My Front Porch Makeover on a Budget includes a mix of new furniture along with updating some furniture we already owned using chalk spray paint as well as some new pillows, a doormat, and some plants!
Front Porch Makeover on a Budget
We use our porch year-round here in Los Angeles, and ours needed a little refresh but within a budget. To stay on budget, I used a mix of new furniture and updated some furniture we already owned using chalk spray paint. I also added some new pillows, a doormat, and some plants!
I purchased a new bench for my husband and me to sit on, as well as a new water table for the twins to play with, but we already owned a couple of children’s chairs (they’re actually our chairs from when we were kids) that simply needed a fresh coat of paint, as well as a wooden bar cart that was pretty uninspired in its raw wood state. I just knew that some color would perk it up! The bar cart has several hard to reach places, so I was super excited to find some chalk paint available as a spray aerosol!
Ok, so here’s what the porch looked like before. Empty. Nothing welcoming, cozy, or even cohesive.
So the first thing I did was go online and order some Chalk Paint from HomeDepot.com for a pickup in-store. I ordered two cans of Chalk Spray Paint in Classic Noir for the bar cart, as well as one can of Chalk Spray Paint in Surf and one can of Chalk Spray Paint in Tin White for each of the little kid’s chairs.
Next, my husband painted the bar cart and the children’s chairs. (NOTE: He did it because I was pregnant and I chose to stay away from the paint fumes, not because I couldn’t do it myself.)
The chalk spray paint was great to use on these items because of its easy application. No primer is needed, and it has great adhesion on almost all surfaces. Plus, it offers great coverage over new or previously coated surfaces. And I love that it dries to a velvety soft-touch finish. Plus, all of these pieces of furniture were very intricate with lots of different surfaces—so using a spray aerosol to paint them was SO much easier than using a can of paint and a paintbrush!
Then, I added a few final details. To complete the front porch makeover, I put out a new doormat, a couple of new outdoor pillows, and planted some new plants in pots and planters I already owned.
Here are a few links to some similar doormats I like as well:
- Home Sweet Home doormat
- Welcome to Our Home doormat
- Family Name doormat
- Please Hide Packages from Husband doormat
- Hello Sunshine doormat
We’re definitely looking forward to sitting outside and enjoying a couple of glasses of peach thyme limeade while the kiddos play with their water table or bubble machine!
Let’s look at a couple of side-by-side before-and-after photos!
It’s amazing what a few cans of chalk spray paint, a new doormat, a couple of new pillows, and some new plants can do to perk up a front porch! We can’t wait to spend more time out here as a family!
Interested in the rest of my house? Take a look at some of my other room makeovers:
Sharon Jensen
Friday 22nd of November 2019
Love what you did to your porch. A hanging fern or two would look great and a colorful outdoor rug in front of your bench would add more color.
Andrea
Wednesday 8th of January 2020
Thank you! Yes, eventually after we're done with some more of the outdoor construction, I'll be adding some hanging plants and a rug. Right now, I would just kill the plants and the rug would get SUPER dirty!