Thrifty Use of Old Porch Light

For Sure, You Will Think I'm Nuts

Maybe I got a little carried away with this one. You be the judge. I recently replaced the old lanterns in front of my house. I was just about to throw it away when I realized I may actually be able to make something out of them.

Here is what it looked like before. Pretty ugly, don't you agree?

Here is what I did with it. I took out all the surrounding the glass and replaced it with wood, cutting a hole out for the birds and installing a perch. I removed the socket and built a little floor. I caulked all the seams (don't want it raining down on my feathered friends) and sprayed the brass, white. The wood was painted gray. It now matches my house. I'll be picking a tree tomorrow and hanging it up.

So now, the old fixture won't rot out in some landfill, but will hopefully become a home for some birds in the spring. Hey, I'm saving the world in very little ways.

01 02 12

Front Porch Re-Do

The Porch Needed A Face Lift

It started with some rot on the molding around the front door. It lead to repainting the railing, painting some windows, adding some flowers, painting the garage door, adding some urns, replacing the front lanterns, painting the front door and cleaning the windows.

A little rot opened up a large can of worms. One thing just lead to another.

It was a lot of work, but it looks a lot better than it did weeks ago.

Take a look:

After fixing all the rot around the door (if you want to see how I did it or before photos click here:

http://christys-thriftydecorating.blogspot.com/2008/09/fixing-wood-rot.html ), I gave the front door a new coat of paint. Black with a border of cinnamon. I installed some new hardware since the old stuff was worn and not very secure.

So what was thrifty about the door? I made the stained glass myself (oh, that saved me plenty), and I happen to have the black paint in the basement, so there wasn't much of a cost. The hardware however, was not cheap but I justified that thinking we need the security, right?

I installed these lanterns. I found two of them on sale at Lowe's. No electrician needed, I did the wiring myself. I do only basic electrical work. The plant hangers beneath were sprayed with black Rustoleum. They use to be a light shade of green.
So now that the front door and trim had a new coat of white paint, I had to do something with the large atrium window above. I hired this job out ($190.00 for priming and painting inside and out). I don't do heights, so it had to be done. Chalk it up to homeownership.
The railing was scraped down with a wire brush, primed with rustoleum primer and sprayed with high gloss black. Looks like new.
One thing just lead to the other. Now that the door looked great, the trim was painted and the railing looked like new......the little tin roof about the front window needed paint. I brushed this from the windows above and finished with a ladder. Not really high, so I could handle it.
These urns I purchased at Lowes. They were on sale for $45.00 each. They are very well made and are pretty large. Best to wait until the end of the season to buy things like this. They are so much cheaper. These urns were $89.00 each during the peak of summer.
These stones I actually had hanging around the yard doing nothing so I used them to build an additional place for flowers right next to the front porch.

Here are some photos of plants in the front containers. The reason I'm showing you this is that some of them are not real. The ferns I added are from Walmart and you can't kill them. You really can't tell that they are fake and add to the fullness of the arrangement. I am not a fan of plastic or fake flowers outside, but I think you can use them together to really fill up garden containers. I find that the greenery works but stay away from plastic flowers. They just look "plastic".

I installed the scalloped garden edging (I also had that hanging around) into the front garden bed. Below another shot of the edging. I dug that all in...what a pain!

The mums I purchased at Aldi's for $2.99 each. What a deal!

New doorbell-$12.00.

Last but not least, the $1.00 clearance- garden gnome....priceless.

Well, it was a ton of work, but satisfying in the end. The front of the house now looks so much better. A coat of paint can do wonders.

01 02 12

Fall Decorating

Autumn is here and it's Time To Decorate

photograph:courtesy of www.creativenecessities.com

Tis the season for those ubiquitous earth tones of red, oranges,brown and gold. I love this time of the year and everything it symbolizes. Autumn is football, Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's family time all season long. Most of my home is decorated in earth tones, so all the fall colors blend very well, but these colors look good in any house.

Decorating is pretty easy for this time of year. Adding some fall floral arrangements, table clothes, napkins and centerpieces is all it takes. If you're ambitious, you can even decorate the front porch with most of those items.

photograph:courtesy of www.thelinendoctor.com

A very simple and inexpensive natural tie wrapped around a napkin can add to your table decor and give the people sitting at your table a real feel for the fall season.

photograph;courtesy of www.hgtv.com

Candles can add to the overall seasonal warmth.

photograph: courtesy of www.bhg.com

A seasonal wreath displayed on the front door. The wreath below does not scream Halloween or Thanksgiving. It's beautifully generic and fits with this time of the season.
photograph:courtesy of www.hgtv.com

photograph: courtesy of www.bhg.com

It's not fall unless I have planted some mums in my front yard. I found huge mums in "Aldi" supermarket for $2.99 each. I could not believe my eyes. The same mums were over $10.00 in Home Depot and Lowe's. Aldi's is regional and you may not have one by you, but if you do, go in and check it out-great buys.
photograph: courtesy of www.rugbydirt.com

Ok....I know, this is looks disgusting, but I laughed like heck when I saw it. The puking pumpkin and you better believe there will be one on my porch. Just imagine how it will gross out all the little kids-ha!! I love it.

photograph: courtesy of www.premierephotographer.com

Enjoy this time of the year when the air turns cool and the inside gets warm.

01 02 12