outdoor rooms | Afternoon Artist

How does a summer porch featuring purple wicker chairs, hot pink and white outdoor carpets, and pillows in shades of orange, lime, and grape transition into a lush retreat for fall? Fantastically!

Am I right?

I’m still having a love affair with my purple porch furniture, so I’m keeping it purple through fall and winter. So how do you transition a summer porch featuring purple wicker chairs, hot pink and white chevron rugs, and pillows in shades of orange, lime, and magenta into a lush fall retreat?

I began by switching out the bright summer pillows with these fun plaid pillows in shades of cranberry, eggplant, gold, and taupe.

Then I layered on the texture with lumbar pillows covered in cranberry corduroy for extra comfort and warmth.

I switched out the hot pink and white chevron rugs for these rich gem tone rugs. I couldn’t find outdoor rugs in the colors I desired so I settled on these bathroom rugs.

Yep, bathroom rugs!

Just because they’re called bathroom rugs doesn’t mean they have to be used in a bathroom. I’ve used bathroom rugs on my winter porch over the years. They wear like troopers, can be thrown in the washer and dryer, and the rubber backing keeps them in place on windy days.

I couldn’t let go of my purple front door, either. Nope, not yet. So I switched out the brightly colored summer wreath with this fall arrangement in shades of rust, orange, and gold (another creation by my friend Tonya at TwoInspireYou).

It looks amazing on a purple door, doesn’t it?

And the burgundy welcome mat? You guessed it. It’s a bath mat.

For extra color I added these fun flower arrangements in pumpkin containers that I picked up on sale at Michael’s Craft Store. The resin pumpkins (also from Michael’s) look real from the street and withstand the cold temperatures all season long. There will be no rotten pumpkins on my porch to clean up!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed my front porch makeover. Weather permitting, I’ll be sipping pumpkin lattes here and planning my Christmas porch makeover which will feature this custom designed holiday wreath (also by my friend Tonya at TwoInspireYou).

I can’t wait to bling out my porch for Christmas. Have a great day, everyone.

You Had Me At Hello
It was love at first sight when I found these pink and white chevron rugs by designer Annie Selke on the Dash and Albert website last spring. I was in the middle of planning a spring porch makeover and was looking for colorful outdoor rugs to complement my purple wicker chairs, gemstone colored pillows, and colorful accessories. So the moment I saw these pink and white beauties I threw down my money and did a happy dance. The rugs were on back order but that was fine; it was early in the season so I had plenty of time to pull my porch together.

But my happy dance was short lived when the estimated delivery date for my order was delayed until June, and then delayed again until July, and then again in August. I considered cancelling my order and began a search for a suitable replacement but I couldn’t find anything else that rocked my world. So I waited, and waited, and waited for my rugs to arrive, and pulled my porch together without the rugs. It was a nice makeover, but the porch looked unfinished without the rugs.

You Complete Me
Last week my rugs finally arrived so I swept the porch, dusted the furniture, cleaned the cushions, ran out to a nursery and picked up a few flowers and planted them in colorful pots and finally–FINALLY–my porch makeover is complete. This makeover was a long time coming but oh so worth the wait. Dash and Albert, rugs you complete me. Here are a few more pictures.