I responded (via Twitter) that they should do a series about porch entryways because I love my wrap around porch but I feel like it is uninviting. I like half of it and hate the other half. It's so blah and boring and I pretty much suck at home decor. (note--my current home had lots of help from a friend. Trust me. I did not decorate the inside, aside from pick my favorite colors!)
The design team asked if I would share pictures and they could offer tips. I'm ALL for that!!
We have several doors and sliding doors around our home.
Here are the two main outdoor entryways that I feel are uninviting. This is what people see when the come up the driveway.
Below is the door we use most often to enter the house. It's technically the side door, but the retaining wall and driveway for the main entrance aren't finished yet.
View standing on the porch.
Main outdoor entryway duex. We plan on using this as the primary entrance as soon as the landscaping is finished.
View standing on the porch.
These next photos are the half of the porch I like. I'm not in love because they're still kind of boring, but they are far more comfortable, entertaining, and inviting than what we just looked at.
There you have it. My ok-but-not-so-good wrap-around porch. You don't have to be from the Kmart Design Team to leave suggestions or link me to beautiful porches. I need help!!
5 comments:
Looks Gorgeous to me...would love to be sitting out there, right now. Enjoy!
Hugs,
andrea
Oh I adore your house, Michelle. And a wrap around porch is one of my dreams. I wish I had some suggestions for you but I'm not very good at such things.
Nell
@nelltaliercio
I'd like to be there right now!
Maybe some hanging ferns? And then some pots with flowers? Geraniums are pretty hearty and have some really pretty varieties (like this http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/21/article-0-027C1CF50000044D-537_468x395.jpg).
I'd have a hard time picking between a truly southern veranda kind of look or going with Spanish style (kind of like this http://www.lookiloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/images/6a00d83479fc3f69e201156fbb4809970c-pi.jpg). My uncle's back porch (owner of the frog you were coveting) is done like this. I love it. Lots of wrought iron and mosaics. I have pics of that. But then again, I love the hanging fern/southern thing too.
Also, I'm big on white lights for evenings. We have some around the patio cover and my Grandma's gazebo and it's so pretty!
Here's another pretty one I found. I love the plants she's picked: http://rosieswhimsy.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/front-porch/
I could do this all day so I better stop now. :) Let me know if you want me to send a few pics of my uncle's porch/backyard. I think they may actually be on FB, now that I say that.
Porches are the BEST....but from my experience, the most difficult place to decorate!
I've always been a firm believer that porches should be an extension of your inside...that they shouldn't ALWAYS be filled with plastic or rocking chairs.
First of all...don't you DARE paint that porch. You know what happens to wood when it gets painted? It gets scratched and weather and you will forever have to scrape and keep painting it...or spend HOURS removing it. I think you know my stance on this. Though, a tinted Thompson's water seal will help protect the wood and give it a nice glow (to take away the "blackened" color that wood tends to turn.)
Obviously, flowers are the easy fix. Find some interesting pots and OVERfill them with plants. The same with maybe some flower boxes around the railings. They don't even have to be wooden. I'm dying for some wrought iron ones that slip right over the rails - but they can get rather pricey. Try to make your flower arrangements at varying heights. A pot on a pedestal with a few on the ground and some hanging is much more interesting than a bunch of pots lined up on the floor, ya know? With some chain or something decorative, bring you hanging baskets down to eye level so it doesn't appear that you are looking "under" the baskets. Plants will also "soften" linear edges. You have a lot of "lines" with the railing and such. Vining or trailing plants in the pots/flower boxes will help with that - sweet potato vine is my absolute FAVORITE.
You have some seating already...cushions and pillows. With your house being red...I might even try and throw in a tiny splash of turquoise & yellow...just for punch. :) A tablecloth for the built in that you can bring in/out.
I think I could go on and on here...with that said...someone come decorate mine too. ha!
Have fun!
Ahem. Lounge chairs. Hanging planters. Rail/window boxes.
First think about what you like and what you'd like to do on your porch. Keep in mind designers and design shows just show you fabulously over the top stuff, or what they want to sell.
Now, hanging baskets and planters would break up all those solid lines and add vertical draw, and I bet just adding that kind of thing would change the look a lot.
I wouldn't paint anything, it's gorgeous already.
You have that little dinner area and the porch swing, and still have a bunch more room, so I'd do something completely different around that other door. Like lounge or adirondack chairs
I see you already have hanging baskets, how about instead of hanging them where they are you hang them from the horizontal posts instead? Your stairs appear real wide, have you see where people put matching pots along the edges, like one on each side of each stair? It can look pretty, and it can draw more attention up toward the entryway.
Also sometimes you can find little garden plaques that you wouldn't notice from the distance, but would make for interesting "discoveries" when someone is sitting down looking around.
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