Front Porch Makeover | Paint Project - LAURA'S little PARTY

Front Porch Makeover | Paint Project

July 28, 2015

Over the past few months, I had thought about giving my little front porch a makeover. Nothing too expensive. Nothing too drastic. Just something! Oh, and it had to be a project that I could do myself; no help from the hubby.


Sometimes I have little pockets of free time that randomly pop up, so I try to quickly seize the moment. Luckily I had a Pinterest board that was full of front porch makeover ideas!

Most of my projects involve paint. Spray paint, cans of paint, bottles of paint, you name it - I love to paint! So, you can probably imagine my excitment when I came across a pin that consisted of painting a front porch! Christine, from first home love life created the most fabulous DIY front porch makeover, and I was so inspired to tackle this on my own porch! {you can see her front door project, here}.

My supply list included:
1 Quickrete walkmaker
Painter's Tape
Paint brush, roller brush, paint tray + liner
Dunn-Edwards Paint {2 shades of gray - dark gray for my base, light gray for the stones}
Steel wool {to scratch up the faux stones}
Kneeling pad
Motivating music
2 - 3 cans of Wild Cherry Pepsi

The first step was to make sure my porch was as clean as possible. I swept, rinsed, and scrubbed the entire area where I wanted to paint. Once that was completed, I grabbed my roll of painter's tape, and started taping off every inch that I wanted to protect from any paint mishap.


Paint prep is honestly my least favorite part of any painting project. I'm very impatient, and just want to get started painting already!


 I was proud of myself for completing all the prep work. Dare I admit that it really wasn't all that bad? ...moving on


Now it was time to start cutting in. I decided that rolling the paint would work best for such an open area. Not to mention, it would get done more quickly than if I used a paint brush. But as you can see, the wood siding on my porch isn't flush, and I knew it would be impossible to get in between, with my roller. That's where the paint brush comes in handy. I painted a few inches away from the siding, leaving an even area for my paint roller to finish the job.

*once I was finished cutting in the edges of my base coat, I removed the painter's tape, before the area was completely dry.


 Now... on to the fun stuff!  

I rolled my entire porch & walkway, with Dunn-Edwards Battleship Gray DEC797, and then waited for it to fully dry. Doesn't it look better already?


To make sure everything was dry, I didn't continue with my project until the next day. Once I determined that it was dry & safe to walk on, I continued with the "stone" portion of my front porch makeover project! I found this Quikrete concrete mold walk maker, from Lowes. It was pretty inexpensive too.


I determined the position of the stone pattern I wanted, and I put my QUICKCRETE maker into place. I made sure to alternate my pattern by turning my stone shapes, differently each time.



Using the lighter shade of gray that I picked up from Dunn-Edwards, Stieglitz Silver DET612, I started brushing on my stones. The QUIKRETE WalkMaker made this task so easy! In fact, when I first started, I thought my stones looked a little too perfect. 


To achieve a more authentic look, I started using less paint on my brush. Then, while the paint was still wet, I took a piece of steel wool to scuff the paint up a bit. You can start to see a difference in the stones, when you compare this picture to the one above it. I was certainly loving how this front porch makeover was turning out so far!


This project took a bit longer than I anticipated. I didn't realize just how long I would be on my knees. {my poor 40 year old, arthritic knees}. After a while, it didn't even feel like I was on a kneeling pad! The crouching, bending, and constant arm motion definitely gave me a work out. I continued with my project, on day 3. Despite all my aches + pains. 


The painting portion of my front porch makeover was finally complete! I couldn't wait to start adding all the fun, little touches that I had purchased & refurbished, especially for this project.


Before I started painting, I found these darling topiaries at HomeGoods. I picked up two, even though the two pots were different colors. I had to have them! Plus, they were the perfect size for my small front steps. So, I ended up painting the other pot to match - super easy fix!



This old milk can was one of my favorite additions to my front porch makeover. A little elbow grease, sanding, painting, and a little vinyl "welcome" sign, was all it needed! 


 This was the before picture...  I'm so happy I saw the potential it had! 


I added an inexpensive door mat, from IKEA, and stood back to admire all the hard work that was put into my front porch makeover.


I really loved how these pink flowers popped, alongside my newly painted walkway! I don't have a green thumb, so I gave up on trying to plant anything, over the past several years. This flower bush has grown back every year, since the last time I planted anything. The flowers also gave me hope that maybe my thumb isn't so brown, afterall. Either way, it was just the motivation I needed to head over to Home Depot, to tour their garden section.


My little guys helped pick out some pretty flowers. With this serious California drought, I made sure our plant choices were drought-friendly. I was pleasantly surprised at the huge variety Home Depot had available!

By the end of our shopping trip, the boys were pretty tired, a little cranky, and so ready to get out of the shopping cart. After a brief meltdown in the parking lot, we loaded up my truck, and headed back home, to start planting.



It took me a few days to get everything planted in the ground. The boys did a great job helping, and they love to help me water, and even sweep the porch. 





 I'm very happy to report that since completing my project, about 2 months ago, my flowers have remained full of life, and are blooming beautifully! And I've even received a few sweet compliments about how cute they think my front porch looks.

 












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