SIMPLE FALL DECOR-my front porch

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

I'm excited people,

the mornings are getting colder

and the evenings are chilly!

Now, if only the afternoons would hurry up and catch up with my fave season,

I'd really be giddy.

As promised, here's a look at my front porch

and the simple/cheap fixes I made.

By no means am I saying this is the most marvelous,
eye catching, super cute porch haha
JUST some simple and inexpensive additions for those of us
who don't have a decor fund.
If only ;)

*The simple how-to's will be at the end.

Excuse my crooked sign lol

The breeze(yay) pushed it over.

First of all, I must give hubby credit for all the beautiful greenery you see.

90% of the decor is taken care of already lol

He's got the greenest thumb.

I on the other hand am so proud of myself for keeping 2 plants alive(barely),

 inside our home for the last few years!

A real accomplishment friends haha.

My mom tries so hard to give me plants that she says, 

are easy to care for and "shouldn't have any problems with".

She's taken a few plants BACK home with her, to revive them for me,

IF I haven't already drowned them or thirsted them to death ahahahaha.

I'm glad she keeps holding onto some hope,

she's got a super green thumb as well, I just didn't take after her :(

Most of the plants came from my Grama B's house after she passed.

I'm extremely blessed hubby has kept them alive and thriving.

I feel like my connection to her continues 

because we have her plants, which she too cared for very well.

We've purchased some along the way.

The morning glories came from our backyard seeds

which hubby threw in the palm pots recently.

They took so well.

We had gotten the tan chairs years ago when they were clearanced

and the green ones from the thrift store.

The front mat came from the Grocery Outlet.

Years ago we filled each side with pavers while they were on sale at Home Depot

and purchased a trellis which we cut in half and put up on each side for some privacy.

The left trellis literally has ground cover growing on it. 

We bought some for the area originally but then hubby thought to move it to the trellis

and see if he could insert some of it in between the slats for eventual growth/coverage.

It worked!

Ok, onto the things I did.

A few months ago hubby cut our cherry tree in the back and was going to chop

the branches down to throw out.

I stopped him and asked him to PLEASE save them for me.

I loved the knots on the branches and their rich brown color.

I didn't know when or how I'd use them.

He just goes along with my ideas now and let me keep them :)

I moved 4 of them to the front and tied with strips of old sheet I tore.

I then placed the little wood watering can I had thrifted a ways back,

on one of the smaller branches.

*I made those little orange pillows out of my son's outgrown

shorts!

I wanted some more orange out there

and remembered that these were in the rag pile

(anything that's too worn out or damaged we keep for spills or other yucky clean ups).

Any damage from the elements would be ok.

This was a free and easy addition.

Of course I'd do my best to bring them in during the rainy days.

I brought out our old metal stool and placed the spider plant on it.

Printed up another seed packet photo, glued onto some poster board

and then onto a thin branch I found.

The "Welcome" sign was free too!

*It's the same sign we used for our maternity announcement

which is literally just cardboard I cut out

*and painted with DIY chalkboard paint.

My seed "packet"

:)

Simple how-to's

-THROW PILLOWS FROM SHORTS-

I wasted time using my seam ripper to undo the seams in the crotch

and leg area because ultimately I had to cut 2 straight rectangles and didn't need those areas

poo

Of course the larger the shorts the bigger the pillow.

I then turned inside out, sewed all the edges minus 3 inches on 1 side,

turned back out to correct side, stuffed a ton with pillow stuffing from an old pillow

and sewed up the opening.

That's it!

My son that it was the coolest thing!

-DIY CHALKBOARD PAINT-

Here's a great recipe from Krista for your own Chalk/Chalkboard paint  

from the HAPPY HOUSIE, love all her ideas!

 * There's a difference*

 typically the end process for a chalk paint project is waxing,

as opposed to "seasoning" your chalkboard paint

by rubbing the long side of chalk all over it and wiping off before writing on it.

-CARDBOARD TO CHALKBOARD SIGN-

I originally cut the arrow for our announcement pics with an x-acto knife,
 painted with the chalkboard paint I mixed and held onto it for future use.
 It's not a perfect surface but works on the quick and again free & cheap!

I also had cardboard rolls/tubes
 from Dollar Tree glow in the dark necklaces, which are packed inside.

Thankfully I didn't have to purchase those either,
as they were purchased last year for the PTA movie night
 and I asked if I could have them.

Keeping trash? Why not hahaha

I used my letter opener and poked a holes on both sides
and through the tubes.
I then used twine which is currently at Dollar Tree but already had on hand
and cut 2 long strings.

The 1st would be to for the top portion to hang and the 2nd
would be for the sign.
I poked holes on both sides of the sign, tied the string on each end
and 
wrote my "WELCOME"

THAT'S IT!