Porch Makeover Updates + Seeing Under the House

Sometimes in the blog world projects don’t exactly happen as I get to write about them. Take for example our current porch makeover project. This was actually something we did last summer and I’ve only been able to write about it recently! Can you believe that? Good porch makeovers come to those who wait, right 🙂

Last we saw the porch I had shown you how it was sanded down in preparation for paint. It was a ton of sanding and thankfully not by us. After we spent weeks trying to get 12+ layers of paint off that 113 year old wood, we decided to call in the experts and breathed a sign of relief as someone else got this job done faster than we could have.

Once we had a clean slate, we got good news and bad news.

The bad news was there there was a bit of damage to a few parts of the wood. All of which had to be torn out and replaced. We knew this going into the project, but not the extent of it. It turns out there was damage in the corner, at the stair railing and on the sides where we have an opening in the porch “walls”.

This particular area in the corner seemed harmless at first, but then once a small part of it came out, lots came out. The hole in the porch kept getting bigger and bigger.

Soon we were able to see right underneath, which is kind of neat for such an old house. I was hoping for a treasure chest of old jewels, or maybe even just some cool letters. Sadly there wasn’t neither. Just a pile of dirt. And no traces of animals thankfully.

And the wood underneath looked pretty good, which we were happy about. You never know what you find with these ancient beauties, there’s always some old house surprise somewhere.

We also had to replace this part along the side of the porch too. It had a bit of water damage, but considering it’s out in the elements, that was fine. The restoration company we hired knew just what to do and before we knew it we had new wood that matched. Well as matched as you can get to 100+ year old tongue and groove planks.

But there is good news to this story. While all of this repair was going on, we were preparing for the finished product. That means picking out a paint color! The company we hired for this project uses Benjamin Moore paint, which was my preferred choice since it’s such good stuff. They have a line of outdoor paint, specifically for porches.

Guess which we ended up with?

French Grey. Of course. Cause I can’t get enough of grey! And how could I have picked another with our pending trip to France right after this project was done? I’ve even convinced my husband to love it. Totally convinced him. He’s on board with rockin the grey on the porch. Yahoo.

I still have to post pictures of France, I’m terrible!

One thing we did ask for about the paint was how grippy it would be, meaning non-slippery. Since it is a floor and the previous one was so slick when it got wet or cold, you could ice skate on the thing without ice skates, I was concerned for traction.

I mean I can’t have the delivery dude breaking his ankle trying to bring me all the curtains I order online right?

It turns out they can add sand to the paint before they put it on. So keep that in mind if you ever paint an outdoor floor.

Before we knew it, this was happening! So come back for the whole porch floor reveal later this week. I promise I’ll show it before the year is up!

A quick run down of where things are with the porch makeover plan:

• Remove all the paint on the porch See more here
• Remove paint on the concrete stairs
• Repair broken wood, repaint the porch and touch up any trim
• Stain the flower boxes?
• Get a rug See more here
• Repaint the chairs See more here
• Replace the cushions on the chairs
• Get a coffee table of some kind
• Add decorations like lanterns, pillows, plants and other accessories including outdoor lights