation

My friend P, who joined us for super the day this installation went up, wonders if it is JT's latest statement on deforestation in the Americas.
I can't say for sure, but I do think that the neighbors should continue to use caution when passing by our home.

And Speaking of that Front Porch...

...things are coming along nicely. As soon as the sun shines around here there will be some painting and that's the last step in my porch improvement plan. But lest y'all think I'm lying about getting nothing done, I did tie a new ribbon on the front door wreath.
Coming to a front door near me very soon.

Welcome Home

Last spring, a significant portion of my front porch was replaced. When that work was completed, I primed and painted the entire porch. I've been pleased with the renovated porch. But over the past weekend, I started to think about doing more with the porch. I was inspired to do some updates when my next-door-neighbors offered me the old iron table from their front porch (they're moving to Florida and their new home doesn't have a front porch). Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly snapped up the table.

And so my porch is getting an update. Here is the front of the house:
And are a few photos of the porch as it looks pre-update:
And here is a picture of the table that inspired the changes:
The surface is some kind of laminate (I've got some ideas for covering it up) but the pedestal is a terrific cast-iron that looks perfectly rustic.

The plan: There will be some paint touch-up work (especially on the roof trim); the flower pots currently hanging from the pillars will be sent out back to hang over the hostas by the garage and new fuller pots will be prepared for out front. The rhododendrens will be trimmed up, as will the evergreens. The porch will get some more things: maybe an outdoor rug and a couple of chairs for the table? The table and the front eaves will benefit from something ----- I've had my eye on an oilcloth banner and tablecloth. I'll add some additional flowerpots on the porch and a basket for the damp shoes that inevitably get left out front. There will be a new doormat.

Ever since I hatched the plan, I've been full of ideas. And even with my limited renovation budget, it's really nice for me to have a project that finds me looking forward, especially at this time of the year. Within a few weeks, right about the time that school lets out for the year, my porch will be ready for the summer, a very welcoming entrance to my home.

Pictures soon!

One More Reason to Love My New Porch

We've had a week of cool evenings and there's just a tiny bite to the air. As JT and I played our round of backyard baseball last night, it was cool enough that I actually wore a long-sleeved t-shirt. I can feel fall around the corner and I want to enjoy the bits of summer that remain. After the game, I took a glass of iced tea and a book to the front porch. That's when I heard the ice cream truck and its magical song.

We haven't seen much of the ice cream truck this summer, but when we heard the song last night we were ready. JT flagged the truck down and a few minutes later we were sitting on the porch with a taste of summer in our hands. We had a nice visit as the twilight came upon us. I guess that summer isn't over yet.

Welcome Home

When we first moved into this house more than three years ago, I was thrilled by my new front porch. It's a big porch with room for a rocker and a lovely view of the green neighborhood. But the house is more than 80 years old, and I quickly came to discover that some of the porch floorboards were in dubious condition. A number of previous efforts to patch the weak spots had now reached the end of their usefulness. A substantial renovation was in order and planned for the summer of 2006.

Renovation was placed on hold when I found myself a single parent. For a time, I found daily life more than enough to occupy my free time. But this spring, as the weak spots grew more pressing (literally), and as my father persuaded me that someone could get hurt on my porch, the renovations began.

There are no before pictures, but the porch was so worn at the top of the steps that I was reluctant to stand on it for long. The first step was to remove the worst of the broken boards and assess the situation.
A temporary cover was put in place. It says a great deal about the poor condition of the floor that the temporary cover was already a massive improvement, if not particularly nice to look at.
Once we determined the extent of the damage and that the foundation remained secure, my carpenter and I developed a plan: about one-third of the boards would be replaced by new mahogany lumber. The pillars would be jacked up and the front joist replaced. The side railing that faced to the west would be removed and replaced as was the floor joist below that; the eastern railing would be repaired. The work was spread over a few weekends in the late spring, but M the carpenter was an exacting repairman and his work was simply first-rate.

It was my job to sand the new boards and the older section for a full-scale painting of the porch. Both the new and old sections received two coatings of porch paint. I also took on the task of painting the new railings. JT helped out with some of the tough spots that could only be painted from the flowerbed (perfect for a short workforce). I gave the paint plenty of time to cure and was blessed by some first-rate dry summer weather.

This past weekend, I finished the last of the touch-up painting and bought some new flower baskets to hang out front. The old rocker is back on the porch; I may re-finish it this fall. I still want to find a nice big outdoor rug to help protect the new flooring. But these are small projects that are easy to manage; the hard work is done. In the meantime, I've earned the right to have a long set in the old rocker and enjoy the view from my new front porch.
Meetings for school start today and soon enough we'll be in the thick of things. The refurbished porch will be a welcoming place when I come home each afternoon, encouraging a little relaxation at the end of the day. I am generally house proud. And this porch, which features a good deal of labor from my hands, really makes my heart soar.

The Thin Grey Line

Through the late spring and the summer, my front porch has been under repair. Photos and a full review of the project will be up on the blog soon (once I finish the final coat of paint on the railing), but for now I'd like to share my admiration of the thin grey line to be seen as you walk up the front walk. For more that a year now, the view from the front walk was of the very shabby porch floor, with the remnants of previous haphazard repairs and chunks of rotting wood. Not exactly welcoming (or safe, for that matter).

But now that the replacement boards have been nailed in and the porch floor is freshly painted, all you can see is this lovely, sturdy, uniform, thin, grey line. Every time I walk up the steps to the new porch I admire it anew. I am so very pleased with this home improvement project and I think that the pleasure I take in the new porch is yet another sign that I truly am an adult.

You are hereby instructed to ignore the line of grey paint on the brick steps. Sometimes there is a disadvantage to the employment of an 8 year old assistant painter.

Update: To answer JBro's question, I have a rocker on my front porch. And I do sit out there and rock away.