The view from the Front Porch Swing

When you are outside at your house, where do you hang out?  Are you a front porch swing people-watcher or a backyard dweller?

I was always a backyard gal until we moved to our new house.  The front porch swing has become a favorite spot for my family to hang out.  The colorful flowers are still blooming off to one side of the porch and we have been blessed with really friendly neighbors who wave to us from their yards.  It has also given us an additional space to hang out which we have embraced.

Since we are converting our house (which is a duplex) into a single family home, the front porch has a few “quirks”.  A major one that will be addressed in our renovation is that it has two entrances.  Until we start this project, which is about number 39 on a list of 62 other major renovations, I needed to be creative with my decorating choices so that I could love my front porch today.

There was an old ugly porch swing attached to rusted hooks.  I couldn’t stand the sight so I bought a can of paint and went to town turning that eyesore into a welcoming seat where my boys like to sit in the morning or hang out right before bed.

I had to have my husband drag it to the backyard where I worked one afternoon to make that swing worthy of prominent display on the front porch.  While left brain was in work clothes, I thought it best to ask for his brute strength and dig what I thought would be a slight border around the front of the house so that I could plant flowers.  Flowers always make a house look prettier and a swing even more inviting.

As usual, he exceeded my expectations and sent me to the store to purchase 110 cement border blocks that I loaded (which was a bigger task than I realized) with a sweet Walmart worker.   The border along with the blooming flowers have framed the front porch swing in beauty.

The summer flowers are almost at the end of their season.  I’m sad because I love looking at them and picking them to bring inside the house.  Although I’ve already changed some of the potted plants to mums for the fall season while updating my house number, I love sitting on the front porch and swinging on the newly painted swing watching the activity on the street from my perch.

To add seasonal flair, I changed the pillows on the swing from a summer motif to a fall theme to extend our swinging season.  Today, we covered up with the blanket in the early morning as we read some books.    When my six-year-old son saw his last name on the pillow he exclaimed, “That is sooooo cool mom, you really did out do yourself!”

Admittedly, I love personalized accessories and having our family name on the pillow is a fun way to welcome guests to our home.

For now, I’ll sip my tea and sway in the fall breeze and wish you happiness as you find the tools to make your porch a fun stop for you.

I’ll have a quick tutorial of how I painted this custom pillow in a post later.   For a reminder of future articles, fill out our free subscription below.