Beach Cabin Porch, ORC Week 5

Hi there! It has been raining almost all week (and even snowed last Saturday!) which made painting the Beach Cabin Porch difficult to say the least. The rain finally cleared on Friday and our family is spending the weekend enjoying the nice spring weather. I may have even asked/begged for a little help getting the porch ready.

Painted Floors on the Beach Cabin porch

Finding the proper paint was a bit difficult. I know I’m likely not giving this information correctly, but we thought we would paint with oil paint for durability. However, we couldn’t tint the oil paint the color that I had chosen. The pre-tinted oil colors didn’t really stand out to me and I had already (always) had my heart set on Wescott Navy. I painted a couple of the floors inside the Beach Cabin Wescott Navy last year and knew we really liked the color. You can see the before/after of those painted floors by clicking here and here. But back to the porch floors. I ended up using the same porch and floor paint that I had used inside. Of course, I ran out halfway through and needed another gallon mixed. I made two trips into town because the store recommended bringing in the lid from my last gallon so they could color match to that color match. Risky business, I know. 

Of course, it was difficult trying to keep the kids and dog off the porch this weekend. Despite my best attempts, there was an incident. Luckily, this wasn’t my first kids-in-the-paint rodeo. Nor was it my son’s- he stood perfectly still while yelling for me. Baby steps. 

In addition to the paint being porch and floor paint, I think the rugs will also help with protecting the floors. You may remember that I had purchased this rug for the seating area on the porch. I also had purchased some runners almost a year ago for our staircase at home but the project kept being put on the back burner. Turns out, the runner likely will fit on the Beach Cabin porch and coordinate well with everything else out there. Bonus points for being an indoor-outdoor runner. 

Plants, Plants, Plants

In other exciting news, I visited a local garden center and bought some plants for the patio. Last year, we planted impatiens in our planters and window box. They did so well and lasted well into September, so we will likely be going that route again this summer too. In the meantime, we planted some cute hydrangeas in the planters. When the weather gets a bit nicer and the impatiens are abundant at the garden centers, we will move the hydrangeas from the Beach Cabin porch  and plant them in the front of the Beach Cabin. This post details some of the other plants we considered using the same process with. We have azaleas in our planters at home, and they make me so happy when I see their pop of color. They also will be transferred into the garden when they lose their blooms.

Sailing Rope

I’m still on the hunt for a coffee table for the porch and may have to brave the Tulip Time crowds and street closures to do some antiquing this week. I also want to get some sailing rope for the porch swing. Our neighbors are the nicest people and legit sailors. They let our kids use their sailing line for jump roping last summer. That line is no joke, perfect for jump roping and hanging porch swings… oh, and probably sailing too ;-). While we don’t sail, there is a yacht club with boats and sailors and racers within walking distance to the Beach Cabin. Since we’re in the vicinity of people who know what they’re doing, I took that as the permission I needed to incorporate the rope on the porch. 

Until Next Time

Okay, I think that is all for this week. Porch floor painted- check! Plants purchased- check! To-do list outlined- check! Don’t forget to come back next week for the final project reveal (and better photos, too!). In the meantime, there are soooo many wonderful transformations happening over on the One Room Challenge blog. You can check them all out here.