Blending Scandinavian Style & Craftsman Details : Front Porch Renovation Reveal.
We made it to the final week and now ready for the reveal! Never having done a Better Homes & Gardens One Room Challenge before, we didn't didn't really know what to expect. Now we can report that it's been a lot of fun! The ORC provides a great platform to "meet" other designers and DIYers and get inspired. The week-to-week encouragement has been incredible, as well.
So to begin, we actually ended up "flying the coop" and road-tripped home to the Midwest for the last 2 weeks. After many months of stay-at-home and social distance, it was really nice to get to spend time with our family (and take a break from home renovation projects)!
We made it back home to Denver this week and got to enjoy our newly renovated front porch last night, for the first time! After many weekends stolen to this "lil" project, we're so pleased with how it turned out and can already tell we'll be enjoying many hours in the new space.
Nothing beats a Before and After share, but first let's recap what went into this renovation.
For a refresher, we wanted to blend Scandinavian flair and Craftsman details on our 1920's bungalow. You can head to our OCR Week 1 blog post to see where we started. The reno included:
Replace the old interior door (that was serving as an exterior door) with a brand new Craftsman Style Front Door
Demo the old privacy wall and build a new cedar planter garden wall
Demo the ugly brown carpet and install new textured flooring on the concrete.
Demo heaps of dirt (and weeds) that had once likely been a planting bed and build raised tiered planter beds. Along with this, we also replanted the existing planter beds along the front of the house.
Demo the clanky old railing and build cedar and iron deck & stair railing.
Install new chair swing and furniture (more on that below).
Not mentioned above : we painted the house right before the ORC challenge kicked off (and in perfect time)!
We've never shared exterior photos of the house. In fact, the only photo I have is one that includes me and the pups, as we're daydreaming about the porch renovation. As much as I love the holidays, I am soooo happy that this isn't a 365 day/year Christmas colored house! (This photo was taken in February.)
Before Photo:
And 4 months later, we have transformed the entire front of the house, adding much needed curb appeal!
After Photo:
One of my favorite elements is the new swing chair and rocker! We also added twinkle lights (which funny enough, I thought weren't working, until l discovered late last night that they actually work, so I'll have to add some night time shots later).
I also can't get over how much difference the new door makes! It's such a nicer feeling coming up to a REAL exterior door.
A final element of this renovation that has been so rewarding is watching all the petunias bloom. I sowed petunia seeds indoors and didn't expect so many to actually make it to blooming plants! The hanging baskets, window planter box, and several other pots are now full of blooms.
I think this about covers it for the One Room Challenge Front Porch Renovation Reveal! It turned out to be more work than I had anticipated, but the enjoyment and and value in curb appeal has made it worth it! While we've been working on the exterior, people passing by have shared compliments on our work, which has made it that much more rewarding! Thank you all for all the cheers and encouragement along the way! Now that this project is done, we'll be sitting on the front porch and dreaming up the next project!
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