As we are getting closer and closer to summer, I’ve been getting the itch to (finally) upgrade our outdoor spaces! Today I’m starting with our front porch makeover on a budget – everything came in at under $100 and took me less than 20 minutes to set up!
I have always wanted a perfectly manicured outdoor space. My dream home has a wrap around porch with comfortable cushy chairs for reading, fans to create the perfect breeze, and a big table where we can eat outside all year round. However, that is where the dream comes to a screeching halt. Because we have lived in rentals for the majority of our married life, Chris and I have not put much work into the outdoor space because typically – the things I want to do outside are not things we can pack up and take with us when we go. So we generally just make do with what we have.
Front Porch Makeover on a Budget
This has meant that almost always, we have lived in homes with basic amenities outdoors – a small concrete pad right off the back door and a small front porch space. (In the one home we did purchase, my husband, dad, and lots of our friends chipped in to help build a massive deck off the back of our house, and it was my favorite place to be! You can see it here.)
It has been fine “making do” with our outdoor spaces in the past – and honestly I would have survived with what we had here, but with Jett being home this summer and me needing to feel like I was approaching this big summer with all the tools possible in my mom tool belt, upgrading our spaces seemed like a necessity this year.
It can get hard living in a space that isn’t really yours – we can’t paint anything (unless we want to lose our security deposit), we don’t want to spend a lot of money on things we will never get a return on, and we really do not want to do a lot of manual labor that will not pay off when we move out. It is really disappointing for me because I want things to be pretty and exciting and new all the time and when there is zero return on the investment monetarily, and either Chris or I am forced to shoot down yet another idea, it gets discouraging. I don’t know if that makes any sense at all to those of you who don’t live in rental homes, but for those that do, I bet you understand perfectly what I am saying!
But there is something to be said about making a rental your home, a place that you love to live in, because emotionally and mentally there is still a huge return there, even if its small changes here or there. So this year, I really wanted to get creative with ways that we can personalize and upgrade our spaces without making huge monetary or time investments with things that we can easily take with us when we do buy a house!
This all started a couple of weeks ago, when I got bored on a Saturday afternoon and decided, on a whim, to power wash our front porch. At that time, it was a complete embarrassing disaster. There were cobwebs and dead bugs everywhere, our porch was almost black with grime and who knows what that had built up over who knows how long. It really needed a good cleaning. So I hauled out our electric power washer, swept off the porch, and got to work. It was messy and at first I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I kept going because in case you didn’t know, power washing is THE MOST SATISFYING THING ON THE PLANET.
I didn’t stop with the porch, I kept going on to the end of the sidewalk where it meets up with the driveway. The porch and sidewalk looked AMAZING, but of course, that made the driveway look awful. So the next day, I borrowed my neighbors gas-powered power washer and took care of the driveway. Altogether, power washing the porch and the driveway, along with the furniture and garage doors, took around 6 hours. But the return on that small investment was HUGE. I legit just want to sit outside and stare at my driveway all day now. (But I have work to do, so here I am… lol)
Once I had all that cleaned, I knew I had to add a few things to my front porch to make it look more presentable. For the three and a half years we have lived here, we have had two chairs on the porch and that is about it. (Oh, and those two chairs were covered in dirt and pollen and bugs and cobwebs – very inviting if you’re Marie Laveau.) So off I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and for well under $100, I had some fun color and personality to add to the porch! I’m so thrilled with how it all came out!
A lot of this stuff is not available online so you’ll have to check your local Walmart to find them but I am sharing some links for similar items at the bottom of the post!
I started with a small, white folding table – super simple but makes a huge impact! Nothing is more unwelcoming than a chair without a table next to it – where are you supposed to set down your tea (or wine – whatever) while you’re sitting there? I also wanted to add some greenery but knew I would need something that was verrrry low maintenance, so I grabbed a couple of succulents from the garden department.
The smaller one came in the red planter (which ties in great with the pillows) but I grabbed this basket for the larger one and just plopped it down in there in it’s original pot. Maybe I should repot it? I’m not sure – I have never had a green thumb and don’t anticipate developing one any time soon!
These southwestern-inspired pillows were in the large display with lots of other Texas themed ones, but I loved all the bright colors in this one and I grabbed these first to set the color theme for the rest of the porch. I should probably also mention that we got these chairs at Bed, Bath & Beyond years ago and they have held up so well! I don’t see anything similar to them on their website but I’d be willing to bet you can still get them in the store.
Our little frogs belonged to Chris’ Grammie and Grampie and we have had them now for a few years. They’re special to us of course – they always remind us of Grammie and Grampie sitting on the back porch holding hands in their porch swing.
I grabbed one other succulent and this pretty teal hanging planter to add a little more color and bring the eye up a bit! I also love that it is directly in my line of vision from my desk, which is right inside those windows! The little bird on the right hand side is one of a set of three – me and two of my girlfriends each have one to remind us of one another! (We also all have bird tattoos – all different but still for the same reason!)
And lastly, I wanted to up the mood ante a little so I grabbed a box of string lights and just used nails to secure them around the frame of the porch. Those are definitely my favorite part!
When Jett got off the bus after I finished it, I made him close his eyes and walked him around to surprise him. When he looked at it he got the biggest grin on his face and covered his mouth and said “That is amazing!!” and we legitimately did not go inside until it was time to get ready for bed. We even ate dinner on the porch that day! So I’d say that is a huge win!
I would say that for the most part, this is one space that was well worth the investment of time and money! The good news is we can definitely take all these things with us and have already gotten great use out of it! The bad news is… it has opened up pandora’s box for me, and now I want to do all the yard work!
Quick breakdown of all the costs!
Two toss pillows: $6
Teal planter: $12.96
Woven planter: $4.66
Large succulent: $8.47
Small succulent: $7.84
Tiny succulent: $7.00
White table: $17.94
String lights: $12.24
All told, this entire haul came in under $80 (before taxes) so I’m thrilled with that price!
Check out the video below for a time-lapse and see how easy it was to turn this space around in less than 20 minutes!
If you loved this post or if you were inspired to make over your space, I’d love it if you shared it on Pinterest! Stay tuned for more makeovers to come for this summer! Who wants to take a guess at what I will power wash next? Ha!
What a fun before and after post! I’m a big fan of power-washing, also – cleaning in general is my outlet – but you can literally SEE the delineation between clean and dirty when power-washing.