Dressing Up Your Front Porch
Today I am excited to share some tips on dressing up your front porch. We just wanted to add a little more character and curb appeal for the summer.
Dressing Up Your Front Porch can be super easy, some of the upgrades we decided to do are just basic home maintenance. We decided to have our entire home pressure washed, mainly because we wanted our 3 story windows on the back of the house cleaned on the outside and Ron was not going up there to do that!
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However, we were actually surprised at how dirty our house was after only 3 years. Our white trim that we thought was just a shotty paint job, was actually a gray mold that washed right off with a chemical solution and now looks brand new. Our cedar columns and front door both had some sun fade so we decided that a fresh coat of stain on both would just help to protect the freshly cleaned wood and while everything was nice and clean lets paint the ceiling haint blue.I know that many of you have seen my post about painting my Sleeping Porch ceiling “haint blue” we also did a wrap up about the process in Week 3 of the challenge as well, if you are linking over to my older posts. This is a huge tradition here in the south. I obtained this particular haint blue color directly from the SCAD historical design group, used for the historic preservation homes in Savannah, GA during one of my visits years ago. I just squirreled that information away for a rainy day use, when I would have a rocking chair front porch worthy of this paint. Although haint blue comes in several shades from a pale blue to more of a green-blue, I just personally think that the historically accurate color was the way to go. Sherwin William DCR075 Piazza Blue from the Historic Architectural Collection. My local Sherwin Williams actually had to look it up for me, so you may have to ask for it by name and number, it’s not one that they are familiar with or that is in their system.
THE HISTORY OF HAINT BLUE CEILINGS
A haint blue ceiling can be found on many famous southern porches from Charleston to Savannah and is known for it’s soft blue-green color. Legend has it that people painted the ceilings haint blue to look like the sky in order to confuse all the ghosts, spirits, haints or boohags to keep them from coming into you house. That’s right, I said “boohags”, see I am truly a born and bred southern girl. Haints and Boohags are restless spirits of the dead who, for whatever reason, have not moved on from their physical world. Historically Haint blue can also be found on door and window frames and is intended to protect the homeowner from being “taken” or influenced by spirits. It is said to protect the house and the occupants of the house from evil spirits.The Modern Benefits– It also will cut down on the amount of bugs, birds and critters on your porch, since the ceiling looks the sky and not an actual shelter. So you are less likely to have unwanted nests, hives or webs. Which can eliminate accidental stings and those snake visitors that might drop by looking for a light afternoon egg snack in your local bird nests. We also have been wanting to add some old fashioned farmhouse style numbers over the front steps to our porch. I just like the character that this adds to a home. It is kind of a lost tradition since most homes have mailboxes with numbers, but I love the way big iron numbers mounted on a home look. It reminds me of those historical homes in Savannah that I just love. After searching online I was able to fine some 8″ iron numbers with a little heft to fill the 12″ space over our porch and not look to dinky like the 4-6″ versions at the local big box stores. In my opinion there is nothing worse than undersizing an item when you have a large space, which is one of the golden rules of an interior designer.This was such a simple upgrade that makes such a big difference, just like when we added the Carriage Hardware to our shutters back at the beginning of the year. Check out all the details at our full post Instant Curb Appeal Adding Carriage Hardware. It just elevates your exterior to another level and says “I am a house that my owners have turned into a home.”I have also been looking for a set of really great farmhouse light fixtures for my front porch. I will be honest the Avery Pendants I picked 3 years ago were just place holders, since I was a little bit ahead of the whole farmhouse trend. The items were not as readily available then as they are now, and the selections are infinitely better. Plus, I always thought they were a little bit small for the scale of my porch as well and you know what I just said about undersizing items, just don’t do it.
BEFORE:AFTER:
I found these great farm style Park Harbour Lanterns on Overstock.com on sale for such a steal, both fixtures for $125, heck yeah! The best part is no glass. That’s right I opted out of glass, since they are always getting dirty, coated in pollen or catching bugs up inside. I just think they are going to a more practical outdoor light fixtures and they will look good year round, with less maintenance, which for me is a win, win.I am so happy that I got to share all of our porch upgrades with you all today. One of the last thing I wanted to show off is my gorgeous gardenia tree. It is blooming right now and makes the entire porch smell amazing! I find it just adds the perfect touch of southern charm when you walk up to ring the bell. In fact my husband loves it so much he wants to drink his coffee out on the front porch rocking chairs every day right now just so he can smell them on the breeze.I just had to share this fantastic tree, because it was such a rare find. It has the large old fashioned blossoms, that are 4-5″ wide, which are absolutely perfect for a brides hair on her wedding day if you ask me, wink wink. I came across this tree last year at one of the big box stores, I can not remember which one now, but I knew I had to have it. I placed it into a large urn so I could properly winterize the tree inside, or it would surely freeze during the winter.
Honestly, I have yet to have a gardenia live in this yard, I think I moved too far north. In my previous yard, I had hedges of the miniature gardenias, covering one of my terraces, but the past 3 winters in this home I have never lost a single gardenia I have planted. This past year I lost my encore azaleas as well. Being in the foothills of the mountains is quite the learning curve for this native Georgia girl. However I have had a lot of luck with star Jasmine, which I was able to plant in this antique pot belly stove which adds some character to the front porch, as well as entryway fragrance.
