Winter Blues Welcome Spring Updates

I think if you listen closely you can hear a collective sigh of relief that winter is at least on its way out. Officially spring, New England doesn’t seem to care much about that.  I’m not sure if it’s my general readiness to move back to California or the fact that this winter was exceptionally hard given we were living through the throws of a remodel with two little kiddos. Whatever it was, I’ve never been more ready to see leaves. And sunshine. And buckets of flowers.

Flowers were the first thing I wanted to add to our porch. Several of our planters got broken by tractors so I’ve kept my eyes peeled for some new pots. Home Sense had some white ones I was pondering but I didn’t love them. Randomly walking the aisles at Target resulted in finding these adorable baskets. They were in the bathroom section and are technically waste baskets. But they had plastic inserts and I knew immediately that they would be perfect overflowing with flowers. Clearly there’s no drainage hole but these live under the porch and I’ll be careful to not soak them. Because it is still early spring, really the only flowers available are pansies. Not that I don’t love them, I just usually like a grouping of lovely plants. So I got sneaky, the greens are faux from Michaels. The flowers are real. I’ll replace them with some flowy greens soon. But right now they’re lovely and I’m content.

One thing that I learned quite unfortunately is that vintage rugs do not like being on a covered porch. A moment of silence please. If you’ve been following long enough, you know last year I tried to put a vintage rug on the porch under the table. I swore that sweet rug was going to be fine. When my hubby and I were in Turkey a few years back, there were vintage rugs outside in the dirt, everywhere. So I assumed that a covered porch wouldn’t be all that bad. Turns out vintage rugs do not like New England. Or at least their porches. RIP pretty vintage rug.

So because I am not willing to commit major $$$ to any other rug while our house is still seeing a lot of construction traffic, I spent a whopping $40-ish on a 4×6′ rug for the porch off Amazon. The minute I unrolled it, it was love at first sight. It gives me that vintage-y vibe without sacrificing the possibility of another vintage porch casualty. It’s such a pretty french blue, a bit bolder in person than online but it adds a new dimension to the light aqua shade of our door (BM Catalina Blue in high gloss).

You know those days where you meander in to your local HomeGoods / Home Sense with a very particular goal in mind that does not involve you circling the pillow section and inviting pillows to jump into your cart? Well I swear I was not pillow shopping. But this stripe blue pillow stared me in my face, introduced itself as porch perfection and then jumped straight in–he and his compadre, matching blue striped pillow. I just couldn’t resist. It was fate that we should meet and they really do add so much to this early spring porch.

And because a porch update isn’t just pretty decorations but actually spring cleaning, I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed this porch. Between winter and several battles between raccoons and garbage bags, there was definitely yuck in places. Ultimately it needs to be sealed but it looks much better simply cleaned. I really love the muted color of our porch so I do not want to change that just make it more water-resistant. I still need to paint the front door stoop black and touched up the door. These little touch ups can go a long ways but nap time is only so long. #reallife.

Happy spring time friends. I hope you’ve enjoyed our mini porch update photographed by the amazing Ruthie of Ruth Eileen Photography. Don’t be afraid to look outside the “white ceramic pot” box for your porch plantings this season. There’s some great options when you meander the aisles, waste baskets included, LOL. And don’t be afraid to go with a color that doesn’t exactly coordinate with other decor you have. The french blue and aqua are a dynamic duo and I never would have guessed until that Amazon rug came. So fun. What are you most excited about adding to your porch or outdoor space this season?