Decorating my Front Porch by season might be one of my most favorite things to do. Decorating and styling small setups has been a huge passion of mine since I was little. I mean, obviously, since I developed an entire business around it. I utilize my GEG Styling inventory every single time!
I am so incredibly lucky to have a wrap-around porch too. It is something I’ve wanted since I was a child, mostly because my grandma Joan always told me how much she wanted to have one.
Why I decorate the Front Porch
Honestly, being covered, the front porch is basically another room of the house. I actively use it every day, all year round. The boys do Toddler School Lessons out here, our fairy gardens are in a corner and I keep my greenhouse up here {major shout out to my Etsy Girls who gifted me my favorite little porch greenhouse!} The amount of play and bonding that happens in this front porch “room” is incredible. So I want to keep it fun, inspiring and always exciting for them to be a part of.
2 Front Porch Doors
Our house actually has 3 front doors, I know, crazy right. We actively use two of them and I sort of block off the other with the fairy gardens. Our main front door leads into our kitchen and then my home office for GEG and the Etsy Shops is down to the left. I mostly only styled our Front Door area this past year. But, now that the boys are more into the decorations and less into touching it, destroying it as toddlers, I do both. Even more so, now that they like it and appreciate it, I decorate more elaborate. Hooray! #MomWinning
How I Decorate My Front Porch
For this post, I’m going to focus on the main structure that you’ll see all year and I’ll link to the Resources List and then Seasonal Decorating at the end.
The signature pieces that you’ll always find on my porch include:
- Signs & Chalkboards
- Milk Glass
- Rustic Crates
- Fly Repellent Plants
I find most of my signs at Hobby Lobby, Joann’s and or Micheal’s Craft Store. I’m a sucker for after season clearance sales and coupon apps. Did you know that you can score major cash back in these stores by using the Ibotta App? You can, read more or JOIN IBOTTA now. You can also save a lot of money with Ebates if you’re ordering from Michael’s Craft Store online. Register for Ebates too, and get a fun, $10 welcome gift.
Chalkboards & Crates
All of my chalkboards and crates are from my Green-Eyed Girl Productions Styling Inventory and have worked a wedding at least once. You can find a super easy tutorial on Chalk Writing over on my Wedding Planning blog.
Often I buy things from my brides after their weddings, to further stock my inventory and help them recover some of their wedding expenses. Those items head straight into my storage unit and can be rented by the next bride or live on my porch forever. You will see these exact same crates at work every fall in The Mommy Made Boutique, Handmade Market Shows too!
My Front Porch Plants
I have always loved to garden and plant and coordinate the colors around me. It’s a thing, I don’t know why. So naturally, our Front Porch is going to have a lot of greenery. The house is Blue with Red Doors and White railing, so I have committed to an entirely Patriotic Theme all year round. All of the flowers, except for greenery foliage, will bloom in Red, White or Blue. Our first house was Green & Yellow in Eugene {#GoDucks} and when we moved here I brought all of my pots which still contain Yellow Flowers, but I have transplanted them around to our Bamboo Beds {another post for another day} leaving the front all coordinating colors.
All of my porch plants are shade-loving perennials, {#ILoveFerns} with the exception of the herbs. I start my herbs small on the porch {where the bugs are fewer} until they’re established and then in the fall I transplant them somewhere out on the property.
When we get to the posts on the Dry Creek and Front Garden you’ll see last year’s crop of Rosemary, Mint, and Lavender. I already know where I’m planting these newbies after the summer too! While they’re young or even starting from seed like my Basil, I rotate them out into the sun. Or, I have the boys do it as a part of their chore chart. They love to water with a spray bottle too!
I will write an entire post on the plants that I use to repel flies too!
Coordinating Flower Pots
If the plants will never flower I put them in a colored planter pot. I make sure all of my pots have that handy self-draining reservoir at the bottom, or I fill them with 2″ of rock for drainage. Here is the link to Amazon for my Plastic Planter Pots that you can buy in White, Reds and Blues. I also have a few of these Bleom Planters because they are so durable, versatile and neutral wherever I put them.
Milk Glass Succulents
If you know me well, you know that I have milk glass EVERYWHERE in my house. We also used it all over our Wedding as the centerpieces. In fact, I had so much Milk Glass, that’s how I originally started my Etsy Shop, The Vintage Event. I opened it to sell off the remaining pieces from our wedding and it sort of took off from there. You can still shop the Vintage Milk Glass and Linens Section of the shop to find pieces that are moving on from my home to another.
I find it at estate sales or garage sales and just pick it up wherever I see it. Then once it has lived in our house long enough, or I have too many similar pieces, I list it in the Etsy Shop.
I will also have some succulents planted in milk glass and ready for sale at the Spring Mommy Made Boutique Show in June.
Hanging Baskets
Front Porch Hanging Baskets are a must have for a Wrap Around Porch. I’m sure it is a hidden rule of the world somewhere. I also make sure my Hanging baskets are full of Perennials. {I secretly have it out for annuals, I can’t spend the money on them and watch them die weeks later} I then store them in the greenhouse over winter.
These 10″ White Resin Hanging Baskets are available on Amazon and I LOVE them!
Front Porch Resources
If you’re just here for the pictures and the good, come on down to the bottom here and review the resource list.
Shop my Front Porch:
- Plastic Planter Pots
- Bleom Planters
- Vintage Milk Glass
- White Resin Hanging Baskets
- Shop Signs & Decor from Joanns
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I have never really thought about decorating. The only thing I have thought about is the doormat, ha ha! And now I am being reminded that I need to buy one that includes Falkor – ha! Right now it just says “A Pilot and a Normal Person” live here… But we need the little dude included! 😉 And perhaps I will take some decorating tips from you too!
That’s so cute! I can’t wait to see your new doormat when you get it! Although, the Pilot one seems pretty cool!