Friday, June 26, 2015

FARMHOUSE FRIDAY - OUR FARMHOUSE PORCH


Hello and welcome to this month's edition of FARMHOUSE FRIDAY!!! This month we are showing our farmhouse porches.




Our farmhouse porch has been a work in progress up until about three days ago, when we finally put a check mark next to "Finish Porch" on our to do list. When we first bought our farmhouse this area was a big screened in porch which sounds wonderful right? Wrong. It was rotting and dirty with a drop ceiling and the concrete floor had about 10 layers of peeling paint (probably lead). On top of it the porch just didn't look right design wise, it looked like someone had stuck it on the side of the house haphazardly. The picture below is of our farmhouse before we owned it but it gives you an idea of what it looked like before we did anything.



Our driveway comes up to that set of steps on the side of the house where the screen porch was. Every time people come to our house that is the door they use and I was always so embarrassed by what they had to walk through to come in. So after living in the house for 3 years we finally got to tearing it off.




Oh happy day. To our excitement we found the original stone foundation after multiple days of jack hammering.





We couldn't get rid of all of the concrete however because when they added this back corner of the house (1960s or 1970s) making the mudroom and the screened porch they poured all of the concrete at once. It was not in our budget to redo all of that so we had to leave it. We wanted to add a porch here anyways so we just build over the concrete that had to be left. The below picture shows the rebuilding process. Don't be jealous of the cinder block chimney:)




 Neal filled the space underneath with rocks we collected from our property and then he mortared them in place. The goal was to tie the porch into the original part of the house and make it look like it had always been there.







We did the same at the bottom of the steps. 









I planted a climbing hydrangea on the one side and a bunch of hydrangeas that my mom didn't want anymore along the front.






We just finished the porch roof underside this past weekend. Once again we used cedar fence posts to do the job. I wanted something rustic looking because I was started to feel like the porch was looking too "new" but I also wanted to use something that wouldn't rot. At $100 for all of the cedar it fit right into our budget also.




Here is the before



During 



And after







Many hours of priming and painting later....




I was able to hang the awesome primitive candle chandelier (a hand me down from my mom) that has been patiently waiting in my garage for some time.









I thoroughly enjoyed being able to put pretty stuff out here finally. Since we just put the siding up last fall (see more about that here) this is the first summer that I don't feel like I am just putting lipstick on a pig.




The very old trunk is a recent antique shop find and it fits perfectly between the rocking chairs and is the perfect size to  hold our bird seed can and bug spray.











We still have to finish the sides of the porch roof and we plan to put up railings probably in the fall. In the next couple weeks we will be begin working on the area to left of the porch this summer so stay tuned! Thanks for visiting and make sure to check out the rest of the Farmhouse Friday blogs below!




***Door Color - Porch Gray by Better Homes and Gardens
***House Color - White on White by Glidden
***Benches - Sisal by Martha Stewart




TOWN AND COUNTRY LIVING Farmhouse-Porch-thumbnail



  STONEGABLE FARMHOUSE BACK PORCH- Create a cozy space on your porch or patio-stonegableblog.com


  HOUSE OF HAWTHORNES Farmhouse-Porch-7048


  FARMHOUSE 5540 IMG_9877




  FADED CHARM FARMHOUSE






25 comments:

  1. A gorgeous porch, Megan!!!! So worth the time and effort! LOVE everything about it.. it has such a vintage feel. Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of your house projects!!!

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  2. That stone work is gorgeous! Love the shelf on the wall. Love the chairs. Love the picket fence in the background. And totally love the cedar fence board idea!!! Great post all around :)

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  3. Just beautiful!!! Amazing transformation.... looks really peaceful!!

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  4. omg Megan. I'm dying over here. LOL I am LOVING the stone detail WOW love it all! ~Mel

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  5. I always get excited when I see you have post. I'm so in love with your home and style! You and your husband do wonderful projects to that beautiful home--and I had to show my husband the stone foundation so we can copy your idea--that is fabulous. Love your chandy too!

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  6. you all did a wonderful recreation. It looks like it's been there forever. and wow, that stone foundation is amazing. it really adds to the authenticity of the porch's appearance. perfect decorating too! Great job!!

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  7. It's so lovely! All of it. You two are the hardest workers!

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  8. the porch colors are lovely and enhance the "old" porch feeling. Love the rock work you did to tie in the old with new. wow. lovely.

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  9. Your porch is wonderful. I could imagine sitting in one of those rocking chairs catching an evening breeze.

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  10. What a lovely outdoor space and I really like how you were able to make it fit the look of your farmhouse.

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  11. Megan, I just love your farmhouse and what you have done on the porch. When my old house grows up, it wants to be a farmhouse just like yours..Happy Friday..Judy

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  12. The stone work is so beautiful and I love all of the pretty rustic touches. What a great find that trunk was!!! It turned out beautifully!! Enjoy it!! : )

    ~ Wendy
    http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  13. Love the stone work on your adorable farmhouse porch, Megan!! The chandelier is a great accent piece too!

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  14. The two of you have created a wonderful space to enjoy on lazy summer evenings. I love it. The rock walls and the cedar roof are wonderful touches.

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  15. I adore your porch, and the farmhouse style that you've added to it!!
    Susan

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  16. Dontcha just love it!!!! and I have a strong feeling you will continue to 'make it yours' /it wil be interesting to see it again this fall - Great post and many of us know exactly how you feel about it.
    I shall return b/c you are on my own "honor roll of Blogs"..

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  17. Just catching up and the porch looks fantastic! The rock foundation is beautiful. Old PA houses have the best rock! I had to laugh when I saw you painting or should I say still painting. That's all I have been doing the past year and my hands hurt. I move from room to room, inside to outside, I have bits and pieces of everything painted and nothing completed. I don't know how you do it with two little ones!

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  18. I loe your "lipstick on a pig" analogy, that is what we are doing with our back deck. I sure wish we had a porch like yours, it's perfect!

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  19. Oh how nice your porch is. I especially like the rock work the best of all the improvements.

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  20. Está maravilhosa essa varanda!!! Simplesmente adorável

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  21. Your blog and work are always a big inspiration!!!. Bellissimo!!!

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  22. Nice Porch! Willing to grow cannabis, If yes then check out this guide.

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  23. Amazing! Going to buy the massage recliner? If yes then visit to know more about.

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