Hi friends! Spring is almost here and I wanted to give “warm thoughts” to all of you with some outdoor Spring inspiration! About a year ago when I started my blog I was trying to figure out what I wanted the name to be. We all know that names have a huge impact on a blog as they do anything else. Well, a little background of my life is that I grew up in “corn country”, on a pig farm, in the state of Indiana. With amish on all four sides of our home, we definitely knew what it was like to drive slow and swerve for the poop piles. Amish are very sweet people and just let me say, they bake the best homemade goods! Ok, back to my point, I always loved the old farmhouses with the large old porches that came along with them. I thought, “what better than to name my blog after something that I love”? So, here I am now in the city of Tucson, Arizona where there are no farmhouses, only occasional swerving for the dead javelina, and with weather that’s hotter than the blazes in the summer (which I actually love). I have to be creative to have character in my builder grade home. And that’s the little background that has given me my name and my current “vintage porch/patio”. I hope you enjoy my little patio tour. I’ve also used some affiliate links of where you can find some of these items and similar farmhouse style decor items for your own home.
Welcome to my patio…
It’s one of my favorite places in my home, well I guess I should say outside my home. When I found these vintage shades at a thrift store I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them and that’s where my design dream all started. I get many questions of how I hung these shades and where I found the jute rope wrapped lights. I wanted something that looked stylish, rather than just a cord hanging down. And who wants to wrap their own cord with jute, which would probably take hours? When I found these, it’s like the flood gates of the lighting gods just opened up. You can find the jute wrapped hanging lights at World Market . I then just tied the lampshades to them with some jute twine. Seriously, I can’t rave more about these! They are the absolutely one of the best purchases that I made for my patio. Although I found these shades at a thrift store, I found some similar ones here as well and they come in white and ivory too. My husband added some large eye hooks into the ceiling studs and I used these old barn pulleys to hook them up.
I made my own farmhouse table out of a 5″13″ table from a thrift store. I wanted it much longer than the original table so I added longer boards to the top to make it an 8′ table. If you would like to try this yourself, you can see the process and the ugly before pictures here. I love the way it turned out! I just couldn’t pass up a table for only $13.75 at the thrift store and knew I could make it into what I wanted it to look like.
I also found this cute old wood swing and bench at a thrift store as well. I love the idea of the swing at our table. It makes it feel so much more cozy out here. Here is a cute wood bench that I found and World Market also has some great wood benches as well. I love these wood swings I found here and here. The mismatched seating out here gives my patio the character that I was dreaming of.
I made this wood tray out of old pallets that we had left over from our wood wall that you can read about here. A great place to find trays similar to these is Etsy or Ebay. There are so many wonderful small shops out there that make items such as these. And a friend gave me these terra cotta pots and I used my white chalk paint to dry brush them. You can find my chalk paint recipe here.
A little story behind this amazing old dresser…I call it amazing but my husband thought that I was crazy when I bought it for $30. The laminate is chipping off, it’s old, worn, and tattered, AND he had to fix one of the legs for me, BUT this is exactly how I wanted it. Yes, it has seen better days but what better than an old tattered dresser turned potting cabinet? My husband should know better than to ask me, “what are you going to do with that?” by now. I always have a thought and a place for everything and if I don’t at the time, he knows I will come up with one eventually.
This serving cart is made out of an old media cart that I found at a junk yard. I love the large industrial wheels! I took some old, weathered pallets boards and cut them to size and then just laid them into the lip of each shelf. I love the rustic/industrial feel that the cart has now. The large vintage glass dispenser, I found at a garage sale for $5. When the lady told me that it was $5, my heart did a happy dance and I tried not to act too excited for fear that she would raise the price. I found some great glass drink dispensers here and here. As you can see from my cart, I love these white pitchers! I usually pick them up at thrift stores when I find them but they are becoming harder to find. I found some gorgeous farmhouse looking ones here and here.
Our sweet goldendoodle, Chester, enjoys his time out here as well. Actually, he pretty much enjoys his time wherever I am. As long as you are touching him, he is happy.
Thank you so much for joining me on my little patio tour! I hope that this has helped inspire you to dive in on your own DIY project or has given you ideas for ways to freshen up your patio for Spring. It will be here soon. Have a wonderful day my friends!.
Source List:
Jute Rope Hanging lights: World Market
Hanging shades: Thrifted but linked above where you can find some
Porch Swing: Thrifted but linked above where you can find one
Bench: Thrifted but linked above where you can find one
Lanterns: Thrifted but are from Pottery Barn
Table: thrifted and made into farmouse table: see the tutorial here
Large Chalkboard: DIY on the backside of an old mirror and stenciled with chalk. Stencil from Walmart
White metal stool: Thrifted but you can find great ones here
White painted chair: thrifted but you can find similar ones here, here, and here
White wicker chair: Garage sale, you can find some here
Large vintage drink dispenser: Garage sale but linked above where you can find one
Glasses on bar cart: World Market
Painted Pedestal: Antique store and painted with my chalk paint recipe that you can find here
“Welcome to the Porch” pillow: Leonie theseafoamcottage.com
Pillows: The inserts are from Ikea and then I had a friend make me some covers from a painters drop cloth (which makes them washable and durable) that you can find here or here
White Cake Platters: Thrifted or find one here
Plants, herbs, and succulents: Home Depot
“Rejoice Always, Pray Continually” sign: DIY with stencil
I love your porch, but I especially love your insta stories! You crack me up! My husband I are going down to Tombstone next month for our anniversary. Isn’t that romantic?. Anyway, I saw your Indra story st the thrift store/junkyard recently and wondered if you would share where the location. I figured if I have to endure the gunfight at the Ok corral, then he can enjoy some of my fun. Thanks for entertaining me on a daily basis! Kim
Thank you so much, Kim! That is so sweet of you. I have never been to tombstone. The thrift store from my stories is on Grant Road just west of Oracle Road across from the habitat restore. Hope that helps, have a great time!
This is the best porch I have ever seen …..love it !
Thank you so much Lorraine!??
I love your porch and your home as well I do have a question how do you protect it all when it rains? I have a breezeway that I set up in May and it’s our extra room for summer then in the fall I put everything away but I have to be careful what I put on it so it doesn’t get ruined from the rain and I want to put more items on the breezeway but not sure if i can.
Thank you so much, Ruth! It doesn’t get wet under our patio where my table and chairs are.