A budget friendly porch renovation for under $350!

Guest post by Emily Meneghini – aka my best friend in the whole world. She’s got great taste and is the queen of creating a stylish home on a dime. She was also able to porch makeover her porch for just $350!

I live in a small city house built in the early 1900’s. When we bought it almost three years ago, one of my favorite things about the house was the potential I found in the front porch. The iron railings are mid-century, and the ceiling is beautiful dark wood. I had dreams of sitting there enjoying cups of coffee and watching my children play. All my porch needed was a little makeover and I knew it would be amazing!

One major porch problem: It was carpeted. Yes, carpeted. A brown, astro turf-y textured outdoor carpet. I tried to hide it with a rug, and while it still wasn’t pretty, that did the bare minimum job for a while. As the years went on, the carpet desperately needed to be replaced for both curb appeal and safety when it started falling apart at the top step. We were nervous to find what lied beneath it, afraid that if we pulled it up we would find rotting wood or joists. We had contractors estimate $4,000 to replace the floor. That was $2,500 more than we were willing to pay. Not the budget friendly porch renovation we were hoping for.

I was hosting a baby shower for a friend, and the idea of someone falling down our stairs was the push I needed to move forward with the porch makeover. I researched porch paint, trying to figure out if there was something weather resistant that I could use to paint whatever wood I found underneath the carpet. I ended up using this paint and primer from Home Depot.

I picked up the paint and primer and got to work on my porch makeover. I ripped up the carpet in under ten minutes, and was so thrilled with what I found underneath! The plywood was in great shape. I used a hammer to pull out the staples that were left in the wood and swept all the dirt and leaves from the porch. I wiped it down with water and waited a couple of hours to prime.

Once the primer was on, it didn’t take long for it to dry. While I waited, I used rustoelum to spraypaint the railings. The budget friendly porch makeover was coming along!

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I did two coats of paint on the floor and let it dry overnight.

I had an old wooden rocking chair that has been on the porch for years, but I really wanted a bench. I found this cute wicker bench on craigslist and picked it up for $40! I was texting progress updates to Katherine and she sent me the link to this rugs usa rug that is perfect on our porch (and in her house!)

I found some light linen pillow cases on amazon and used pillows I already had. This beautiful planter was gifted and has been the perfect statement piece for our porch makeover!

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The best part about this easy porch makeover is how easy it is to change things out for each season. For Christmas, I found this rug at ikea to layer on top of the jute rug. I made some pompoms to attach to the corners of the pillows (a tutorial is coming soon!) and I found these throw pillows at Ikea as well! 

The gorgeous garland is from a local greenhouse, and I found a big rosemary tree at Home Depot for the planter. I am so thrilled with how it turned out! Having a welcoming porch makes our house feel so inviting.  

Planter is from Ikea as well.

Well, there you have it. My porch renovation that cost only $350 and looks amazing!

Want more home make over inspiration ? Check out my post on how KO transformed her small pantry into a usable space.

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