My Front Porch

Ahhh, the weather is finally warming up around here!  Usually this time of year my lilac bush has bloomed already, not this year, not yet anyway.  But today is a beautiful day, my two younger kids and I worked outside today, and it felt so good!  Yesterday we planted some summer squash in our little raised garden, and today we planted the rest of my flowers I had bought about 4 weeks ago.  They say not to plant anything until the snow is off the hills, but I just couldn't take it anymore- I had to plant them, I hope I don't regret that decision.  :)

I'm going to brag on my husband a bit today, he built me a covered porch about 6 years ago during his paternity leave when I had my second baby, and I just LOVE my front porch.  It's off the front of the house and so we get a magnificent view of Mt. Adams as we're sitting on the front porch.  I wanted an open porch, not something entirely closed in, but I did want one side closed in because of the wind we get out here.  My husband, ever the wise man, added 2 big windows on the one side so that we can still see out the side of the porch.  I love the spring and summer time because we get to enjoy our porch nearly every day.  We recently put our barbeque out on the porch too, so many nights my dear husband will b-b-q for us and we'll enjoy our dinner on the porch.  We also have 2 white rocking chairs out there and many days and evenings we'll just rock in our chairs, enjoying the sound of our kids playing in the front yard.  I just love my front porch! 

I love having a welcoming porch too, a place where you feel like you can sit down with a cold glass of iced tea on a summer day, or a cup of coffee in the evening, a place where you want to sit and stay awhile.  My goal with my front porch is to make it as welcoming as possible.  I've done a few things over the years that have helped with this goal.   Take a look...

The first was to put a wreath on the front door.  I've had the same wreath for about 10 years, and for the first nine of those years (up until this last year), my wreath has looked the same.  It's a grapevine wreath (I bought it at Joann's for about $2.99) and I wrapped a brick red and tan checked ribbon around it, along with some raffia for a country look.  I never thought to change it because I liked it for all these years, well I finally decided to do something a bit different this past year.  I decided to change out the ribbon for the different seasons, but keep the same wreath.  So for Christmas this past year I took off the red and tan checked ribbon, and bought a roll of satiny ivory and red ribbon with gold trim  at the dollar store.  I also bought a Christmas embellishment of evergreen, pine cones, and sparkly red balls to add to the wreath.  So I spent about $3 and I changed the entire look of my old grapevine wreath.  It was beautiful and I loved it, so much that I would occasionally open my door just to look at it!  Once Christmas was over I wondered what I would do with my wreath now, well since Valentine's day was just around the corner I decided to keep the ivory and red ribbon on my wreath, but took the Christmas embellishments off and replaced it will a Valentine's heart garland instead.  On the garland were tiny little hearts, so I just wrapped a piece of the garland around the wreath,  it was beautiful and only cost me $1 for the garland.  Once Valentine's day was over I knew I would need to take down the ivory and red ribbon so I started looking for a new ribbon to replace it.  Well at our local dollar store I found a shimmery teal green/blue ribbon and bow set (about $2.00), I figured this would work just fine for St. Patrick's day and it did.  It was not a bright green, but it did have a greenish color about it.  This ribbon is what I still have on my wreath because it matches my porch perfectly.  My shutters and floor of my porch are a hunter green so the wreath matches well.  In the late spring/early summer I'd like to find a new ribbon, maybe something with some yellows, reds, greens, and blues in it. 
So if you're looking for an inexpensive way to change the look of your porch with the seasons, then why not do what I did with a wreath.  There's no need to change to a new wreath every few months, just the ribbon.  It's quick, easy, and inexpensive!

Would you like to see what I did with that old red and tan checked ribbon?  I re purposed it and added it to a sign I have above my bed, it fit perfect and added a little something special to the sign. 

Here's a few other things I've done with my front porch:

I added a small wind chime by the front door, and the music it makes it soft and lovely!

This sign is above the side windows on the porch, as you're walking up the steps on the porch you're welcomed with this lovely sign.  I found it at Joann's a couple years ago, it was on sale!

This little sign is next to my front door, I bought it at Ross about 5 years ago for just a few bucks, it's pretty faded but I still love it and can't seem to take it down.  Here's what it says:

Bless This House

As we come and go...

Bless Our Home

As the Children Grow...

Bless Our Families

When They Gather In...

Bless This House

With Love and Friends

So sweet, isn't it?

Well I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my front porch, and I hope you got a few inexpensive ideas to make your porch a welcoming place too.

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