Holiday Porch Makeover–All That Glitters is Not Gold…

Sometimes it’s silver…

and purple.

It’s December and I’m still rocking my purple front door and porch furniture. This delicious shade of purple has transitioned easily from summer to fall to winter. And I’m having so much fun with it that I plan on featuring purple once again on my spring porch. Who knew that purple could be so dog-gone versatile?

For my holiday porch, I kept the same rugs that I used on my fall porch makeover–the rich burgundy and purple colors are perfect for Christmas. I began my holiday makeover by hanging a sparkling purple and silver flower arrangement on my front door.

Then I added lots of pillows in a variety of shapes and sizes in muted tones of silver and white. I couldn’t resist these pillows embellished with sequins, crystals, and beads. I used indoor pillows but they typically hold up well on my covered porch.

This crystal owl pillow was just too cute to pass up.

This white velvet pillow with a big silver bow and crystal button was the inspiration for my holiday porch makeover. Once I found this pillow, I carried it around the store and chose a variety of pillows to coordinate with it.

I added some mini Christmas trees in pots wrapped with burlap. I like the way the simple evergreen trees and rough burlap contrast with the elegant pillow fabrics. The green, brown, and beige tones add interest and warmth to this otherwise cool decorating scheme.

On the coffee table, I arranged a silver bowl filled with sparkly silver accessories, a burgundy silk flower arrangement, and a rusty iron lantern on a simple wooden tray–another combination of glittery and rustic finishes. From start to finish, this winter porch makeover took me less than 30 minutes to pull together (minus the shopping, of course).

The carpets are bath mats with rubber backing so they stay in place on windy days and I can simply throw them in the washing machine when they get dirty. And the color is holding up beautifully. These rugs have been on my porch for weeks with no signs of fading from the sun.

And once again I’d like to thank Tonya from TwoInspireYou for this gorgeous purple and silver holiday wreath that she custom made for my purple winter porch makeover. Love, love, love it!

Making an Entrance Part III–Colorful Porch Makeover

Hi everyone. I hope you enjoyed the long Memorial Day weekend. My brother and I spent all three days power washing and painting my front porch. It was a ton of work. Everything got a fresh coat of paint. Painting the rafters, porch pillars, railings, and all those spindles took forever but it was well worth the effort. Just look at this sparkly clean porch.

Does this say welcome to my house, or what?

I really love my freshly painted purple front door (deep amethyst by Glidden) and chairs (grape by Rust-oleum).

And this colorful custom-made tulip bouquet by TwoInspireYou at Etsy.com  is perfection.

The porch is coming together very nicely but I’m STILL waiting for the pink and white chevron rugs from Dash and Albert to arrive. Come on slow pokes, at this rate summer will be over before you know it. When companies advertise new outdoor rugs they should be ready for delivery by spring, not the fall and winter season.

In addition to the rugs, I still need to add some live plants and flowers, but that’s a job for next weekend. This solitary plant was all I had available for my photo shoot.

These gorgeous ruffled and micro-fiber pillows are indoor pillows, but I couldn’t resist the scrumptious colors and textures, and my covered porch should shield them from the elements for the most part. Sometimes you have to be creative and flexible to get the look you want. The colorful flower pots were a gift from my mom several years ago. She bought them at the local dollar store. What a find!

And the best part of all my hard work? Enjoying a home-made iced mocha (get the recipe here), a snack, and a good read on my comfy and colorful new porch–and meeting all the neighbors who stopped by to introduce themselves and take a peek while I worked. I hope I’ve inspired them to make the most of their outdoor spaces and banish beige wherever it’s lurking. Be gone, you drab non-color!