The porch is an important part of any home. Some porches are an outdoor living space used every second possible, and others are just a cozy welcome. Regardless, let’s bring our cozy style that we love and adore from the inside; out. All without breaking the bank. Today we are going to cover the budget friendly approach to updating your porch, but first lets quickly chat about our farmhouse porch DIY and updates we have underway at the moment.
Our Porch Update
Recently, we removed the rails and spindles. Most of them were rotted and falling apart, and from the moment we moved into White Cottage Farm, this porch was always on the to-do list. It kept getting pushed aside, and its finally up for its makeover, just ahead of fall!
After the rails were out, we sanded the floor to allow for us to repair any bad boards and get it prepped to be repainted. To our surprise we love the way the porch looks raw, it has good color and if sealed correctly, we think it’ll add some farmhouse charm to the outside of our home.
In addition to the porch floor, we also updated our exterior lights. We created a bolder statement with the size and overall stature of our exterior lights around the porch, giving it a more historically accurate look.
As it sits today, we need to finish sanding the perimeter of the porch, paint the skirt board around the entire deck, and fully replace the stair treads leading up to the porch. We will be sure to share along the way on our social, but now let’s jump into a budget friendly approach to updating your porch.
My Budget Friendly Approach to updating a porch
Assessment: Step Back & Take A photo
Looking at the perspective from multiple angles, from streetside, to driveway, to sitting on the porch yourself, you need to full immerse yourself in the space to fully identify areas that may need attention and areas you may want to change.
If you have a printer at home, I always love printing out spaces I am about to tackle. May sound a little old school, but I love have print outs, that I can sketch possible looks on, or take notes like measurements and other top-of-mind thoughts you may have. I love taking it with me to the hardware stores, and its just more practical for me than just a digital copy on my phone.
Dream: Identify the Needs & Get Inspired
There is nothing cozy about going out of budget. During your first step, prioritize any needs you may have found during your assessment step. More times than none, we go to jump into a very quick hour project, only to turn it into a weekend project filled with headaches and more questions than answers. Be throughout on your assessment step and really address any needs that you may have found. This may be, a broken light fixture, cracked or broken siding, damaged window-screen, rotten rails and spindles, whatever you may have found, try to fix those things ahead of making the space pretty. I have don’t it time after time, where those projects aren’t really fun, and you may feel like you have nothing to show at the end of along project filled weekend.
With all the needs identified (hopefully none) now let’s get inspired for the fun and pretty part of the project.
Take your photo from the assessment step and scour the Interent. Jump through Pinterest boards, find your favorite designers on Instagram, or see what trends are happening within the Home Facebook Group you may be in. Get inspired and dream on how you can showcase your style and vibe without stepping foot inside your home.
Organize your plan by price
Organize your thoughts by cost or estimated cost. I’m talking starting with how many light bulbs do you need to change, to paint colors, all the way up to changing out the front door. If you create a sound budget for yourself, and organize your thoughts by price, it’ll be easier to help you plan if you want to take on one big project or a bunch of little projects.
Pro Tip: Check local lumberyards or building suppliers to see if they have an extra inventory of doors and sometimes windows. You would be surprised those suppliers have some really nice products at a discounted rate because a door was ordered with the wrong swing, or size. You can get some really nice products this wa
Bringing in Seasonal Wreath, Plants, & Decor
Sometimes a floral or decor refresh is all you need to completley change the look of the home! Typically this is the most affordable fix to any look.
Find annual and holiday sales at your favorite stores
Right now there are a lot of labor day sales and this is a great way to spruce up your porch while keeping the budget happy. If you don’t know where to start, look at those retailers that not just a little, a lot of everything you may need. Wayfair Labor Day sale is going on right now and some of my favorite things are on sale, with items up to 70% off, head over to Wayfair and start getting some steals! So its worth stopping by. Here are my favorites finds going on right now.
xxLizMarie
