Spring Time = Porch Time!

The butterflies are out and the flowers are blooming - my allergies are in full swing, so that must mean it's spring! I might not be able to breathe through my nose... and I might have to carry around travel size tissues in my purse, but it that just means it's my favorite time of the year. Down here in Texas, the summers get to about 110 degrees on a daily basis, so we tend to take the spring VERY seriously. It's just about the only time of the year you can sit outside and enjoy the flowers and weather without feeling like your about to die. That's why the hubby and I have been getting our backyard nice and purdy for this lovely time of year. 

Above is a picture I snapped from one of our trees that just recently bloomed. There were at least 100 butterflies and bee's flying throughout the tree and it was just beautiful. I still haven't figured out the name of the tree though. Does anyone recognize it? I would love to know! 

I've also been working on our back porch as well. As you might have seen from our house tour, this has been our porch for the past few months:

 

Here you will see the complete transformation from all the way before we moved in, until now. Here is a picture of the what the previous owner had it set up as. Not bad at all, just different than what we were looking to do with the space.

 

Here is the progress from a few weeks after we moved in back in September. Still not the vision I was looking for. Basically this was a lot of the "leftover" furniture that we weren't sure what to do with or how to place. We knew this living space was going to take some time.

 

 

Finally things started to come together when my friend Josh gifted me an old pedestal table that he was about to throw out. Throw out?? No thank you! If it's free, I will take it - no question! A few months prior he had mentioned buying a new table to replace that one, and I had been eying it ever since. I originally had it picked out for our kitchen, but after lugging it in, it just didn't fit. Too large and didn't flow well. I then knew it would be perfect for the porch. Now that we had a defined eating and sitting area, I knew this was going to be the layout that stuck. And it did! With the new layout, everything else just seemed to fit in to place. Here is a picture of a similar style of this type of table.

Note: This is not the before picture that I took... Didn't know I would be starting a blog and didn't take a before pic. My bad!

 

Here is the table in our new porch space.

Much better, right?? I will be posting a tutorial on my process soon. Here are a few more pics of the rest of the porch makeover.

 

 

This back porch definitely took some time and work, but it was totally worth it. Interested in where I found some of my finds? Here is a list:

Brown Wicker Patio Set: Big Lots (found this set for a GREAT deal, who would have thought?)

Neutral Rug - Lowes

Patterned Rug: Ross

Red and Stripped Pillows: Garden Ridge

"Quote" Pillow: Marshalls

Rustic Grey/Blue Tray: Garden Ridge

Red Wicker Trunk: Re-painted antique

Brown Trunk: Antique

Red Curtains: Wal-mart 

Wicker Chargers: World Market

Blue and Cream Cushions: Ross 

Here are a few more pics of some of the blooming flowers in our back yard:

Hope y'all enjoyed my porch makeover.  If you have any questions on anything from my makeover, feel free to message me! I would love to help out with your space and design challenges.