The Front Porch

Okay so I have been busy unpacking boxes and trying to make it look and feel like home. Boy it is a job to move into a new place and find the space for things that were bought for another house. That is the thing about moving around so much. That chair that you just have to have to fill a space in one house, well, sticks out like a sore thumb in another house.

Curtains; that is a whole other story. Of course when you go out and buy curtains to fit windows in one place, they never work when you move. The windows are completely different or you have more than one window and can no longer find the same curtains to match. So what do you do? Give the old ones to Goodwill and start over again... which cost MONEY. So you take it little by little, room by room and then what...well it is time to move again...

Such is the life of people with jobs that move around a lot. Military, construction...well, I am sure there are others, but I just can't think of any others at the moment.

So there are good things and bad things about this life of a nomad that we have chosen. I really enjoy the change. I guess I get bored to easily or something, but after a couple or three years in one place, I feel the need to move on. I like seeing new places, meeting new people, and learning about different areas and the culture there.

Sounds like I am traveling the world instead of the south...

But even in neighboring states, things can be very different and the people are diverse. I like seeing new scenery, and breathing different air...

Anyway, moving can be good, and like I said earlier, it can have its negative aspects. And decorating a house is one of those.

I have been shopping for living room furniture as of late, but haven't found what I am looking for yet. I have to think long term. Not just what will work for this house, but what would work in any house that we may move into in the future, when we leave Carolina. So I am stumped. I looked at a sectional, but sectionals don't work in all living rooms. I really want a leather set, but don't know if I want to spend that much on something that will be moved again and again...

Yesterday I started looking at the front porch. I really want to fix it up to look like an inviting place to come, sit down and stay a while. A country-style or cottage-style porch is the feel I am wanting to achieve.

I have this settee that is a wicker/rattan thing, that I got for free from an older couple on my mail route, when I worked for the post office. The problem is it has fruity cushions. Not fruity as in goofy or strange. But with fruit and big flowers on them. The wicker/rattan has that nice worn, old feel to it that I like, but not the cushions. So I am looking for some replacement cushions. I just haven't found the right style that will fit in the seat. I may have to find fabric and make my own.

Other than the settee, I have my two ficus trees on the porch. I have had these two ficus' since my brothers funeral sixteen years ago. They need to be re-potted into larger pots so they can grow. They look a little ragged now. Unlike me, Ficus' trees don't like moving. If you move them from their spot, they start to drop their leaves and look ill. Then out of the blue they perk up, adjust to their new environment and start looking good again.

I am looking for another piece of furniture or two, maybe a rocker from Cracker Barrel, and maybe a little table. But I also want some other things to make it feel really inviting, like an outside room. You know the type, you see them on most every country style magazine you pick up. They all look so comfortable and inviting...the kind of place to kick off your shoes, prop your feet up, sip iced sweet tea and visit a spell...

Well I suppose I need to hit the flea markets and some antique malls for a bit and look for some country deco to add to the porch. I also have three small planters that hang across the front of the porch that are in dire need of pretty plants. I haven't decided what I want to put in them yet. Something that makes a pretty bloom, but also something that trails down the front over the railing...any suggestions there?

Yesterday we added some solar lighting along the front of the beds that run the length of the porch on either side of the steps. Someone had planted boxwood hedges in there and they were in terrible shape. We trimmed them up and started trying to shape them into, well, box shapes. But some are much smaller and scrawnier than others and one has died. There is a bare spot on the shorter end of the porch front.

Here is the before shot of the out of shape boxwoods and the planters with dead plants in them. If you have any ideas for perking up the joint, let me know. I am not sure exactly where to start. However, trimming the hedges and pulling out the old dead plants, and adding the solar lights was a good start.


Last night we walked out into the yard and looked at the lights glowing in the darkness, and it actually looked good, homey and inviting. Now I need to get started on the porch itself. Maybe one day this week I will go into town and look for that Flea mall and see what loot I can bring home. For now, I am sitting on my fruity settee and enjoying the breeze and the sound of my wind chime. Looks like a cloud coming up, maybe rain coming. To bad this porch isn't enclosed and I could just sit out here and watch the rain come down.