Come and Sit a Spell

Another "gain" in our new home was a large front porch.
We love to sit out on the cool evenings.
We love to meet our neighbors as they walk in the evenings.

The porch had some issues ...

some due to the dripping gutters,

some due to the wrong paint,

some due to boards being placed too close together.
The problems led to rot, mold, mildew, and slippery boards.

Old Porch Floor             vs             New Porch Floor

So we updated.

White base and posts stay,

new wood stained floor,

rope railings,
wide steps,

and some solar lighting

(perfect for evening dates in the fall and winter).

Non-skid tape on porch steps.

It is a reminder of our time in Acadia National Park (honeymoon) and the Seattle, WA area.
It makes me crave a bowl of smoked salmon chowder.
This is probably our favorite improvement and will be the most used.

2 more landscape timber lights.  The other is on the walkway to the house.

The deck was also a learning experience.
We learned that ...
natural rope shrinks when wet (and swells in diameter).
We learned that ...
it is a lot of work to reuse materials.
We learned that ...
there is great satisfaction in hard work.

In the flower garden today.

This used to be a grill table - repurposed as my garden table.
It was made of old pallets and I added extra laminate tiles from the bath and laundry to the top for ease of cleaning.
I am looking for some colorful, cheap "oops" exterior paint to liven it up - maybe yellow, sage, or ?.