A Back Porch Makeover
Our poor porch has been needing some TLC for quite some time, but Winter happened and that was that. It had become the land of paint products and piles of leftover furniture that just didn't fit in our apartment. Last weekend, I finally took some action and worked on making it a pretty place to spend those good-weather-days.
Here is the truth-proof of how awful the place was looking. I just know that my neighbors thought we were pack-rats with poor upkeep skills. We were still using my cute Fall pumpkin doormat (yep, in March), paint products were scattered about from my bedroom makeover project and there was a bag of ice water in our cooler from the previous Summer. Gross, I know.
The morning began with the purge: the old ladder I wanted to refinish and turn into a decor item (but never did), the practically-empty bookshelf and the plastic table and chairs all made their way beside the dumpster for my neighbors to pick up, if they wanted. We never use any of those things, so off they went! I swept all the hidden leaves (there were LOTS) into a pile and got rid of them too. The last little bit of cleaning up included throwing away some more useless things and putting others where they belonged, inside.
Next, I had to do some shopping. I went to IKEA and grabbed the very last GÅRÖ Hammock stand (sorry, Dallas friends). I've been wanting a place to hang an old clearance hammock for over a year, so I seized the opportunity when I saw that lone box! I also bought plenty more faux-plants with pretty bright pots. While I was there, of course, something awesome caught my eye and I had to have them too (Neon SPRUTT Storage).
Now I feel like my cute orange string lights don't look completely out of place with the rest of the area. There's now lots of bright colors everywhere you look, not just up top!
Here's a couple before-and-afters that show off the minor overhaul:
Did I mention the hammock is a HUGE hit? Seriously, everyone needs one of these in their yard. My mom has always had one, and now I guess I will too! It's such a nice place to rest, read, or browse the web on an iPad. Brings a little bit of that ocean-life to the middle of concrete Dallas.
If you're ever looking for me, I'll probably be out on my hammock...until it's over 100 degrees again!
