Screened In Porch |Porch Decorating Ideas

Hello I'm Jennifer and in this video I am super excited to share with you our screened-in porch that we just finished. So stay tuned. So as most of you know if you watch my videos we purchased this house. It has five acres and we purchased it a little over two years ago and we knew from the time we saw it that we would someday want to build a screened-in porch and we wanted to build a pretty big one because we like to entertain and our family is expanding. So while we were in the middle of construction Scott realized I was really really struggling with how I wanted everything to lay out in this large area and he brilliantly realized I was having struggles because I didn't have a focal point and that's when he said we need to build a fireplace and luckily he thought of that before we were too far along in construction. So once the fireplace was part of the plan then my wheels got in motion and I figured things out and the first thing I wanted to do and I knew I wanted to do this was create a common area that sat in front of the fireplace and created a warm and wonderful place in the winter and also a very wonderful place to sit and relax with several people. So if you were to ask me what style is out here I probably would say this is kind of a modern farmhouse porch but what was really important to me I did not want an out-of-the-box look for the porch. I wanted it to look collected and to look like we've spent years out here and you know me I'm going to try to figure out where do I need to spend my money and where do I need to save it. So in this common area in front of the fireplace I'm going to show you my favorite thing I found first and that was this coffee table. I found it for a hundred dollars on Facebook Marketplace. I cleaned it up and I applied several coats of a matte polyurethane so that could be protected from water and drinks and then I took Rub and Buff and I accented all the brass pieces around this coffee table. It lifts and opens for storage and it's on wheels. That's where I saved money. That's probably my favorite thing out here maybe but then I decided I needed seating. So the two love seats that you see here I actually found those online from Target. I placed a beautiful striped pillow just in the middle kind of giving it a modern look and then these two chairs they're super heavy. They actually came out of Opry Mills Mall before they closed up. Actually I'm sorry Opry Mills Hotel and I found those on Facebook Marketplace. I didn't do a thing to them. They were $75 a piece. They were already distressed. Already had this cute black and white striped fabric on it. They were perfect. The little table you see beside one of the left seats was a flea market find for $20. On the other side I have a basket for our blankets and then in front of the fireplace I just put a few of the lanterns that we've carried in the store with a pretty red geranium to give it a pop of color and then a beautiful palm kind of nestles this whole look together. The last thing I added was this rug and I didn't really want to pull out a lot of colors. I just kind of kept it pretty muted and pretty neutral. As Cole says you know her from the store she says keep your colors pretty muted on your porch and let nature be the show. So on the coffee table I wanted to add a little bit of green a little bit of nature and I found this cute little plant holder at one of our local stores and I put two pots in it with ferns and some geraniums and it's super easy to just lift off in one easy sweep in case we're playing games. Beside the fireplace is a rabbit window vane that I have probably had for 20 years. I love rabbits and again if you look throughout the porch as we're going through this video black and white are pretty much my standard color so the little bunny being white and black fit perfect. For the chandelier I had my eye on this one for quite a while again it's black but it's simple it's easy but it just kind of brought the common area all together. The wreath I did a quick little video on that it was really a sad little wreath and I decided okay I'm gonna add a lot of stuff to it. Remember if you have an old wreath you can always add stems don't throw it away it's a great base and that's exactly what I did with this wreath. So I know I said my coffee table was probably my favorite but I forgot already about this bench. It's probably one of my favorites because Sarah and I were in an antique store in Nashville and we found this bench for I think it was under $200. I didn't do anything to it except coat it and coat it and coat it with the matte polyurethane to protect it from the weather and then I got some performance outdoor fabric and I made this pillow top and then cute little ribbons that I attached. This is such a unique bench I've never seen it before and again that's what makes design to me lived in homey comfortable and that's finding either antique pieces or vintage pieces to incorporate with new pieces. So the table I chose it did come from our store very narrow 96 inches long it can actually seat 10 people. Again I applied the polymatte all over it to protect it. These are outdoor chairs that are padded but my favorite thing that I did so we visited Restoration Hardware in Nashville and I did a Restoration Hardware hack. Outside they had a cement bowl similar to this with succulents in it and I want to say it was like over $300 but what I did this is actually the top of a bird bath and these are just regular succulents. I made this entire thing for under $30. So here's another area where I added something vintage or old I'm not sure exactly how old this was but I went to an antique store near our store and found this super cool basket so I just placed a Boston Fern in it and it looks beautiful in this corner and when you're decorating sometimes you might just have an odd corner. I'm telling you when you add a plant to that corner it softens it finishes it and you'll love it. So another way I wanted to add some character to the porch was by adding some drapery panels. I did look into having them custom made but the prices of Outdoor Performance Fabric was astronomical. I got super excited because I looked on Amazon and I found them on Amazon for a great deal. I pulled them back with the same ribbon that I used on the bench. I also got the rods on Amazon and I'm going to put a link to both of those in the description. So one of the things while we were planning the porch was taking into consideration where we wanted electrical outlets because I have to have something that has a little ambient lighting and this area was perfect. So Scott has an electrical outlet just a little bit over there and we ran a cord. I hopped on Facebook Marketplace again and found this cute little table. It was a place that was perfect to put a lamp on and I can house some things underneath it and then this is some artwork that we carry in our store. It won't get damaged being outside and it made this little vignette as sweet as can be. So this chair and the one beside me is where Scott and I sit in the early morning. I'm the coffee, he's the diet coke, but this is where we kind of have a moment before the day gets crazy. This chair again was a Facebook Marketplace for $80. It was a dark brown and I painted it gray, sealed it, added some pillows and it came with an ottoman. For me, it's the perfect chair. Beside my chair, I put a round table. This was one we got from the store. It came in damaged. I said don't care. I'll put the damage to the back. It doesn't matter and this little vignette is Scott and I's very favorite place. So what's super important to have on a porch is fans. I did not want ceiling fans out here because I wanted to have the chandeliers. So Scott found a way that we could both be happy and that was with oscillating wall fans. So he mounted two of them and we actually even have them hooked to Alexa so we can ask her to turn them on and off. He kind of laughed at me at first when he found me on a ladder, but after he put the fans up, the cords were black and it just didn't look good to me and I thought well if I just paint the cord, all you really see is the fan and after I was done, I think I got some brawny points. On Mother's Day, Sarah gave me the perfect gift and that was this little dinner bell. So this little area, I had decided to put a buffet and we brought one in, but my husband, who may need to now be called the designer, said it was really just a waste of space. Let's put a porch swing. So they're expensive, but he went on Facebook and found this twin porch swing with the mattress for under $300. The lady didn't like it because how it was stained was not the color she liked. I said get it and I will paint it. I'm so happy that we decided to do this. I have already had several naps on this porch swing and it is wonderful. I got all of my pillows from Home Goods. That way I didn't put too much money in them, so if the kids are on it or if they get a little dirty, it doesn't matter. So you guys have been super sweet leaving me comments asking me, hey where are you? We're ready for a video. I know I haven't been putting them out as often, but it's because I got a really huge secret. Be sure to subscribe to my channel and hit the bell because the next video is going to tell you all about that big surprise. Thank you guys so much for watching and I hope you have a wonderful day.