Back Door Guests are Best

This is the time of year that I seem to find myself outside more hours of the day than I'm inside.  We eat breakfast and dinner outside, even when completing work on the computer I find myself sitting on the porch swing with the laptop just to be a part of the birds chirping and mild temperatures.  I love Spring!

The farmhouse loves Spring too and it politely asked for a little Springtime freshening.

Oh, do be careful what you ask for little farmhouse, for you surely may get it.

:-))

Spring has arrived!

When we began this project of freshing up the BACK porch and surrounding area, I asked for your input on the blog and FB.   You overwhelmed us with over 70 great suggestions and ideas, many of which you will find incorporated into this space.

We started by hanging mosquito netting as drapes, we've done this with all of our porches throughout our marriage.  It not only softens the look, but it also helps to minimize bugs when it's untied.  

This old iron bench and vintage farmhouse sign look right at home here.  I've had these antiquing finds in storage for almost a year....they've been waiting for their appointment.

I love this vignette, especially with the farmhouse lighting peeking through to say hi. 

The black accents against the all white house really pop, it's a great mix. 

It wouldn't be a farmhouse porch without ferns, would it?

And an abundance of fragrant Springtime blooms.

We jazzed up that lonely window on that super sized wall with shutters and a window box filled with pretty pink Petunias.

 This was an easy inexpensive project that packed a huge punch.

When we first viewed the property, one of the things I envisioned for the section of the backyard pictured above was a flower garden right off the back porch. 

Voila!  I now refer to it now as the "key garden" because we shaped the walk to look like a keyhole.  

The short walk ends in a circle where we placed a table and some garden chairs that are completely surrounded by flowers, it smells heavenly.  Cotton slipcovers can quickly be added to the garden chairs for entertaining. 

I planted various types of flowers, roses, daisies, plumbago, hummingbird bushes.....I can't wait until it matures and fills in.

  We've eaten breakfast here everyday this week and it's quickly becoming one of our favorite places.

There's that wonderful antique iron fencing, we used a few sections of it to create a pretty divider for the garden.  It adds so much charm and interest to the backyard and looks like it could have been here all along. 

This was a fairly simple DIY project that I'll share in another project...hubby was quite clever in hanging this. :-))

I actually spotted this lovely fence several years ago at my friend Tony's store but didn't immediately buy it.  When I called him back to get it, it had already sold.  :-(

A few months later he called me to tell me that the fence didn't work for the buyer and that it was for sale again.  I never bought it and he never put it back in his store.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I called him a couple weeks ago to see if he still had it.  We couldn't get there fast enough when he said HE DID! 

Perhaps it was meant to be at the farmhouse all along.

I love that thought.

We have 6 other sections of fence that we will use elsewhere in the yard for other farmhouse projects.  :-))

We hung several things on the porch walls, but they aren't just decorative accents, all of them add functionality or storage. Such as this shelf with cubbies and hooks.

The wicker baskets that I placed inside the cubbies hold magazines, gardening gloves, insect repellent, and a variety of other porchy things. They hide all the mess.  And that little bench is the perfect spot to remove gardening shoes and tuck them underneath.

Many things were used for planters such as these galvanized buckets that are playing host for these pretty asparagus ferns.   

I also used this hanging wall pocket shelf as a planter, which I must confess is one of my favorite things right now.  It offers such fun storage for garden tools and magazines among other things.

 It was the perfect size to tuck a few small plants into some of the little pockets.  Isn't that sweet?

A few other things that were happy to play as planters...

bird baths...

an old wooden tool box

galvanized boots,

apothecary jars.... I've created many a terrarium in glass jars over the past decade. :-))  I didn't notice until I was uploading photos that there is not a single terracota pot on the porch...all the planters are other things.  That wasn't a plan, and I certainly love pots, it just worked out that way.

Another of my favorite things, my oversized wicker wrapped pickle jar that I filled with birdseed, it's so useful!

Hubby's favorite thing.....

this side of the porch because it contains the porch swing. 

I frequently find him dozing here.

Zeek's favorite thing....just being with us on the porch.

A group favorite thing...... before and after photos.

Not really any major changes, but many many small changes sure dressed it up for Spring :-))

Have a great weekend!

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