A Cottage Inspired Garden Porch Makeover!

Hi Ya Folks!

Aside from the MANY tornados that ripped through our area this past Saturday evening, the weather here in Eastern North Carolina has been just beautiful lately!  The sun has been shining, the birds are singing again and the temps have been staying in the upper 60’s ~ lower 70’s. Just PERFECT in my book! Time to open the windows and let the fresh air in!

Today I wanted to take you on a tour of my “Cottage” inspired garden porch. I am not a master gardener. I am not sure I even have a “Green” thumb as I have killed many plants over the years, BUT I do love to dig in the dirt. I have a vision for my yard….you know the kind of Cottage gardens shown in Country Living  and Cottage Garden magazines? I love Roses, Sunflowers, Black Eyed Susans, Purple Cone flowers and the kind of daisy like flowers you would find in the country.

I love having a front porch. It was a MUST when we were building this home and of course the designer in me just HAS to decorate it just as I would any room inside the house.

Here are a couple of “Before” shots just as Spring was starting to bless us with its warm rays of sunshine.

After a long and very cold winter my front porch was looking tired and needed some help.

And here is my porch after I’ve made a few changes. I bought the beautiful Purple Verbena hanging baskets at Lowe’s Home Improvement. ($20 for both, not bad!) They love full sun.

The vintage bike I have parked in the front garden really needed some help. I had painted it pink a few years back and now it was pretty rusty and the paint was falling off. A little too shabby for me.

I gave it a new red paint job and I think it looks alot better!I added a few potted flowers as well. Red Geraniums in a terracotta pot just screams “country” to me. I adore them.

I bought a few cheerfully red Gerber daisies and plopped them in polka dotted pots I painted last year.

Looking for a new use to an old license plate? I built this birdhouse when we moved to NC years ago and used our old New York license plate as the roof.And here’s a quick tip. Turn old rubber rain boots into vases for fresh cut flowers! I just put a glass jar inside the boot, filled it with water and added the Daisies. I think they are as cute as can be!

Here are a few shots of my garden from last year….

Will my garden be “magazine picture perfect” someday? Perhaps not, but I am having fun all the same!

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Lisa