One of the questions we often get asked is about how we keep so many items on the porch without them getting ruined. Well, first, let me say that things do get wet and it does requiring some major cleaning and scrubbing at the end of each spring thanks to the pollen but other than that it is relatively easy to keep up with things. Once the pollen season seems to be over I take all of the bedding, tableclothes and anything else that can be washed and do a huge load of laundry (it took two loads this year). While all of the linens are washing I scrub the furniture down with soap and warm water and do a thorough sweeping/dusting. Then after that I add all of the fresh linens back where they go and start adding the seasonal touches. I do this about four times a year. Once at the end of the spring, and then again at the end of the summer. Those two times require a more thorough cleaning and it can take an hour or two. Then I often do it at the end of autumn, and again at the end of the winter. Those times are much quicker and often take less than 30 minutes. When we get a really bad rainstorm, if I remember, I will move some of the pillows to the other side of the daybed but other than that I don't do much else for upkeep out there.
We go through phases where we kind of forget about it and don't spend much time out there and then phases where we eat dinner out there almost every evening for weeks! We just did the "after the pollen" major cleaning two weeks or so ago and so have started spending quite a bit of time out there again. The girls love eating dinner out there. They seem to think eating outdoors is quite fun.
This summer I thought it would be fun to add a little more color. Lillie keeps wanting me to decorate with pink and purple and seeing how I don't want to add that inside right now =) I figured she would think it was fun to add some color out on the porch. The first project was to paint the big armoire at the other end (which I will show you as soon as it's finished) and then I added a few more pops of color with flowers and pillows.
I couldn't decide today whether to use the purple fabric above or the striped fabric below to sew up for the front pillow. I was leaning towards the stripes but now after looking at the pictures I think I might like the purple better. What do you think?
All in all the porch ended up a bit more feminine than I intended so I thought it would be fun to add some oversized photos to add a bit of a modern pop. Plus it's fun to personalize the space. Lillie had so much fun making them with me. She even requested one for her room (she chose the
photo of her and Lola with the ice cream stand because the dog, Ginger was in that one) so we made that one Saturday and today we are going to make one with her friends, Chloe and Bayley. We made these posters for a little over $7 a piece! I had tried making some before using a tutorial I found on pinterest but couldn't ever get them to look right. They wrinkled up and just did not look right. I played around and came up with a new way to do it and it was so easy! I will have the tutorial up soon. Just need to take a few more photos of the steps, which hopefully I can do today. Not only does is cost less than $10 it takes less than five minutes!
I also stole the 1776 Pillow Covers from our sofa and tried them out here. I thought it would be fun to have them out there with Fourth of July coming up. I liked them but not as much as the Love Is ones so I ended up swapping them back.
We recently got asked where the porch was located in relationship to the other rooms in the house. It is directly off our kitchen and family room. The sliding doors at the end of our kitchen lead out to the porch.
That's all for now. I will show you the other side of the porch once I finish editing the pictures. I can't wait to show you the painted armoire. It's almost done!
I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!
