Weekend Porch Refresh

*in partnership with Lowe’s

Over the weekend I finished up a porch refresh for a great friend of mine. Naomi and I met five years ago in a fitness class, she is a single mom who works full time to support her family. She has two kids in elementary school and no spare time to spruce up any space in her house so I wanted to surprise her with a porch refresh over the weekend while she was at work. Her son plays basketball in the street in the evening with his friends so I thought this would be a great spot where she could relax and watch him play.

Her porch has been bare for the last year and the deck was in need of a protective coat. I played off the red door for the color palette, choosing swivel chairs with complementary cushions and pairing them with tropical foliage and accent pillows. The porch looks quite different with the new accents from Lowe’s!

Before we could add the furnishings and plants I solicited her help in first giving the deck a protective coat. Lowe’s has several products available for treating wood, I suggested we choose one without stain with just a clear finish to enhance the natural color of the wood. We chose Valspar’s One Coat Clear Stain to protect against rain and elements. We washed and swept the deck then applied the clear coat, it only took us an hour working together to apply the clear stain. I started with an angled brush but then switched to a wider flat brush (highly recommended!), the Blue Hawk brush made the application much quicker and easier.

We’ve had a rare flurry of rainstorms this week and another swept in yesterday, but no worries, look at the results after one application of the clear coat, the water beads right up, impressive!

The clear coat dries in 4 hours but we gave it a full day to cure. Yesterday I stopped by her house to add the chairs and planters and I’m so pleased with how it all came together!

These swivel chairs are a great bargain, only $208 for the set of two. They look charming on her porch but would look fabulous around an outdoor dining room table too!

Notice the tropical leaf pillows, they reverse to a stripe to change the look, also a bargain for $15 each. The ferns in the large black planters play off the tropical pillows.

Lowe’s has a great selection of modern geometric planters and I love how foliage looks with black. Seen below are the black resin square planters, green glaze ceramic planters, and the black glaze ceramic planter, all filled with palms and foliage found in Lowe’s garden department.