Beach Porch Makeover

I was recently asked to revamp this washed out porch by the family whom I rent from.  I've been renting their beach house every summer for the past 4 years and it has become a 2nd home to me.  I LOVE it there, so you can imagine my excitement when they asked me to help. I am going to take you through all of the before and afters first and then I'll break down what I did in the space to make it so FRICKIN awesome!

         

This wicker set was SCREAMING for a fresh coat of paint and I couldn't wait to get my hands on a paint gun to get 'er done!  More about that later...

   

I am loving this brown rug that I found here. It really grounds the porch and brings some warmth on those chilly spring/summer nights.  It also adds the perfect touch of green with this geo print. 

Now that you've seen the before and afters I'll explain some of the things I did in the space. For starters, I took the entire wicker set out back to spray it with a fresh coat of white paint. 

Here is what one coat looked like...CRAZY right???  

Sooooooooo much better =)

2nd coat done....

Final coat finished...

I also took their small side table and sprayed it with a refreshing green color that matches the cushions I bought from Homegoods. 

Here is what the table looks like in the space...

Accessories really made this space COMPLETE!

The chevron pillows are making my heart explode.  They were a Homegoods find.

I also picked up this planter from Homegoods and I turned it into a side table.

  I just flipped it upside down so we could use it as a small side table for drinks, candles, magazines, books, etc. It's the perfect touch of rusticity that the space needed. We needed to man it up a little.  

Some hanging mason jars (forgot to put the t-lights in there)

Here's a pic with the candles lit!  Looks so pretty in person...

Love these "C" hooks...

A citronella candle is a MUST to keep the squitos away but they are not the prettiest things to look at,so I found this pot at Target and decided to throw the candle in there to disguise it.  It's a nice little touch of blue in the space. 

I read a whole bunch of reviews about these outdoor lights from Target and I decided they would be perfect for the space.  They were only $12.99/pack.  We used 2 packs total and I must say they transformed this space.  It's incredibly cozy out there at night.

  (side note: remove all of the bulbs before you begin to string your lights, they are super fragile and will break with the slightest clank of two bulbs)

My client, Mark, enjoying his new outdoor living room.  I was so excited when they texted me this pic. I love seeing clients enjoying their spaces after I'm done with them.  The best part is I will get to enjoy this space when I head down there for my week at the beach.  CANNOT WAIT! 

New table and chairs set! 

(Chairs from BBB-Table from Walmart)

Love the stone top table.  It's super durable and will withstand any kind of weather out there. 

I hope you all are feeling inspired to go revamp your own outdoor spaces. There are all too often forgotten about.  Let me know if you need any help, I'd be happy to do some mood boards for ya to get those design juices flowing. 

Sprucing up the Garage for the Parental Units

A couple weekends ago my dad and I decided it was time to clean out his garage(which probably hadn't been touched in 20 some years).  My dad is a neat freak like me and he GETS my OCD urge to make sure everything has a home.  We attacked his entire garage(de-cluttered 35yrs+ of junk) in 1 day.  Pretty damn remarkable if I should say so myself.  

I arrived at my parent's house on a Sunday morning and my dad had already begun the process.  As I drove up I was salivating, I have issues. I quickly parked and hopped out to help him start carrying everything out.  After about an hour the whole garage was empty, then I had the worst feeling in the world..."HOLY CRAP" I forgot to take a before pic. Ugh....that still makes me want to vomit but that's when I immediately stopped and started taking some pics mid-project...

Everyone driving by thought it was a yard sale and my dad's reaction each time was priceless... "get the  heck outta here!" He might have used some other choice words, not gonna lie! 

We bought some shelves from Lowe's to try and utilize the height in the space.  You could not even walk to the back of this garage before we emptied it.  

My parents help babysit all 6 of my nieces and nephews, who are all under the age of 9, so you can imagine all of the toys, bikes, scooters, etc that has to be stored in this space. (along with 35yrs worth of junk)   

Here it is almost finished, we still have to make room for the small sporting equipment on the peg board. I still can't believe all of the walking space.  I love it and the kids love it too.  

We created 5 zones in the space:

 Zone 1: HOME IMPROVEMENT- pool supplies, tools, and leftover home improvement supplies(extra tile, grout, trim, etc) were stored in the HOT blue cabinetry in the back.

Zone 2: BIKES GALORE- We used "J" hooks to hang up almost every single bike(6)

Zone 3: HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES -cleaning supplies(middle 2 shelves), paint supplies(bottom 2 shelves), Car Wash stuff (top shelf)

Zone 4: GARDEN STUFF- we used more hooks to hang the leaf blower, extension cords and some hoses.  I also bought two big pegboards for about $16 and painted them with whatever leftover paint my dad had in the garage. We used a bunch of peg board accessories to hang ALL of the garden tools.  They turned out great and really give my dad room to grow if he needs to add more items later on.  

Side note: We are still working on a sporting zone but we need to buy a couple bins or some sort of rack system for the peg board. We were also able to hang some of the kids' golf bags up there too. 

Zone 5: HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES- paper products, and drinks.  

Still grinding my teeth about not taking a before pic but I will get over it never.

Creating the zones really helped us bring everything back into the garage in a neat and timely fashion.  I hope it stays this way and if it doesn't I'm kicking somebody's arse!