ORC Lucky No 7 - Week 5

I almost titled this post 

"Sheer Panic!”

What the heck - let’s go with it!!!

This has been slow going and there hasn’t been a lot to show up until this point but it was so awful to begin with that I feel like every little thing is great progress!
 Or that’s what I keep telling myself!

 I have painted everything white that needed to be fresh, glossy white including the swinging bed and now I’ve moved on to the gorgeous green floor.

We have had a green porch floor for years but a friend recently gifted me with Amanda Lindroth's book Island Hopping and I'm obsessed. Like, can't put it down. And it confirmed that this fabulous green was just the color we needed for our porch floor!

I have a thrifted, vintage bamboo mirror for the fireplace wall. 

And I’m covering a lampshade.

And that's about it.
Here's hoping I get a lot completed in one week!!

See more ORC participants here.

 

ORC Lucky No 7 - Week 4

As I stated last week, I've been in Charleston SC (lots of pretty porch inspiration!!)

 and the Virginia mountains 

for the last 8 days so nothing much has happened physically.

I used all my travel time to think, visualize, source and plan 

so I can hit the ground running this week.

Time is flying by!!

One thing that did actually happen was my handy husband worked on the "box" for the gas fireplace insert while I was away.

There is still a lot to be done but I'm excited to see progress. 

We salvaged that fireplace mantel from an old house in Marietta GA over 27 years ago that was scheduled for demolition.
Every time my husband mentioned getting rid of it because I hadn't done anything with it yet, I resisted. Then several years ago we added this section onto our screened porch and we "installed" the mantel as a focal point. Then we started looking for a gas insert and one finally showed up at Restore ages ago and now it's close to being a reality.

We certainly took our time on this one!

Things still look pretty rough but there is actually progress. 

I have the floor paint ready to go now that I'm back in town!

Gorgeous green!

I just need good weather so I can roll it on and show y'all some actual progress. 
Please check out everyone else's progress here and if I haven't bored you too much please come back next week and see if I might actually get something done!!

ORC - Lucky No. 7 Week 3

Week 3 arrives so quickly!

I am traveling to Charleston, SC this week so I am the lucky one!!

Not a lot has happened since last week's post except that I painted all of the trim, fireplace surround and the walls shiny, fresh white!

The last big painting push will happen next week when I return from Charleston!

I'm doing this in real time with a week's absence in the schedule so it's a bit boring at this end. Hopefully once the painting is over and the fun part (furniture and accessories) starts it will be more interesting!

So I leave you with some gorgeous porches to drool over and be inspired by!

Bonus points for the blue ceiling and the cute pooch!

via

I've got a little zebra in my inspiration board.

via

This image takes me back to the porches of my Southern childhood. I don't know where it is and cannot find a source but it could literally be one of any porch in the Lowcountry.

This is what I see in my mind's eye when I think of  big, southern porches!

I love a palm on a porch more than anything!

via Pinterest

I would never leave this porch. Ever. 

via Pinterest

This is fun. I'm definitely incorporating stripes into my porch project. 

Any guesses where?

Have a great week and be sure to see what all the other ORC "Challengers" accomplished this week!

ORC- Lucky No. 7 Week 2

This week is all about painting plus my inspiration and direction for this ORC challenge.

The "befores."  It can only get better!
(if you are just joining in you can read here  how this space ended up in such a sad state!)

First up - paint. 

The roof repairs are finished and the ceiling got a coat of blue paint. 

In the South we paint our porch ceilings soft, pale blue.

It's a Southern gal's Southern porch so the ceiling is blue - it's a given with me. 

SW Swimming it is!

I know it doesn't look like much progress but

it's been so messy and overwhelming for so long that this coat of blue paint has really given me hope that this porch will be looking so much better in a few short weeks!!

Next up, last (yes, last) November I found this beauty:

It was sitting in front of my Restore/Habitat for Humanity Store. 

I did not "need" it. The porch was under a layer of tarps.

It was in perfect condition. Perfect. 

It was 50% off furniture day. This wicker lounge was marked $120.00

 (already a great deal - it's huge and beautifully upholstered in this creamy yellow chinoiserie fabric)

 and it was marked through and labeled $60.00.

So I figured that was the 1/2 price already marked. 

Nope!

It was an additional 50% off. 

Yep, it was $30.00.

Okey dokey, coming home with me.

So this chaise is hopefully going to find it's rightful spot on this area of my porch. There is already a swinging bed on one side and it is staying, definitely staying. 

It is the best reading/napping spot ever. 

So we have to make the two work together in the space.

