With the weather warming up in St. Louis, the spring fever has been running high this household! My porch however, needed some major love and I decided to take the #UseWhatYouHave challenge and see what I could do with a $0 dollar budget and without leaving my house!
The first task I tackled (and by I, I mean my husband) was power washing the heck out of the front of our house, porch, steps and sidewalk. It’s crazy what a good power washing can do! From here I took the reins and started painting pretty much EVERYTHING I could get my hands on!
We have been on the hunt for a front porch bench or swing, but haven’t found anything we’ve loved just yet. So, I went to town cleaning, sanding and then painting some old chairs that were pretty weathered.
My next paint victim was this old table that was rusting and the paint was peeling off. I cleaned, sanded and painted this guy as well. I didn’t know what to do with the stones on top, but didn’t like the colors so I cut up the sponge of a dish wand from the kitchen to make a sponge pattern with leftover paint I had on hand.
Once the chairs and table were dry I took them around front thinking all I had left to do was start decorating. And then this is when I decided I should paint the house number, mailbox and light fixture too. None of these were things I really liked, they were on the house when we purchased, so if I ruined anything I would have been happy with the consequence of having to replace it with something new that I actually liked Surprisingly, everything turned out okay and no shopping needed! The power of paint is pretty amazing!
That black box / welcome sign stand? This is a little embarrassing to admit, but it is a cardboard ‘Skinny Pop’ box, that I taped up, painted and applied an epoxy sealer on. I don’t plan on keeping it there long term, but this was a use what you have challenge, and dang it, that’s all I had!
The only thing I have left to do out here is either get a rug or paint the concrete. I’m still deciding which route to take. Have you ever painted concrete before? I’d love to hear your experience in the comments if so, and also your opinion on either buying a new outdoor area rug or painting the concrete!
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