Outdoor Living – Adding Colour to Your Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor Living – Adding Colour and Texture to Your Outdoor Spaces

When summer hits, Outdoor Living becomes a way of life.  I’m so excited to be a part of The Gardening and Outdoor Entertaining Blog Hop today with six other fabulous bloggers, where we will be updating Outdoor Living Spaces:

Meet these wonderful ladies, Jill at Gathered Grace, Kristi at The Pickled Rose, Leslie at My 100 Year Old Home, Janet at Shabbyfufu, Sarah at Dreaming of Homemaking, Kim and Lacey at Styled With Lace.  You can find direct links to all of their blogs at the end of this post with the giveaway information.

Our hop is sponsored by Antique Farmhouse – one of those shops where you’ll always find an amazing deal.  They are also offering a wonderful giveaway, how exciting!  Details on how to enter can be found below.  Be sure to check out all of their outdoor living pieces!

Spring has finally sprung and so have the flowers around here.  The month of May means adding plants to both your garden beds and to your outdoor living areas.  For me, it isn’t complete without potted planters.  For the Gardening and Outdoor Entertaining Blog Hop, I decided I would focus on bringing new life to my outdoor areas using plants, planters and some good old elbow grease and paint to update not 1, not 2, but 3 outdoor spaces on my 128 year old home.  But I will only be sharing two here today as I didn’t get the third one completed.

My front porch was my first project and I’ll tell you it took a lot of blood, sweat and some tears to see my vision through.

Here are before and after pictures of the front porch:

I feel the biggest change we made after the paint colour, was expanding the steps the full width of the porch.  This gave the space some weight and grounded the whole porch area.

We still need to add some additional patio stones to the front of these, as Mother Nature decided we should get rain and literally wash us out for a couple of days!

We used the Marquee Paint By Behr and have been extremely happy with it in the past.  It goes on wonderfully and has lasted very well.

I decided for my planters, that I would go with some yellow dahlias and purple petunias with some pretty ferns to add texture. I felt these colours accented the porch colours beautifully.  I also stencilled my house numbers onto an old piece of left over barn board and used command velcro strips to hang it.  Yup, these work even outdoors!

When looking for some additional pieces for this area I managed to find some fun items.  I’m loving these pots from Antique Farmhouse and think they would add a pretty look to this porch.

I also painted my swing an ivory, and used a Rust-oleum  spray paint called…wait for it – ivory.

The carpet was a great find from my local grocery store for only 39.99!   I love the pattern and the texture.  Way to go Zehrs!

For me there is just something about sitting on the front porch with my morning coffee watching the sun come up!  I’m thinking this will be my new fav spot during the warmer summer months.  I may even grab my laptop and swing away while I write a post.

I’m still looking for a small rocking chair for the left hand corner.  So if you know of a good find, I’d love for you to share!  Ignore the muddy steps… it poured here most of the week!

The second space we updated was the side deck off of our kitchen.

We decided to paint the back panel to match the dark black that we used on the front porch.  I wanted something to add some weight to this space and to complement the red cushions.

Here is the before, (please don’t judge me)…

and here is the after:

I added some succulents to the stars hanging on the back panel using some picture wire and I’m really happy with how they came out.  Thinking just a little out of the box.

This would also work really well here.  Just imagine them filled with pretty succulents!

The carpet was a Walmart find and was on sale for $25.00, I love the texture it brings to the space.  We still need to add some items, like a large black umbrella for shade over the sitting area and a couple of side tables.

We will also be adding a porch swing like this one from Antique Farmhouse.  Yup, a second swing, what can I say… I love these!

 

I guess that is the fun part, always adding little things that will add some more character to your space.

Hope you enjoyed my little outside tour.

Please go and check out the other ladies on this tour, I promise you will love every account and their outdoor spaces!

Here are some fun finds from Antique Farmhouse!

Now for the FUN!  Antique Farmhouse is offering one person the chance to win  $500.00 to spend on their site!
This is where you will enter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.