Side Porch Autumn 2013



Although I like to decorate with neutrals, I love color too. I love the changing of the seasons, along with the colors that come with living in the Midwest. I love to change out our accessories with each season and holiday. On Tuesday I shared our sunroom,  Our Home ~ Autumn 2013. And today I'm sharing our side porch, all ready for fall. It's hard to believe the state our side porch was in (Cleaning Up The Left Side Yard) just a few short months ago and the amount of work we were able to accomplish in such a short time. If you missed reading about our work on our side porch, you might like to catch up here, (Side Porch Inside Reveal) (Side Porch Outside Reveal and Rock Garden) (Side Porch Furniture). We are enjoying our new home and loving our side porch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hopscotch!

We have been so busy around here it has been difficult to find the time to blog about everything we have accomplished! We have lots and lots of pics; however, one project is, usually, done in parts while working on another project at the same time. Ha! Actually we, generally, have multiple projects going on all at once! But today (before winter is, officially, here) I wanted to share a project we completed about a month ago, just in case you are looking for an easy outdoor activity for your family. And of course, I mean completed for now. We, obviously, have so much more work to do on our outside areas..... When I realized we had leftover pavers from our Side Porch Outside Reveal and Rock Garden and Rock Garden, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I first saw these hopscotch ideas on Pinterest, here and here. I like to use a neutral pallet; so, I gravitated towards the second idea. I wanted it to look more like a walking path and not like rocks/pavers out in the middle of our yard. Chris wanted to be able to mow right over it and not have to trim around it :). I, also, wanted it to look more like a "family tree" with the numbers, as a tree trunk, leading up to the top of our "tree". We found rocks when we were Cleaning Up The Left Side Yard and have tried to use them on various projects. I used three stones at the bottom because we have three boys, two stones in the middle because we have two girls, one stone at the top because we are one family, and seven stones to complete the circle because there are seven in our family. Eventually, I would like this space to look more like this. Hailey and her friends are, extremely, happy with our new hopscotch area!






 

 

I showed Lexie how I wanted the numbers to look

and she free handed stencils for me.

 



I rolled on paint that I chose for the base of the pavers.
 

 I, then, placed the stencils to center
the numbers on the pavers.
 

And spray painted the numbers black.
 

 

I placed the pavers and stones where
I thought I wanted them to get an idea
as to how the area would look.
 

After making sure the placement was right,
I dug the holes for each, individual,
paver and stone.
 

And this is how they look today.
Yes, that is frost on the grass.
 

We intend to landscape around the hopscotch area;
but, for now, the kids are happy with our new play space.

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Side Porch Furniture

Finally, we have furniture set up on our side porch! Thank you for all your wonderful comments, we appreciate all of you! For those who are new to our blog you may like to read Cleaning Up The Left Side Yard, Side Porch Stenciled Planters, Rock Garden, Side Porch Inside Reveal, and Side Porch Outside Reveal And Rock Garden to catch up on where we started and how far we have come with our side porch. Thank you, so much, for your great suggestions for furniture on our side porch. But, we try to use what we have first before purchasing new. Although we had to reposition our porch furniture because our front porch on our other house was larger and shaped differently (Front Porch), we love the way our side porch on our new home has turned out and enjoy sitting out here.

 

 

 Remember, this is where we started.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

While taking pictures I wasn't sure I liked the two lanterns placed so close together,
so I switched the flowers and lantern next to the chairs. :)

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Before And After
Our Home
 

Side Porch Outside Reveal and Rock Garden!

The outside side porch reveal is ready, and included is a larger view of our rock garden! The reaction to our porch from the neighbors and community, along with last week's post of our inside porch reveal has been extraordinary. (If you missed our posts on our rock garden and porch, you may read about them here Rock Garden and Side Porch Inside Reveal). (You may, also, like to read about Cleaning Up The Left Side Yard). We have heard so many nice words to describe the work we have done on our side porch; such as, amazing, awesome, and, even, amazingly awesome! Thank you, we appreciate all of your kind words.

 

 

Just in case you missed it, this is where we started.

 

 

And this is how it looked after starting our clean-up.
 

 

 

Then, Lexie, Hailey, and I painted the porch.

 

 

 

Chris painted the areas we couldn't reach.
 

We added lattice.

Lexie and I made (Side Porch Stenciled Planters).
 

Brice and I planted the bushes and flowers.
Then, Chris and Hailey built a retaining wall.
 

Brice and Chris repaired the porch stairs.
 

 

Lexie painted the trim.

The side porch and rock garden are beautiful!

Yep, amazingly awesome!

What a huge difference some clean up and paint can make!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

Before And After

 

Side Porch Inside Reveal!

Finally, the inside of our porch reveal! We worked on our porch and Rock Garden for about two months and would still like to add a ceiling fan and new door. But for now, we are finished. The white paint, new ceiling, and chocolate color floor brighten up the whole space. What a huge difference!

 

 



Here is where we started when Lexie and I began painting.



Of course, Hailey wanted to help.
 

 

 

 

Right about this time with the yard, porch, and house in such disarray,
I'm thinking the neighbors may have been a little concerned.....
 

 

 

 

I scraped in between the boards and vacuumed before I painted the floor.
 

 

 

 

 

We were going to use the beadboard we had, but didn't have enough.
Our favorite home improvement store didn't have any to match what we already had
 and the larger sheets were more difficult to work with.
 

 

 

 

So, we purchased new beadboard in a smaller size
which made it easier for Chris and Brice to
work with when putting it up on the ceiling.
 

I painted the window trim.

Brice learned how to change out light fixtures.

Hailey checked to make sure the light worked.
(She changed into five different outfits that day from her dress-up box.)

 

 

And, then, I painted the door black. I, actually, wanted a more muted look,
but this will work until we are able to purchase a new door.
 

 

The ceiling looks great!
 

 

The floor looks wonderful!
 

 

The whole porch looks beautiful!
 

 

We love our "new" porch!
 

Before & After

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