Porch Plans

So holy moly. Hello summer.  When did you get here?  I swear I just put the Easter decorations away. (That's because I did just put the Easter decorations away. Don't judge) But really, school is almost out and the days of drippy sticky popsicle arms and wet beach towels and bathing suits on the carpet are quickly approaching. I can smell the chlorine hair now. Since summer is so close I started to think it might be nice to have an outdoor spot to enjoy such activities. One that we are not embarrassed to call ours. That's spot at our abode is our back porch. Ready for the before? It's bad ya'll. Really. Bad.

I wasn't kidding. *hangs head in shame.

Some of you might know we are renting right now while our real-deal forever home gets built. So, honestly, I haven't invested much in this house (obviously). We've always seen it as temporary. However, "temporary" is approaching 2 years now. My DIY artsy self is starting to twitch every time I walk out there and see the dellapodated grill, frog poop (lots of it), broken yard toys, and mismatched used-to-be-inside-but-now-it's-outside furniture. I'm longing for a comfortable place to sit and have a meal outside without being totally grossed out while the kids jump in the blow-up pool.

Our grill is approaching 9 years old and begs daily to be put out of its misery. It's rusted, and missing a handle, and fire only comes out of a few select spots so you have to place food strategically to actually get it to cook. A new grill has been on our list for a long time.

Our "patio set" is actually my husband's bachelor pad kitchen table from his wild and crazy single days. Needless to say, it was banished to the back porch when my stuff moved in. :) It too is rusted and dirty and blah. You can even see where the kids have tried their hardest to make it look better via sidewalk chalk.

And last but not least is our screen. I got this at a garage sale like 10 years ago. And honestly its main purpose is to hide our plunger. Yep, the toilet-unclogging device we all have but no one talks about. It's there. I don't want to keep that thing in the house so it's our dirty little secret on the back porch... hidden by an even dirtier screen.

So here's the general plan. #1. A place to grill and eat that's not disgusting. #2. A place to hide all of our yard crap. #3. A revamp of a few existing things to make them pretty again without spending mucho dinero. #4. It all, for the most part, has to be temporary/movable to our next house (in other words, no painting walls or tiling floors). #5. Some pretty stuff.  Here's what I've put together.

You like? Since I'm always on a budget and looking to save a buck, there's going to be a heap of DIY with help from RYOBI and Rust-Oleum mixed with a few sensible purchases from some of my favorite places like OnlineFabricStore.net and WorldMarket.com.  We got a new STOK grill that we are loving already and a misting system from Arctic Cove that's going to make our 100-degree + Florida-humidity porch a lot more usable in the next few sweltering months.

So stay tuned in June! The porch is cleared off and the kids have been put to work! (well, one is working... the other looks more like a supervisor)

I'm so ready for a DIY outdoor makeover that will hopefully make our porch go from neglected to marvelous in time for fireworks this July.