Under the first FB picture of our new house I wrote, "All it needs is a cute front porch!" Little did I know, we would wait 8 looooong years for that new porch to materialize.
While we focused on interior projects, I slapped a coat of paint on the door and called it a day. The yellow is Lemon Tart by Behr. Even the lady at the paint counter said, "Woah, that's bright." The pizza guy could always find our house though.
Also, right after we moved in, the city accidentally cut down the beautiful, healthy 40 year old tree in front of our house. It's long story, and it makes my blood boil to this day. I had pregnant-lady hormones and a lot of free time on my hands, so I called and yelled at people until they agreed to plant a new tree the following spring. I unreasonably demanded a pear tree and surprisingly, that's what I got.
Fast forward to 2018, when we finally saved enough to add a front porch. One that I designed myself, with a super-sophisticated design program known as "PowerPoint." See the exotic mood board below.
We chose no-maintenance Trex for the decking and lattice, and sleek metal railings which will never need to be painted. "No maintenanceā is the best maintenance. I had them pull out the trashy rose of sharon bushes when they demo-ed, and instead planted a row of white hydrangeas under the front windows. I can't wait until they are big and fluffy, hopefully they didn't get frozen to death by the Great Polar Vortex of 2019.
The yellow door was cute, but this custom black door is DEAD SEXY. The Baldwin lockset was a splurge but you can unlock the door with a touch, and I walk 3 dogs every day so I have no regrets. The unlaquered brass is shiny-new in this picture but it will patina beautifully over time. The lantern and mat are from All Modern, the brass numbers are Restoration Hardware, and the wreath is from Target. I even ordered a cute wreath holder with our last name on it. Because who doesn't want to knock on a door labeled The Stoners?
Look at that little pear tree now! It's almost as tall as the house! I love that it's the same age as my son, I really snoozed on the chance to take yearly photos of him with it. Dang it!
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The contractor was a total ding-dong who managed to biff things up nearly every step of the way. He would make choices himself instead of asking me or, you know, looking at the the design I gave him. So a few things had to be ripped out and redone. Also, the day they did demo, I got laid off and who doesn't love spending thousands of dollars when they have no job! But now we have the prettiest porch on the block. No regrets.