Shades of Blue Interiors

  • Home
  • Explore My Home
  • Tutorials
  • About
    • Disclosures
    • Features & Press
    • FAQ
  • What I’m Wearing

More Spring Inspiration In My Home

April 3, 2015 Rachel 4 Comments

A couple weeks ago I shared a Mini Spring Home Tour, and over the past couple weeks I decided to freshen up my front porch (that was desperately needing it) and my front room/entry area as well! As always, all of my updates are extremely budget friendly… which means they are mostly thrifted finds or things that I make/redo myself. So I hope this offers a little more inspiration for simple but pretty things you can add/change to a home!

For over a year now, we’ve been working on making little changes to the front of our home to give it a little more curb appeal. You can see the before HERE. I first painted my front door and shutters HERE. Then I whitewashed the exterior brick HERE, and added carriage-style hardware to our garage door HERE.

Well, just this week, we added trim around the door, hiding the holes left by our previous owner’s screen door. I painted it with exterior acrylic paint and it makes the door look finished! This update only cost $24 in MDF trim and I installed in just a couple hours. Major bang for your buck, in my opinion.

Porch and Front Room-6

 I also built that little hanging ladder garden, and will be showing more of that later. The flowers were all bought at Lowe’s and were something like $2 a piece. The planter stand was also bought at Lowe’s, and with some inexpensive tulips and daffodils, it really creates a welcoming feel!

I FINALLY found a pair of Pier 1 wicker chairs on craigslist for a great deal, so I sold my hand-me-down wicker love seat (which paid for the chairs)!

Porch and Front Room-2

Since adding these cute chairs and repositioning this chippy table, this space is actually being used now! It’s been nice to come out here in the evening (we’ve had a couple of warm days this past week) and chat on the phone with family or just people-watch.

Porch and Front Room-3  

The pillows were reused from last year, and the seat cushions were found at HomeGoods.

Porch and Front Room-15

I found these little potted hydrangeas at Aldi (small grocery store) for only $5! They are my favorite flower and it makes me so happy to see them growing!

Porch and Front Room-5  

Speaking of Hydrangeas… I don’t get everything right the first time… I wanted SO bad for the 6 Hydrangeas I planted to thrive in that spot between the two boxwood bushes in front. But alas, they didn’t want to. They barely hung on all last year. St Louis sun is just too hot and dry for them. So, I transplanted them to the back, against the house, where I have another hydrangea bush that is huge and thriving. In their place, I put 2 (and I may add a 3rd) rose bushes. Rose bushes love St Louis full sun, I’ve been told, so I’m hoping for better success with these pretty ladies.

Porch and Front Room-9  

One thing I love about living here is how early Spring comes (comparatively-speaking to when I grew up in Alaska and when I went to college in Utah)! Every year, by the end of March, Spring has sprung! I love it!

Porch and Front Room-14  

Alright let’s go inside, shall we?

Porch and Front Room-17

This vintage church pew I painted last year, serves as our entry. Baskets below hold gloves, hats and scarves in the winter and spring, and flip-flops, hats, and beach stuff in the summer. I added a throw from World Market (with coupon), a couple of pillows that were on my front porch last year, and that cute floral pillow from my daughter’s room (which has a complete makeover in the works!).

Front Room-13

Porch and Front Room-24

This shelf with hooks serves as my mantel, but a bit more functional. I added my favorite photo of the temple where Bruno and I were married, some old bottles with faux branches, and a couple spring prints from free printables I found online.

Porch and Front Room-20

This one I found out about from my friend, Danielle’s, Spring mantel with vintage artwork.

Porch and Front Room-23

Adjacent to this entry bench, on the wall that gets the best light in this room, is our piano (still awaiting a finish refresh) with the spring herb printables I drew, and the picture frames I built. Tutorial on the frames coming next week!

Spring Piano-1

I’ve showed it before, but, since it is in our front room, it only makes sense to show it with the rest of the room, so you get an idea of the layout!

Spring Piano-4

Spring Piano-3

I love this angle of the room. Walking down the hallway from my room, I see this view every morning and it makes me happy. That china cabinet I found and gave a makeover to last year and I’ve finally gave it a purpose… housing all of my ironstone collection and some faux flowers.

Front Room-1

 Excuse me, while I show way too many pictures of my collection! haha

Porch and Front Room-28

Porch and Front Room-26

Porch and Front Room-25  

Porch and Front Room-27  

 The famous green sofa needed something “Spring-y” but not too colorful and I was thrilled when I found this fabric at Joann’s to make some pillow covers!

Front Room-9

The fabric is by Robert Allen and is called Spring Mix Aloe, and has a thick linen texture. I love them.

Porch and Front Room-16

 I bought more of the fabric to recover a pair of Eastlake parlor chairs, the same way I recovered this chair and revealed earlier this week. This desk area isn’t a part of the front room, but I thought I’d show how cute it would look as an office chair!

untitled-1

Back to the green sofa. If you are new here, I only call it famous because I painted it last year and I still love it. It isn’t hard or crunchy… it’s only gotten softer with time and use!

Front Room-2

These roses were fresh cut from the rose bushes I planted out front!

Front Room-10

The two main makeovers I did last week, specifically for this post, was this coffee table makeover (it used to be all blue… which was pretty, just not right for the space and I kept putting off refinishing it):

Front Room-4

…And this trestle end table I built and painted (free plans HERE):

Front Room-3

 The finish on the top is one that I am most proud of. It was a lengthly process that included dark walnut stain, classic gray stain, some special walnut mixed with classic gray, white-washing, then dry brushing with white. It is THE PERFECT driftwood finish, in my opinion.

Front Room-8

This trestle end table was featured on Ana White’s site yesterday, which is always an honor. She has made such a huge impact on the DIY world, and especially on me! I love to create and build and she encourages those attributes in everyone, making women feel like they, too, belong in a hardware store, buying lumber! 🙂

Front Room-5

So that’s it! Hope you enjoyed the rest of my home tour! Come back next week for a dresser makeover, the picture frame tutorial, a rug pad review!

curb appeal, Design, Furniture Building, Gallery, Home Tours, painting fabric, patio love, Photography and Staging, Printables, Spring Home Tour

Comments

  1. Elizabeth@ Rustic Maple says

    April 3, 2015 at 5:45 pm

    Your home looks lovely! Those Pier 1 chairs were a great find and your front porch looks like an awesome spot to sit awhile. The roses, pretty door and shutters and seating area must give your home some lovely curb appeal. Happy Easter!

    Reply
  2. Helen says

    April 4, 2015 at 8:37 am

    Rachel, As always…gorgeous! I love your house. Especially your front room! The finish on your table is amazing. Congrats on the double feature on Ana White

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      April 6, 2015 at 9:30 am

      Thanks Helen! xo

      Reply
  3. Jamie | anderson + grant says

    June 5, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    I was just browsing through your blog through your interview at Finding Silver Pennies. You have an incredible talent at painting furniture and making your home beautiful. I’m not sure how I hadn’t found your space before this, but I can’t wait to see all the new things you have to share! Hope you have a great weekend!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I’m Rachel.

Subscribe

Privacy Policy & Disclosures

Category

[footer_backtotop text="Top"]
Copyright © 2023 Shades of Blue Interiors · Customization By: Creative Kristi Designs