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SHOP MY STYLE:
Here is where we ordered our front porch numbers from, in case you like this size and style:
I just love your style! My favorite part is the “welcome y’all” pillow! You really do a good job paying attention to details, like those light fixtures SO cute! And I love a good deal on overstock 🙂
Oh this is gorgeous!!! So many ideas I can implement in our home!!
Jen I love the haint blue ceilings, OMG they are perfect! Every southern girl needs haint blue on her porch, and it makes that stunning light fixtures pop. What a deal you got on those $125 for both, WOW!!!!!!!!! I need you to shop for me at all times, you should do more shopping posts I know people would follow you if you are saving that kind of money!
You know I am going to say how much I love the new light fixtures, and no glass, girl be steal my heart, you are so speaking my language. Everything looks great and I going to check and see if Overstock has any of those lights left, because they are a deal!
Your porch is beautiful and really has that southern curb appeal everyone wants, I love the rocking chairs and the blue ceilings they remind me of the best homes in Savannah. You truly are a Georgia girl at heart.
So many cute ideas! I can’t wait until the day I become a homeowner so I can decorate my front porch as well!
I love the idea of having a different color ceiling that pops! We are going to have a brick house, and I am talking my husband into going with a teal color for the door and shutters. It’s always nice to have some accents and definitely dresses things up.
Okay your front porch is serious GOALS! I never would’ve thought to have a blue ceiling but it’s gorgeous! And love those light fixtures!
I love these ideas, and they seem so reasonable to actually get done. Ha! Your porch is beautiful. I am now inspired to go give mine a facelift. I also love the idea of decorating for the season.
Shannon the best part of about that blue ceiling is that it tends to repel bugs and birds, since they think it is the sky. So no more mysterious hives in the corners or spider webs for this girl. Woohoo!
Congratulations on the new home Joanna, and I could not agree more about dressing it up. It is all about giving your home some stately character.
Love the ideas. I am definitely going to try the house numbers.
You have one of the prettiest porches around, I am surprised you did maintenance to it, but I have to say it looks great. I love the ceilings and those new light fixtures are darling. I also love that you went old school farmhouse with those iron numbers, they are perfect.
I like your idea I love it! <3
Your front porch is so cozy and inviting. The history behind the haint blue ceiling was interesting to read but I love that it will cut down on the critter visitors. I just started decorating and upgrading ours this year. The new porch chairs have arrived, later today I am washing down the porch which gets unbelievably dusty from the construction traffic going by on the weekdays. After it’s all hosed off, I can get to the fun part of making it look pretty! Wish we lived closer so we could visit each other and have a bevy on our porches together Jen!
Looks so homey and warm! Plants added some brightness too!! Nice!
Lisa you are always welcome to share a bevy on my front porch! If you ever find yourself in the deep south drop by for some southern hospitality, we love our sippin’ drinks in the rocking chairs down her 😉
Your front porch is gorgeous! I really need to work on dressing mine up! All I have is a bench & a welcome mat. I really need to invest in some flowers & a cute door hanger
I can’t get enough of redecorating or just adding a little bit more decor to rooms. I am loving your porch. It makes me wish I had a porch to dress up!
Your house is so beautiful and welcoming. I love the new lights and that makes perfect sense why you changed them!
You have the most darling front porch I love everything about it. I could spend all day out there in that rocking chair.
I’d like to find out more about that haint blue color, could I get the color? Love how it looks and the entire project.
Hey Lindsay, great question! It is Piazza Blue by Sherwin William DCR075, it is from the historical preservation collection. I found years ago being used by SCAD in Savannah for the older historical home perseverations and I loved it and made note of the color, since it was historically accurate.
Awesome blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything.There are so many options out there that I’m totally overwhelmed .. Bless you for all the inspiration!
Hi friends, it’s a fantastic article on the this topic of and completely defined, keep up the good work, god is good all the time.
Your porch is gorgeous anyways, but you really just elevated to next level with those lights.
After taking down all our holiday our porch felt naked and I noticed that is need to be dressed up a bit. Looking for some quick advice here.
So many good ideas for an inviting front porch, I really must get on it for spring. I have dreamed of a swing bed forever but my neighbor put one in first thing when they moved in, so I did not want to seem like a copycat, but and I think the blue ceiling would be a nice addition.
Great ideas to make the front entrance of your home more inviting, those farmhouse lights are so nice.
So many great inspirational ideas to spruce up the porch, especially with spring right around the corner.
The haint blue ceiling is so pretty and really changes up your porch it makes it bright and fresh.
So pretty and sprucing up the porch makes such a big difference. I love the blue ceiling too, it adds that add something.
Such a great idea to add the numbers to your porch, it adds a certain charm too.
I am so ready for spring and to get my front porch all dressed up this year. I really want to add some numbers and a beautiful haint blue ceiling.
This is gorgeous. I’ve been wanting a porch lately. I have what I would call a front block. It does have a covering, but it’s not even big enough to put a chair on. Someday.
I love everything about your porch. It is so warm and welcoming!
This is so cute and welcoming!