Summer Porch Refresh

Summer is still going strong and I don't know how it's going around your house, but high temperatures, strong sun, and a vacation have left my porch and plants looking pretty bad. I'm excited to join a talented group of bloggers for a Summer Refresh Blog Hop. Each of us are sharing how we have refreshed a space in our homes here in the middle of Summer. They are all linked up at the end of my post.

So here was the sad state of my poor front porch:

It's embarrassing. Sun faded cushions and sad leggy petunias.

Buying new cushions is not in the budget this year. Actually these brown cushions came with my wicker furniture set when I found it on Craigslist about four years ago. So they definitely need some help! The fabric itself is still in great condition, just faded. Pinterest is all abuzz about spray painting cushions so I figured, why not? They couldn't possibly look any worse no matter how it turns out.

I wanted to change the color from brown to a pretty green or turquoise but I just couldn't find a spray paint in the right color. So I decided to stick with the brown. In the end I'm glad I did because it worked out so well and I ended up only doing one coat. I used Rust Oleum American Accents Ultra Cover 2X Spray Paint in Satin Espresso because it was the closest match. Here are my cushions, before on left, and after one coat on the right.

I'm so pleased with how they turned out. It really did work!

My Tip: Very, very light and even spraying. When I lingered on the spray button in one spot too long, it got a little shiner in that spot. I thought it would go away as it dried, but I can still see it. It's probably one of those things that if I don't tell, no one will notice, but I do.

So far there has been no paint transfer at all onto our bums and legs. They do feel very slightly rougher in texture but nothing to complain about. Especially since the entire makeover cost less than $4.00 for one can of paint! I'm all about frugality and this was a huge bang for my four bucks!

So about those sad leggy petunias... I'm trying to revive them but it's hard to recover from several days without water in our North Carolina heat. So they've been bumped from the table and I replaced them with some yellow zinnias that I found for $3.97 at Walmart.

My Tip: My favorite Summer flower colors are purple and red, but here toward the middle and heading into the end of Summer when I need to replace them I choose yellow. It's still very Summery but it can also carry me into Fall. Come October (if I remember to water them) these babies will look great beside my Fall mums.

I popped these into an antique crock and it keeps them nice and moist in this heat.

Since we lost a big oak tree in a storm almost a year ago, I've been using big chunks of it as plant stands on either side of the front door. I love the casualness they bring to our very formal stained glass front entry.

And one more pot of zinnias went into my old wooden bucket.

So, for about $12 in paint and flowers I gave this area of my porch a quick and easy refresh to carry me through the rest of Summer. As you can probably tell, I like to keep things as simple and economical as possible and still look pretty.

And now I would love for you to visit the other bloggers participating in the Summer Refresh Blog Hop for the next three days. Come back each day to see the links to their creative projects!

Friday

Saturday