Back Porch Before and After

Remember a few weeks ago when I gave you this list? Here's what it looks like now


Finish:

• repaint the dresser in our bedroom
• finish the art for the guest bath done and fabulous!
• build my seating for the back porch changed my mind on this one
• paint and re-screen the screen door
• move the library and office
• remove AstroTurf on back porch
• remove security door on back door and paint
• build shed
• finish tray 
• fix bathroom drawer
• clean up cuttings in the yard
• Get cutting on some cans (for an art project)
• Paint the front door
• reupholster new chair

I call that progress! Obviously most of the work was focused on the back porch so without further ado, let's get to some before and afters! 

Before

After

Quite the change from AstroTurf isn't it? We are now officially AstroTurf free in this house! Here's the run down on what changed. Fist off was painting and rescreening the screen door. I chose Rustolium's Hunter Green spray paint (it took two cans) for the paint and the put new netting on. 

Like the gold horse shoe? It came with the house and I just gave it a face lift with leftover gold spray paint from my sunburst mirror project. 

You'll remember from my porch inspiration board that I wanted a chalk board on the porch so 16$ at my local re-store and two coats of chalk board paint later I had this lovely number (which was way cheaper than the one on my board which was 120$)

I decided when I bought it that I liked the look of the chippy paint job it already had (there are about three or four different paint colors on it) so I left it alone and just painted the window openings. I used one coat of primer and then two coats of chalkboard paint. If you haven't worked with chalkboard paint before let me suggest investing in a really smooth foam roller otherwise it looks lumpy and weird.

I paired my new chalk board frame with my butterfly art (i'll post more on this one later). I like the industrial look of the tin with the flirty feminine butterfly form. I plan to keep adding more around the back of the house so that it looks like a swarm flying up to the sky.

What chalk board would be complete without a little loving right?

The other big project for the back porch was painting the floor. I decided to go this route again because I really like the way my front porch turned out and I figured we can always paint over it if I don't like the design. 

I love the fun colors and the modern design (our kitchen is on the modern side compared to the rest of the house so I thought it could stand the contrast). Being cheap I used every color paint I had on hand for the design. That's right, not porch paint. This is why I am not recommending this method to anyone. Who knows if it will last (I'll do an update in a few months to let you know). What I did is after letting the paint dry over night I coated the porch with a clear semi gloss polyurethane floor sealer. Since it is the common method to seal and protect floors I figured it might keep my paint from chipping away. I used a similar method with the front porch design and it has made it three months without a scratch so I figured I'd give it a go here. Since I didn't spend any money on the paint if it failed I'd only be out the 6$ for the polyurethane.


The last update (for now) was the light. It used to look like this

Now it looks like this

The bare bulb just wasn't doing it for me so I did what any incurable DIYer would do. I scoured my house for something that would work as a light. 


Remember this picture of the old office?

Recognize the lantern? That's right, that's my new light fixture turned upside down. I had Daniel drill an opening in the bottom and we screwed it into the ceiling of the porch. The best part is when I get tired of it I can turn it back into a lantern again! 


I've got a few things still coming for the porch and I still need to find some sort of shoe storage but I love the transformation. It is clean and bright. It will look great when my yard is finally all planted of overflowing with flowers and color. Here's to hoping right?


Anyone else finish any fun transformations recently? Give me some eye candy people!
Cheers!