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Decorating a Porch

With Diana of Our Vintage Home Love

When decorating a porch, you can create a comfortable and relaxing haven for your family without spending a lot. Really you can.

Dave and I are so happy to introduce you to Diana, the author of Our Vintage Home Love. Diana tells us how she turned her front porch and side porch into a truly welcoming living space and continuation of her home.

Come with us and see...

Diana's finished front porch

Diana loves to decorate based upon the season - her favorite seasons are spring and summer. Since her family spends lots of quality time on their porches she embarked on a porch makeover. Let's see what she did...

See how Diana decorated

First the old-timey porch swing. Diana says it's her favorite corner of their porch. She sewed these fun pillows in bold-patterned fabric herself. Mixing things up - old with new - adds a surprising punch of color to this comfy area of her porch. She found the quaint and functional table at a thrift store.

Decorating a porch should be fun! Notice how Diana has given her porch a beach theme. She made the sign herself, too. Her husband found the weathered gray and brown wood in a barn. Same goes for the oars. She purchased the mason jar candle holders (that are hanging below the beach sign) at Pottery Barn.

Let's take a close-up of how Diana made this clever sign. (How much do you suppose this would cost in a shop?) She used aqua paint that she already had on hand and stenciled the words on it.

Let's look now at the other side of Diana's front porch. What a cozy getaway space on this wicker sofa. We love these numbered pillows 1-2-3-4. How fun is that? You guessed it - Diana made these pillows, too. She saw the idea in a Pottery Barn catalog.

She made a stencil from freezer paper by printing the numbers from her computer - and then stenciling onto the pillows. That sounds pretty easy to do. I can imagine all the fun comments she receives about these pillows. Besides that, they look as soft as sinking into a cloud.

Diana's side porch

How many of us are lucky enough to have a side porch? I want to live at Diana's house.

Diana said she has always appreciated the idea of outdoor porch curtains for some extra whimsy on her porch. Being the resourceful person that she is, she made these from painters canvas drop cloths that she purchased at Lowe's. She sewed two panels with rod pockets. She used jute rope to hang them from her porch - and as tiebacks also.

We love how these turned out. I wonder if Diana is thinking of adding porch curtains to her front porch, too.

Diana wanted to change the look of the porch floor on her side porch - but it did take some effort and time.

She scraped the floor and gave it a good sanding to remove the old paint. She came up with the idea of alternating stripes.
Using a base color of white, she painted the entire floor with porch paint.
After that was dry, she used a Benjamin Moore paint (color is Manchester Tan) to paint alternating planks (three at a time).
Then to keep it all looking great, she put down a coat of polyurethane (the no-yellow floor kind).

Her porch floor looks so fresh and updated. You could also do a checkered pattern - even polka dots - to jazz up your porch floor. Decorating a porch extends even to the floor boards.

Did you notice the black glider on Diana's side porch - the one with the cute bold pillows? That was another find of her hubby's. But it came home rusty and Diana fixed all that.

It took some brute sanding with steel wool and a can of this. My oh my, that worked wonders.

Diana's porch is proof that you don't have to spend a lot of money when decorating a porch. A little effort and creativity with some flea market or thrift store finds - and you can make yourself a little slice of heaven on your porch.

Meet Diana of
"Our Vintage Home Love"

Diana is the mom of 4 children and she loves creating an inviting home on a small budget. Diana is the author of Our Vintage Home Love. You will enjoy the insider tips and how-to's that she shares with you for decorating on a budget.

Please share your decorating ideas with us. We'd love to hear from you and share your ideas on our site. Our big heartfelt thanks to Diana for sharing her story with us.

Did you like Diana's "Decorating a Porch" story? Then you will also love this porch makeover story by John and Sherry. Also check out Tricia's porch addition story.

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