Back Porch Dreaming

We recently added on a screened in porch off of the back of our house. My Husband, Rip and I were inspired by our trip to Watercolor, Florida last summer. We have been going there as a family for years, but last year really enjoyed our time on the porch in the amazing house we rented with friends for vacation. If you haven’t been to this area of Florida, it is a huge neighborhood in Santa Rosa Beach filled with big beautiful homes that all have multiple gorgeous porches just a short bike ride or walk to beautiful white sand beaches. It is our happy place! We dream often about having our own place there one day and possibly living there in the future.

I am inspired all the time to continue to take on projects around our home. It truly is, maybe, my favorite thing! Rip, on the other hand, usually needs more convincing. Which is really a good thing for our family, so we don’t go bankrupt. He is always the rational one and me the emotional dreamer. So, when he was the one who suggested we look into building onto our back deck, I jumped on it quickly!!

Before Pictures/Progress Pictures

 We started in the winter so the process lasted a little longer than expected, but who am I kidding… the process is always longer and more expensive than originally expected. The weather was just the excuse this time. It was all so worth it.

We decided to keep our existing deck and just make a few adjustments to save a little money. We replaced all the running boards, Shifted the stair case to make room for the fireplace and replaced the handrails to ensure safety.

During construction, we had two splurges that we hadn’t originally budgeted for and they were both on the fireplace. We upgraded the stone choice to be a better match for outdoor hardscapes and had a gorgeous reclaimed mantle installed. Even my husband agrees they were both worth the little extra expense. The only problem is now I want to makeover our inside fireplace, but that’s for another day and time….hopefully!

After the construction was complete the wood needed to age for about three months before being painted and stained. I chose a sample that was the closest to our indoor hardwoods because I wanted it to feel like an extension of the inside of our home. It turned out a little darker than I anticipated, but I really love the finished product. As for the rest of the porch, we matched the exterior house color (Sherwin Williams White Dove OC-17)

Then came my most favorite part; styling and decorating. Maybe my most favorite thing out there is our white gas logs linked here. So far, they have aged really well. I decided to just replace the cushions on our old furniture linked here to save a little money. We also, added two swivel rocking club chairs from Target linked here , and a couple chairs for the kids as well that I picked up at TJ Maxx. All of the accent pillows linked here, and here and side tables here are also from target as well as our rug linked here . From there, I added some plants that are easy to maintain, and a couple other accents that I picked up along the way. Planters here and here.

I’m not sure if it’s because this is a new addition or because we were inspired to take on this project while out of town, but this is the one place in our home where I feel like I’m on vacation. So far, this has been my little escape in the rain or shine to relax and unwind. Welcome to my porch :)