Let’s move outside

On a lighter note, let’s talk about sprucing up the outside.  Now that it’s summer, well almost, I want to be outside as much as I can.  One might see our 4x8 porch as too small, too cramped or just plain icky, and believe me it felt that way at first, but now we see it as an extension of our home, well apartment home that is!

This past weekend we whipped that space into shape for under $100.  Not bad.  We had been utilizing the space for a couple of weeks now but it was kind of bare and needed some visual appeal to get us out there more often.  In fact, it’s one of the best spots in the house.  The porch is overlooking a pond and with the early morning sun flooding the space, it’s the perfect spot for taking my Bible and coffee in the morning.  All cozy!

So back to revamping the space.  For years we have had some patio chairs that we inherited from Alex’s parents.  When we lived on the lake we never used them, in fact they were collecting dust in the storage unit for quite some time.  I was planning on repainting them with trusty spray paint, until I realized that the slats were rubber.  I don’t think rubber and spray paint meld very well.  Nope. 

Plan #2.  Keep them white, but clean them very thoroughly.  Done.  Finished that task two weekends ago when Alex was out on the golf course. 

Next, find cushions.  For this I headed to HomeGoods.  This is the place for great looking and long lasting outdoor cushions on a budget.  We were doing this on the cheap, remember!  I splurged.  Two cushions, high back I might add, in beautiful navy with white piping, for a grand total of $49.95.  A little pricey…but after one week sitting in them, they are worth every penny!

Alright so we have chairs and cushions, great, but Alex still looks out the window onto the porch daily…must add greenery and flowers.  That brings us to last weekend.  Memorial day was the day to tackle our pot planting.  We rehabbed two of our old pots to liven up the color palate.  I love this color green, so when I spotted Rustoleum in THAT color I snatched it up.  $5 well spent.  Two pots sprayed combined with a blue pot we had and our two black ones from last year’s spray painting experience make up the planters. 

At Home Depot we grabbed lots of plants suited for the shade, since the porch only gets sunlight in the morning.  We bought 12 small begonias, moss, different green plants, a banana pepper plant, herb seeds, a basil plant, and some potting soil for under $40.

Pretty striped pillow and rug both from Target and both for under $5 on clearance.  Grand total: $105, okay so we were a little over but the finished product, well that was priceless!

What kinds of outdoor sprucing have you done?