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It’s not often that I complete a project and am completely happy with it; I usually finish, or come close to finishing, and then criticize it to death and start changing right away.   But I am really, truly happy with the way my porch is turning out!  It has become the hangout; morning, noon and night.  It makes me feel good.

Here is the before; not bad, but Ms. M’s furniture sat too low to the ground for a good view and wasn’t comfortable at all.  You also couldn’t see a thing out of the curtains.

Here is it’s “storage” stage; remember when I asked your opinion on what I should do about the curtains?  I wasn’t really digging the half-sheers.

Here are shots of where we stand today!

Dad built the bed for me; it’s fantastic.  The cubby holes have wire baskets in them from the family farm in New Mexico; they aren’t filled right now which is just as well because the boys love hiding in there.  🙂  I made the pennant garland from my plethora of pillows I made from the vintage tablecloths; I’ll probably switch out the pillows eventually to make things a little less busy.  But for now, they work.

I wanted a lamp, but the twinkle lights are a perfect substitute.  Erick works late evenings out on the porch grading, etc, and they fit the bill very well.

I was completely inspired by The Nester’s Sign…

So I bought a $5 piece of pre-cut particle board and used chalkboard paint to make my own version.  Inexpensive, and I really like how it turned out.

The bed is great for relaxing on and burying yourself under pillows…good for a nice stretch or a nap.

I like the details; the fan is one of my favorite house finds.  It doesn’t work very well, which is a good thing; I can fit my hand in there!  So we obviously don’t have it anywhere near an outlet.  But I love the look.  Bought the coasters at Roden Smith for my New Mexico-reading crowd; they fit in well!  And I certainly need to refill our gumball machine. (With chocolate, preferably).

The porch swing was a birthday-money purchase, and I pulled the red cart from the attic so we could roll it out and set drinks and snacks on it when we are in the mood for swingin’.

And this little corner; I love it.  I bought the pub-style table at Target, and we plan to eventually purchase a couple of counter-height barstools so we can pull the table out and eat there as a  family.  We still take advantage of meal-time on the porch anyway; the boys usually have their go-to sandwiches so they don’t really need to sit.  I sip my morning coffee here, we have lunch here, we have Friday night pizza here.  Thus the tongue-in-cheek Maine Street Cafe sign.  We live on Main Street, in Maine, hardy har-har.  Silly, but fun.

Here is the table relative to our entry way; the one other area that I’m satisfied with!

Ok, a couple more…this is a great place to watch the rain; yesterday we had plenty of chances for that! Nonnie came over and we had a nice time riding out the first of many showers while swinging away.  Or standing, as the case may be.

And Erick installed our flag last weekend in time for Memorial Day; I love it!

So for now, I’m content.  The only other change on the horizon is the carpet; if feels like concrete underneath; if that’s the case, then I want to pull up what we have, stain the concrete a nice shiny dark blue, and put some sisal rugs down.  We can live with what we have now, though.

Come join me for a swing anytime!