(a picture from before the leak invaded the porch!)

And see the fireplace on the center back wall? And the gas insert just sitting there?

My husband found  the gas insert at Restore at a different time. We want to fit the gas insert into the antique mantel/faux fireplace we have had on the porch for years. 

I will want to orient the wicker lounge chair and the swinging bed toward the fireplace. 

The swinging bed used to hang across the opening but we have moved it to the side of the space to allow for better furniture arrangement. Still plenty of room to gently swing and relax!

And then I'm hoping to add a few of these elements in a variety of ways so stay tuned!

Maybe a little zebra ...

 Some floor paint...

Bamboo, elephants and blue and white are always welcome on my porch! 

And some fabulous fabrics for pillows...

I'm scheming this week!
Follow along on my Instagram and Facebook as well!!

And be sure to see what all of the other ORC Guests are working on here.

One Room Challenge - Lucky No.7

Here we go! 
This is my seventh One Room Challenge since I decided to participate
 in my first ORC in the Spring of 2015.
So, Lucky No. 7 it is!

I have found the ORC to be a great motivator 
and apparently I like the crazy pace and deadlines!

Let's look back in case you haven't been following along through the past ORC's and then we will jump right in with the project for this Fall.

My first One Room Challenge was my guest bedroom. 
Improvements were definitely made but I hadn't quite hit my stride - 
as you will see when we get to the Spring 2017 ORC :)

My second ORC (Fall 2015) was a Mother/Daughter project as Mollie and I redid her bathroom and incorporated all of her favorite things! Literally, we made them all work!

My third ORC (Spring 2016) was the "Black Is Back" Library.
We had morphed our Dining Room into a Library over a decade before and it was time for an update - and more bookshelves!
I painted everything, I mean everything, a glossy black to create an American version of  a cozy British "snug."


My fourth ORC (Fall 2016) was our Master Bathroom where a faux bamboo china cabinet that was a thrifting find of a lifetime became a gorgeous coral linen closet. Yes, we have a china cabinet in our bathroom.

My fifth ORC (Spring 2017) is my first ORC. 
Don't be confused - I never felt like I had really nailed it with my first ORC. I was a newbie and I got bogged down and while the room had been improved it needed a revisit. 
Much better this time!

My sixth ORC (Fall 2017) was our entryway. 
This room was a lot of fun to do, gave us a fresh look in time for the holidays 
and contains some of my greatest thrifting scores of all time! 

So, here we are ...
Lucky No. 7.
(drum roll, please!)

It's going to be our beloved Screened In Porch. 
Yes, I know it's Fall, but in the South there are still porch sitting days to be had. 
And if any spot ever needed ORC love it's this porch in this moment.

Sparing you too many details on an already lengthy post but this porch was once lovely. Then we had some storm damage, a repair was made (we thought) and then sneaky, leaky, hidden damage occurred, insurance did not cover even though it began with storm damage (story of my life!), contractors were backed up for months in our area (and, you know, $$) 
so we took this on ourselves. 
It's been a huge project taking most of our Summer weekends, 
evenings and any spare moment. 
But we have finally arrived at the "fun part!"

It's time to make this porch gorgeous again!
BUT, 
this is the current reality!
Does't look like we have poured a whole Summer of blood, sweat and tears into it to get here but we have. 
It's all the structural, not pretty stuff that had to happen first.

We do remember how pretty this porch can be (proof below!!) and I am dedicated to having this fabulous, much-loved, much-used family favorite back to being the best room "in the house."



I hope you will follow along on the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE 
to see how we revive this porch. 
Next week- more on my inspiration, changes we are going to make and a couple of creative DIY's!
And, as always, in real time and on a "real" (or no) budget!!

From My iphone 5/2017

Some randomness from my phone.

It's a mixed bag for sure!

This one pan ( read 5 minute clean up) recipe is turning into a major favorite around here. I've made it for my parents when visiting and they are big fans too. The original came from Waiting On Martha but I have tweaked it slightly. 

I have switched WOM's green beans for the asparagus. 

The timing still works perfectly and we love it.

It's in the rotation!

I bought tickets to see India Hicks speak at a garden club fundraiser.

 I have been a fan since an article in a magazine decades ago. She's my hero - she ran away to  small island and lives in a big white house. What more do you need??

She was delightful.

Go see her if you have the chance.

I'm loving these two chinoiserie fabrics currently.

Where, oh where, can I use them?

(I've used this fabric before but in a different colorway. This colorway is growing on me!)

I posted pics on IG and on the blog of a blue version
of these hand stamped anthro knock off curtains. 

