Last year, I worked on our front porch for a Better Homes & Gardens 48-Hour Challenge. It was a lot of fun and we even won, which was awesome (and all thanks to you). I spend a lot of time out front sitting with Eleanor because she loves to watch people walking by, especially if they’re walking by with a dog, and we’ve really had a good time enjoying the front porch as a family. This year though, I decided to give the furniture from our porch to my mom.

My mom has two small children of her own, and they’re living on just her husband’s salary while she stays home with the kids (my very young brother and sister) and goes back to school to switch careers (she has always wanted to be a teacher). My mom and I both fell for gardening in the last couple of years, and she has turned her backyard from barren and weedy to something lush and beautiful. The only problem is that she doesn’t have a lot of extra money right now, and she only had two little chairs for her entire yard. I thought that the table and chairs and bench from our porch would look really cute in her yard, and in that way I’m able to share with her some of the opportunities that I’ve had through the blog.

I don’t know if my mom is going to paint the pink set (I told her to go ahead — my feelings will not be hurt), but doesn’t it look great in her yard? And I love that she added a cushion to the bench to tie it in with the chairs that she already had.

(Love you, mom.)