Front Porch Re-do

When we first moved in to Ms. Amber, the first thing I wanted to tackle was the front porch... I was going for spring/summer vibe but now looking back, I'm going to call that a BIG PROJECT FAIL!! Notice how I can't even keep the flowers alive?

Step One...

So one of the first things I did when it started getting warmer outside (which was around February-ish because AZ gets freakishly warm too early) was give these nice ladies a quick re - do...

It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I was dreading going from White to brown, but with one coat of spray paint primer, then paint they turned out amazing!!! By the way, when it comes to spray paint, I will ONLY use Rustoleum 2x spray paint. I'm telling you, others don't even compare.

Definitely going for a pottery barn theme here.... I also just grabbed some white canvas fabric and recovered the existing cushions, and then made some accent pillows with bird fabric...

Step 2....

Next in line was tackling the wreath on the front door. The one we had I still absolutely love, but it's more for fall... Target had some beautiful wreaths but they were too small, and I'm not going to pay $40... I'd rather make my own :)

I took a trip to hobby lobby, grabbed a "twig" wreath, then 3 "cluster vines", and simply tied them on to the wreath with wire...

This part was a little tricky but I glued on fish string to the four corners of this "S" (that was also from Hobby Lobby), and then tied the strings to the wreath so it has the allusion of being suspended...

Simple. Clean. Elegant. Looooooooveeee it :)

This was again one of those things where you cross your fingers and hope it works :)

Step 3...

Then I had to dress up the lantern just a bit by adding some apples and greenery at the bottom...

Which leads to me my Step 4.....

This looked absolutely awful. Again, we're back to the fact that I can' seem to keep real flowers alive... but I'll give myself a break because again, we're in AZ and flowers do not like to live here!!
My goal was to have something that looks like this (thank you Pottery barn for putting your catalogs on the Ipad!!)

Again..... Simple. Clean. Elegant

This is totally the look I was going for, and if I have to use fake flowers to get there, then so be it :)

I really did feel awful using fake flowers but 1) you totally can't tell when driving by 2) if you choose light colors, you can't tell as much when the sun tries to bleach them and make them even lighter (like it would to a fake red rose) and 3) anything is better than above :)

I'm quite happy with how it turned out...

And here she is all together :)

Have a great Sunday!!

Hanging Ladder with Lanterns

I've been so excited for this post! A few weeks ago Mr. Husband and I were at Scottsdale Fashion square getting ready to spend some gift card money at Crate and Barrel (I already feel like a trader, but we got some awesome stuff for our pantry decorating... that post coming soon!!)... Well, Pottery Barn is right next door, and I couldn't resist going in. I saw this and just. about. died.!!!

If you can't tell what that is, it's a antique ladder with twigs on top. It was just so amazing!

So then I kept walking around, and died again. I loved the lanterns hanging from the jute.. sooo Pottery Barn-ish!

So I thought to myself "D, what can you do to have both of those elements without making too many new holes in your new patio ceiling (seriously, our house was just done being built three months ago), and without making Mr. Husband uber mad...."

Well, let me show you :)

I first looked on Craigslist for an old wood ladder, but figured I could just make one myself and get exactly what I want. I went to Home Depot and spent less than $5 on wood (the ladder is 6 ft. long). I then started assembling the ladder in the craft room, started staining, and then got a bit too nervous about staining the wood in there, so moved to the garage...

While the stain was drying in the garage, I started working on my lanterns. I just got married 2 months ago, and along the aisle in the church I had shepherd's hooks with lanterns lit up. I tried to buy stuff for the wedding that I new I would be able to reuse again, and I'm so glad these lanterns made the list!

They were white, so I spray painted them black...

These are the hooks I used to hold the fishing string (to somewhat give the ladder the illusion it is floating). Here's the deal... I am in Arizona, and for the next few weeks we'll probably be getting some amazing monsoon storms. So I needed to make this "ladder hanging thing" in a way that would allow me to take it down easily, should I need to. I also attached the lanterns with "S" hooks, so I could take them down right away if I need to.

After the stain and top coat dried, I took some nice twigs I found in this dumpster, dried them out and stapled them to the top... Everyone finds awesome furniture on the side of the road, and I find tree trimmings... I'll take what I can get !!

I had finally finished and was ready to hang it up, but as expected, we had crazy winds... So I opted to wait one more day. It killed me!!!

But finally, here she is!

The whole project cost me less than $20, and I would say it's well worth it!

Linking up to CSI's Pottery Barn Challenge and My Backyard Eden!