Front Porch in Fall: Silver, Cream, and Sage

My front porch used to be one of the banes of my existence, domestically-speaking.  It was a plain, unstained, unpainted wood porch whose stairs were placed in the wrong spot; I couldn't wait to tear it down and rebuilt it. (You can get a glimpse of what it was like in this post.)

But a couple of years ago we hired a painter to stain our newly-built deck. When he was at our house assessing the deck, he looked out the front window. "How about that deck?" He asked.  The decky-ness was one thing that always annoyed me about the porch. I wanted it more porch, less deck. He offered to stain that as well, and I thought--well, why not.

I was stunned!  I couldn't believe that a couple of coats of "weathered grey" made such a difference. I love my porch now!  The configuration still annoys me, but not enough to rebuilt it anytime soon. The silvery stain is perfect to my eyes, so soft and pretty (we chose the same stain for the deck).  After he stained it, I splurged on some grey-and-cream furniture and a good place to read was born.....

I like decorating my porch in different seasons now.  This year I bought two urns to flank the stairs.  I bought the green stool at an estate sale for $15 a few weeks ago. The little jack-o-lantern in the front right foreground is Annie's addition. :) 

I'd hoped to stack some sage and white pumpkins, but flat white pumpkins were nowhere to be found this year.  So I just went with the silvery-sage ones and added some sprigs of common sage and Russian sage as well. 

....these are my white mums in September....note how they had turned purple by October. I didn't see that coming! But I like it. For autumn I cover the blue and green pillows with more neutral covers.  

 

Here's the porch last year, with our sweet Bosco enjoying the sunshine.  What a wonderful dog he was!

I love to sit out here and read a book, sip tea or coffee, and watch the birds. It's good for the soul.....