Finally! New Paint and a Porch Upgrade

I finally painted the house and finished my porch updates.  When we bought the house the front yard consisted of some type of green asphalt type lawn (which was popular when our home was built in the 60's).  I'm not sure what they called it, but it was cracked with weeds popping up everywhere.  After removing that and adding a sidewalk and rocks, we pretty much didn't do anything for quite a while.

At some point I removed the metal posts and added wood because I wanted to go with a nautical theme and they just didn't seem to fit.  We needed a bench so I used an old bed to make the bench and then built a planter.  And, it stayed that way until 2 months ago.  

We finished painting and it was time to really do something with the yard and porch. The first thing I did was to update the columns - they looked too plain, so I added some wood pieces and molding at the bottom to give them some character. Next came some outdoor carpet. 

The table was added using an old cable reel that I acquired on Varage Sale.  It needed a little repair, sanding and paint - then an additional bird and anchor on the front.

We had a lot of large pavers and rocks in the back, so we hauled them into the front and arranged them in the area in front of the porch.  There was also an old fountain, which we had never used and also needed some maintenance.  I didn't want to use it as a fountain, but I discovered when I turned it over there was a center area with a big groove going all the way around.  It was sanded, repainted and flipped over.  Then I put some finer rocks in the grooves (found a cool looking fish at Ross) and added some fake dollar store succulents.  Everyone who goes by thinks they are real.  The other plants are fake too; except for the one that has brown leaves.  That is an experiment to see if I can keep a plant alive - it isn't working.  I think the sun is too hot for it.

The buoys (hanging on a post) were made when I was trying the Varathane Weathered Wood Accelerator (which is great by the way).   Most of the other decor was contributed by family (over the last two years when I said I was going with a nautical theme).  They are glad to finally see it in place.  

We've had a lot of compliments from the neighbors, although we keep getting asked if we are from Massachusetts because of the bench - in reality I just wanted to use a city that was associated with whaling since I was painting a whale on it.

I still have a few projects to do with the rest of the yard, but I feel good acomplishing this much.