The Front Porch of the Victorian

I’m hosting a garden party on Saturday at the Home Depot, and I hope you’ll be able to come! You can sign up for their Garden Club to be kept in the loop about events like these. But before I get to the details of Saturday, as promised last week, I have the updated front porch to share with you today. There are still a few little things to do (like centering the hook for that hanging planter), but nothing that will impact the overall look by much.

I thought about keeping the Adirondack chairs that were left by the previous owners and I tried to make them work, but they are in need of repair and were limiting the furniture placement. We’ll try to fix them and use them in the back instead. I played around with the layout of the porch, using what we had from our old house, and I think the bench components and wicker chair make a nicer arrangement. They aren’t perfect for the house style-wise, but they aren’t bad either.

Before:

After:

It will be a little nicer once all of the leaves are on the trees and bushes. It’s already mid-May, so hopefully soon? At least the flowers and ferns I picked up from The Home Depot are helping add some much needed life to the porch.

Here’s a close-up of the front door, for those of you who wanted to know what the little sign said. And yes, we do get packages at the back door every so often.

Maybe I should add a little plaque that says “Just Kidding!”

Besides using the furniture we already had, we also had some planters and pillows to use. I also grabbed some of the blue planters that were in the backyard, and added a matching square garden stool as a table between the two seats along one side. We found the pedestal in the garage, and I’m a little iffy on it. Should it stay or go? A little height is nice, but it also seems fussy.

The black and white pillows were on our front porch at the old house, and normally I would have passed right by that blue paisley number. I like paisley well enough, but the colors aren’t exactly my thing — except that they work perfectly with our house. All right pillow, you have a home with us now.

The stairs had a runner of dark gray/blue outdoor carpet on them when we bought the house, but I think the move out from the previous owners and the moving in of our stuff took a toll on that already not-so-great carpet. You can kind of see it here, but the worst of it was behind where Brandon is standing, and I neglected to take a proper photo before we ripped it out. It was pretty shot and I was glad to see it go. Brandon removed it, prying up a million little nails in the process, and the stairs were in decent shape beneath. They could use a fresh coat of paint because there is some discoloration, but for now we just cleaned them up. Brandon was worried that without the runner, people would slip when the stairs where wet or snowy, so he put down some tread tape (and he beveled the edges — nice touch).

The runner also spanned the doorway, so I picked up a simple coir doormat as a replacement.

This is the first change from the outside signaling that a new family lives here (aside from the toys and chalk drawings that are often out front). I’m sure I’ll continue to tweak and make changes, but it’s nice to have the front porch reflect our family.

Come say hello!

This Saturday, I’ll be at the Chicago Home Depot store on Lincoln & McCormick from 1-4, hosting a #SpringMadeSimple garden event. Local chef and blogger Meghan Swint of The Tasty Fork will be there to talk about garden-to-table ideas, we’ll learn about container gardening, and Gardeniere Gina Iliopoulus will be on hand to answer your gardening questions. There will also be some fun projects to work on, so come prepared to get your hands dirty.

You can find out more and RSVP here. I hope I’ll be seeing some of you there!