I printed the pink version for my One Room Challenge.
The details of how I went about it and what I used are here.
I will tell you that for the blue version I used old sheets, laid them out on a table and eye-balled the layout. You can read why time was a major factor.
For the pink version I was printing on IKEA panels and I laid them out and used painters tape and a t-square to create a registration process for the hand blocked layout. It didn't take much longer to do the measured registration if you feel the need for more definite order. However, when the two different treatments were hanging I couldn't really see where the more precise layout made any difference. So if you are pretty sure handed and can eye things then you may not feel the need to register the block printing.

Then I felt the need for a pink pagoda pillow. The example I found while making my Olio Board was $91.00. So you know what that means? I had to make my own! I used a white pillow cover I happened to have, some of  the gorgeous Sherwin Williams paint - Ruby Shade- I used for my block printed curtains, and a small flat brush and painted it freehand.

 I like it. 

I am currenty obsessed with the Watermelon Mint Lemonade at Chic Fil A.

It is sooooooo good!

Where have I been??

I just discovered @blueandwhitehome on IG. 

Great feed!

Look at this porch. I want to be there. Sipping Watermelon Mint Lemonade!!

I'm also loving this blog right now!

I fell in love with their room on the One Room Challenge that I just participated in and now I'm reading the blog like a book!

J and J Design group.

This room!!!!

And school is out here. 

So we are putting together a Summer Bucket List and getting ready for FUN!!

For us that means lots of porch time with friends. Grilling. Relaxing. Chatting!

BTW, Chloe is more excited than she looks!

Time on the Boules court...

And maybe an umbrella drink around 5 o'clock right here on the shady chaise!

 

Happy Summer!

PS. I love to see pics of fabulous backyards to hang out it.

Tag me on IG if you post your backyard hang out spots!

#porchliving

As we transition into Fall in the South we have cooler evenings and

 occasionally cooler days in September and October,

 but it can still be very warm during the day. 

 The 80's are not out of the norm in Atlanta.

 That makes dressing in blanket scarves and boots a bit tricky early on but it makes for absolutely perfect #porchliving.

((I have written about my porch addiction before)

I'm also addicted to Southern Living mag.

I recently ran across this article about Southern Living on Lonny called the

"Essentials of Southern Girl Style."

Got my attention.

I'm in total agreement from top to bottom, coming in with 9 out of 10

( with 4 being Monograms in general, in my case.)

No Mint Julep cups... yet!

And sitting right in the middle of the SL list was this picture below of a perfect porch

and the statement that we revere our porches.

 

5. Porch swings

"In the South, the porch is a sacred place, and there’s no better way to enjoy one than a well-designed porch swing.”

 

True Story SL!!

At our house we decided to take the porch swing a bit further and put a hanging bed on our porch several years ago.

I've had some questions about our porch bed (best napping spot in the South) so I'm going to show you how incredibly easy it is to have a hanging bed of your own.

So this is just a simple rectangular box framed to hold a mattress. Their are cross pieces on each end with large eye bolts in them. The bed is propped on buckets to make it easy to work. It's pretty solid and heavy. Our bottom board is removable. That's up to you.

In between the ceiling joists we have braces that are secured with screws.   

Then the eye bolts are screwed in to those.

Check the weight allowances for the eye screws and chain and be sure that everything will support the weight that it will hold. 

We went with heavy duty eyes and chain.  We reallllly overcompensated.

We use it all the time. It's the best napping spot in the land!

In the morning the sun shines in. In the Fall it makes it warm and cozy.

Here it is all freshly painted and ready to relax in. 

We have some old cushions that fit in the recessed frame and then we have an IKEA mattress topper on top of that. We used the IKEA topper because we had it from Mollie's many college moves. (Lots of previous posts on this topic!!)

We just rearranged this section of the porch,

moved the hanging bed (previous arrangement here), 

freshened up the paint

and added all of this great bamboo furniture that came from a local thrift store!

My husband sent the picture below and a text asking, "Do you want this?"

Am I breathing? 

And after my ridiculous "No" on the wicker couch a few weeks back I did not hesitate!! #yesplease

Such a score!!!

#nobambooleftbehind

And while you are relaxing on the swinging bead snoozing or reading a book you can hear the trickle of the mermaid fountain right outside the porch.

See it peeking through the ferns?

It's cool and shady in the afternoon.

In the Summer it's perfect with the fan circulating the breeze.

And if it's a little chilly on shady Fall evenings we have cozy blankets 

and there is a gas insert in the fireplace beside the hanging bed.

Yep, #porchliving is best!