Cottage Style Porch Makeover Summer Decorating Ideas Easy DIYs Affordable Finds

Hey everyone! I am so excited to be back. In today's video we are headed outside to get my front porch ready for summer. I will be sharing all of my tips and ideas for creating a cozy cottage style front porch perfect for relaxing this summer. I'd like to thank Wayfair for partnering with me for today's video. Let's go ahead and get started. First I wanted to share just a quick update out back in my fresh cut flower garden. I have tons of tiny flowers popping up everywhere. I know there are some weeds in here too, but my flowers are still so little I'm waiting for them to grow just a bit more before I tend to the weeds to ensure I don't accidentally pull out a little flower. There are so many different flowers and fillers for bouquets growing right now. I have snapdragons, china asters, cosmos, white sunflowers, globe amaryth, billybuttons, zinnias, queen anne's lace, as well as dill and basil for fillers. So exciting to share more of my garden with you as it begins to bloom. As I mentioned I am excited for the opportunity to partner with Wayfair for this video. Wayfair is one of my favorite places to shop for affordable high quality pieces for my home. It's Wayfair's big outdoor sale right now and that means huge savings on anything you need for your outdoor space. You can get up to 50% off and get fast shipping. It's the perfect time to find some amazing deals to add some cozy charm to your outdoor space. I have always wanted flower boxes on my porch and I thought it would be a great opportunity to add them this year. I ordered these flower boxes from Wayfair and they came in a pack of two. These are amazing quality, large, and very sturdy. Best of all, they are extremely easy to assemble and then attach to the porch railings. I opted for black because our porch railings are more of a cream color but they do come in white and gray as well. I will show a bit later in the video how these can be easily installed. I will be sure to share all of the details from this video in the description if you are interested. In addition to the flower boxes I also picked up this geranium wreath for my front door. I love that this wreath had a neutral color so that you could use it in spring and summer. You can use the same wreath for all the different spring and summer holidays by simply changing out the ribbon. I love versatile pieces like this that you can use across many seasons and occasions. Be sure to check out Wayfair and take advantage of the sale if you are looking for anything to refresh your outdoor space. Now that we have these beautiful flower boxes I thought that we could do a little bit of plant shopping together to fill them. My porch is covered so I knew I needed some plants that liked partial sun. I also knew that I did not want any more flowers. Flowers are lovely but they come with maintenance like deadheading the buds so I wanted the boxes to be all green and low maintenance since I had other flowers that I was caring for. I looked at several different green plants but I ended up going with these asparagus ferns for the center of the boxes and then four of the sweet potato vines for each box. This year I wanted just a little bit of color out here on the porch. I have these beautiful fuchsia flowers. I fell in love with the delicate flower and color and I had to bring them home with me. As I mentioned my porch is covered so Boston ferns love it here. If you have a sunny porch you might try a Kimberly Queen fern. They tend to like the sun just a little bit more. I also have my plant ladder that was handmade locally and I picked that up last year and I love the charm and character that it adds out here. I just put some simple white flowers in there. Whenever I can I try to pick up antique garden pieces for my outdoor spaces to add that old worn lived-in look that I love so much. I picked up this antique galvanized tub and stand on marketplace and it is the perfect addition to the porch. I do have some faux flowers I incorporate out here on my porch. Sourcing real flowers to fill large containers can be pricey so I invested in these large faux flowers a couple years ago and now I can use them year after year. When you style them with other real plants like these ferns it gives the illusion that they are also real. I like to make groupings of three whenever I can as it is more pleasing to the eye. Next we are styling the galvanized metal tub with these beautiful fuchsia flowers. We will finish this side of the porch with these sweet pillows in this floral pattern for a pop of color. Bringing in some pattern to your porch can help it to feel playful and cozy. I added some ribbon to the wreath because I wanted it to hang down just a little bit lower. Please excuse the front door it desperately needs a paint refresh along with the porch railings and I would also love to change the shutter color but you all know I talk often about how creating and maintaining a home takes time. You can't do everything all at once. The project list is always long but everything will get done in time. Next I am bringing out the assembled flower boxes and once the brackets are attached and adjusted to the correct width for your railing they just hang over the top of the railing. I am so pleased with how they came out and they add the perfect cozy cottage charm to my front porch and I will be able to enjoy these for many years to come. These boxes do have drainage holes built into the bottom. I am adding the large asparagus fern first and then the four sweet potato vines. These plaid pillows I have had for a while so I am just bringing those back out. I am reusing some outdoor pillows that I had and simply changing out the covers. You all know that I talk about adding personal touches to your home to tell your story. My porch is no exception. This black metal patio set belonged to my husband's grandparents. You can tell that it's old. There's a hint of the original teal color peeking through but it's okay with me because it's part of the story out here. I have a quick little DIY that I wanted to share. I am using some garden lime to age this terracotta pot. I mixed equal parts of lime and water and you do have to use this particular variety of garden lime. I know from experience that other varieties do not work. You want the mixture to be thicker so I did end up adding a bit more of the lime. You just paint it on and then let it dry in between the layers. I added a matte clear coat at the end since I am using it outside and I also did not paint the inside of the pot. I love the rustic look of this and how the design on the pot is very organic. It was extremely easy to do. Let's take a final look at how everything came together. In this week's cozy chess I thought I would share another inspiring quote with you. I always try to take an opportunity to share things on my channel that bring joy, hope, and happiness. I truly hope that you find those things here. In next week's video we will be headed out to the thrift store to see what we can find and of course I will have tons of styling ideas to share with you. As always I hope you got some inspiration for your home from this video. If you love thrifting, easy DIY projects, and affordable decorating tips I hope that you will subscribe and join me here every Wednesday. Thank you all for being here and I will see you all next week.