Screen Porch Reveal...Before and Afters!

 So a major project I've been working on this spring has been the screened porch.  To start, it was a very nice porch to begin with.  The previous owners gave us the furniture with the house and I couldn't have been more thrilled with that!  We've never had a porch before so we would have had to buy all new stuff and what they gave us was really nice.

Here's a picture I took when we walked through the house for the very first time, not knowing we would be living in it...

See, nice really!  The cushions were in great condition just a little faded from the sun, nice rug, cute colors.

I just felt it needed my touch.  I wanted white flowing curtains, a mantel of some sort, fun, funky colors.  I wanted it to be a place that made me smile, that felt relaxing but that was also charming.

We ended up using all of our curtains from our last house-they were inexpensive panels from Target so if they got wet or dirty I didn't mind.  Mike came up with the coolest idea to hang them on these poles he found at Home Depot that only cost him $2!

Here's a picture of the curtains in progress and this cool mantel I found at an antique store...

You can see the rods, they are just piping but they look really cool!  I kinda like that they are unexpected, not your typical dark traditional rods.  The curtains unfortunately were not long enough (your curtains MUST touch the floor!;)) so that's when the process started of hunting for just the right fabric to add a panel on the bottom of each one. Not to mention to recover all of the furniture.

I knew I needed indoor/outdoor fabric that was fade resistant, water and mildew resistant and I knew I needed a ton to cover all the cushions and the curtains.  The pineapples just weren't doing it for me anymore, I needed more color so this is what I ended up using:  

I also purchased some fun yellow chevron for the rocking chairs.  I know how to sew but I have never done slip covers and I wanted them to fit nicely and look "professional" so I decided I'd add zippers.  Let me just tell you that I have never poked myself with so many pins in my life!  Slip covering is HARD!!  


So there was definitely blood, sweat, and tears involved in this project.  Would I do it again after this?  I'm not so sure about that.  It wasn't easy but maybe it makes it that much more enjoyable when I can walk out in the morning with my coffee or at night with my glass of wine and enjoy this space in our house!

So here it is now in all it's glory, the screen porch- Adrienne style;)...

It's hard to see but I added the blue polka dot to the bottom of the curtains-waaay harder than I thought it was going to be but it finally turned out the way I had planned.

So before....

And After...

We had this rug in our dining room and it's an indoor/outdoor rug that a certain dog liked to pee on so I steam cleaned it and I really like it out here-so far no dog pee!  Now I just need a rug for our dining room;)

This yellow mantel was a great find- I got it for $70.  I cleaned it up and put a protective coat on it but I liked the pale yellow so I didn't change that.  Mike nailed it to the porch so it's nice and secure. I think this will be fun to decorate for all the seasons!

I had this hanging in our other house and have not been able to find the perfect place for it in this house...until now!

Just some fun summertime stuff.  Ainsley painted the seahorse- I love it!

My attempt at chevron art;)  And of course starfish because I just love starfish!

These were in the attic holding fabric so I brought them down and put some of B's toys in them.  Bennett loves to play out here and it's perfect because we can all be out here and he can play with his toys-just another room to live in!  

Another view of the room.

I ended up having lots of extra fabric so I recovered some pillows and cushions for the patio.  Pillows I can handle but big bulky cushions are not fun.

 We have had this table and chairs for 11 years and it's seen better days but until we get a new set I think the cushions give it some life;)

So there you have it, my porch reveal!  Hoping to start a new project soon- turning the playroom into Mike's office and his little office he has now into a mudroom!  This will involve Mike a ton more though so it could take awhile;)  Stay tuned!

Linking up to this summer mantel party!