Spring Porch Refresh for Under $100

ONE THING I RARELY SPEND ANY TIME OR EFFORT ON IS THE EXTERIOR OF OUR HOUSE… THAT IS, UNTIL NOW. WE HAVE LOTS OF PLANS FOR THE OUTSIDE OF OUR HOUSE IN THE NEXT MONTH OR SO, SO THAT WE CAN ENJOY OUR OUTDOOR SPACES FOR THE SUMMER.

Here’s what we were working with…

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The before wasn’t the absolute worst thing, it was just worn out and dull.

So here’s what we did…

1. We painted our concrete porch

We picked up a can of this Porch and Patio Floor Paint. There were tinting options, but only one white option, so I just stuck with the Ultra Pure White. To be honest, it’s a little more of a bright white than I had hoped. Mainly just when the sun is shining directly on it. It’s a little blinding. But, I know it’s going to fade with the sun and get dirtier from feet, so I’m pretty sure that will soften it up a bit. (Probably pretty quickly too, since we’re 6,000 feet closer to the sun than most people. It just makes the sun a little more intense haha). You can find a similar option here.

Probably wouldn’t have hurt to prime it first…

We didn’t prime the concrete first, simply because it’s a pretty low traffic area and it was cheaper not to (oops).

I would probably recommend for others to prime (solely so that I don’t feel responsible if it chips or peels or whatever).

Within an hour or so, the porch was completely painted. It was simple. Using our roller and a broom stick (as an extension handle), we got to work.

We painted first, and then went back and trimmed the edges once it was dry (like 30 mins or so, the can says an hour). It only took one coat. It probably wouldn’t have hurt to do a second coat, but I think it covered pretty well the first time. There was definitely enough paint in the can for another coat though, just FYI.

2. Flowers and Pots

This was our Mother’s Day project (and quite possibly a tradition in the making). We went to breakfast and then went straight to Home Depot for some flowers and pots.

I had 2 galvanized tubs at home that I knew I wanted to use, and then I had maybe one extra terra cotta pot laying around. In order to keep it really simple, I picked up a few more terra cotta pots and pot plates (is that what they’re called?).

Here are a few cute planter options:

Galvanized Planters (2) / Terra Cotta Pots (6) / Galvanized Buckets (3)

What kind of flowers did I get, you might ask… No idea. Unfortunately, the name tags got thrown away. However, I do know that the greenery is Dusty Miller. I really liked the way that it looked. Kind of a soft green and fuzzy.

Other than that, I just picked some white and purple/pink flowers to go with it.

Here they are in my garage, waiting for the porch to dry.

Surprisingly, Amazon has a lot of really great plants options.

3. New Lights (YAY)

We bought the new lights from Costco a year ago. They’ve been sitting in our basement, in their boxes, since then. Needless to say, I’m pretty glad they’re up. Also, no more lights and boxes in the basement. I’d call that a win win.

Here are the old lights. I’m just going to take a guess that they’re original to the house. So 23 years old or so.

Fun fact: I was born the same year as our house was built.