Affordable Front Porch Decor!

When we were house hunting we had to drive an hour and twenty minutes from the Jersey Shore area all the way to the Lehigh Valley each time we wanted to see a house. So we always made sure that we were seeing more than one house every time we made the trip. Most of the time, I’d find a house online that I wanted to see and then a few that I wouldn’t mind seeing or I’d just throw a random house on the list that I wasn’t interested in at all just to make it feel like I wasn’t traveling all that way for nothing if the house I liked ended up being a piece of shit. My agent Melissa Keck was tremendously amazing and put up with not only my random requests, like the house needs to have a window over the kitchen sink, but also Sam’s requests, like a room that can be dedicated as a video game room.

And I hate to say it, but the house we purchased was one of those filler houses. I put it on the list knowing I most likely wouldn’t like anything about it but wanted something to see before our appointment with the house I actually came to see.

This is the picture from the listing.

This is the picture from the listing.

The outside looked a little scary and uninviting and I ruled it out as soon as I pulled up, but once Melissa got there and we made our way inside, I fell in love! The absolute epitome of don’t-judge-a-book-by-it’s-cover.

The stairway and foyer, as soon as you step in the door, was exactly what I knew I wanted and that was it. We almost put an offer in before Sam even saw it in person, but it had been on the market for a little while and we felt good about waiting a week for Sam to get there to see it.

Anyways, I knew as soon as we moved in that I wanted to make the front porch more inviting. We also noticed that a lot of our neighbors would spend time on their front porches during the early evening. We live on a street that gets a decent amount of foot traffic and I’m nosy as hell and like to people watch so sitting out front is my favorite thing to do when the weather is nice.

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Our first purchase was obviously seating. I wanted something really simple and comfortable. And after spending a shit ton of money on our new house, I obviously was looking for something affordable. I found this set on Wayfair. And by the way, if you ever need anything for your home, Wayfair is without a doubt the way to go! They have great products and outstanding customer service.

The set is really cute and during the summer I had some bright yellow pillows that added a pop of color, but unfortunately, I left them out during a rain storm and they blew around and got messy. And I guess I’m the idiot, because they weren’t outdoor pillows. Oops.

The next thing we got, which are my favorite, are these galvanized metal buckets from a thrift antique store in downtown Easton for $15! I LOVE galvanized metal and Sam was not exactly sure why I was obsessing over them, but…. men, am I right? They just don’t get it! If you follow me on instagram, then you saw me post a picture of these a couple weeks ago and you already know how infatuated I am with them!

Btw, the welcome rug has been with us for about 6-7 years now! We got it to put outside our front door at our first apartment and we brought it with us to our first home and it’s still holding strong – haha!

That’s about it though. I think my entire life revolves around finding affordable pieces not only for my front porch but my entire home! I love recycling furniture and random pieces, like my buckets! I’m currently on the lookout for a vintage looking mailbox, so wish me luck!

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Country Theme Graduation Party!

My sister is graduating high school in a little over a month and I’m in utter disbelief. I can’t believe she’s about to go to college and about to turn 18 and be an adult.

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This is one of her senior pictures that I took recently.

Graduating high school means there’s going to be a graduation party! I’m helping my mom with the planning. I ordered the invites on Thursday night and we’ve decided that it’s going to be a country themed party because my sister loves cowboy boots and cowboy hats and all the country music and country boys and pickup trucks and what not. I’m not a fan of any of that but I love all the rustic decor. My mom is taking care of all the food and catering and stuff and I’m taking care of all the decorations and a homemade photobooth! I’m super excited about the photobooth actually. I wanted to share my progress with you guys and let you in on some of my ideas so you can let me know if it sounds stupid or if there are ways to improve them.

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First things first! Every grad party needs one of those photo memory boards with pictures of the graduate at all different ages. I’m thinking that instead of putting together the typical board I’m going to hang a few different layers of twine on the wall and use clothes pins to hold the pictures. I tried to search for something that was similar to what I want to do and all I came up with is this…

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I want to do something like this but with the twine not so droopy. I got the twine and the clothespins and did a small test run just to make sure the pictures stay put and they do! So hopefully that will work out.

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Another thing that I’m super excited about are these cool jar beverage spout things. I’m not sure what they’re called but I figured they’re perfect for lemonade or iced tea or even some kind of wine spritzer.

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I got them for $10 each at the Christmas Tree Shop near me and they look very rustic and country to me and considering I’m going to be using mason jars for flower vases and utensil holders I think it’ll go together very well.

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I wanted to make it a very feminine color scheme so we’re using a pink, a light pink, and gold as our main colors. I painted these mason jars and I think the colors look awesome together.

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Normally people use their high school colors but my sister’s high school colors are black and blue which are very harsh to me so we’re going a little girly.

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As for the photobooth, I got some really awesome ideas from Lovely Indeeds blog post which you can find here. I’m going to be using streamers in all the colors I mentioned previously and I’m going to add tissue paper pom pom kinda things that will hang from the ceiling.

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This is what hers looks like and I love how easy it is to put together.

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And lastly, for now, is this awesome milk can I found at Christmas Tree Shop.

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This is my before and after picture. Before it had all these tropical looking flowers so I took some acrylic paint in a brick red color and painted it. I had to do a few coats but while doing my last coat I added some crimson red and some gold streaks which you can’t really tell from the picture. I’ll try and take a better picture at some point but I figured this would be an awesome flower vase that I can load with sunflowers. I may decorate the can a little more but I’m loving the color of it!

So, that’s it for now! Please help me with some more awesome simple ideas or ways to improve what I’ve already got.

Happy Sunday!