Because Creativity Creates Reality....



Be Brave, Be Bold! You have
have nothing to lose!



  In honor of the upcoming Spring, I want to take you to one of my favorite places in the house.... the porch. Our porch is a tranquil, serene, beautiful area that I often go in the summer to read a book, talk to a friend or simply watch the farmers plow and plan their fields praying diligently that they aren't planting cabbage again (smells horrible when it rots!). However, this oasis wasn't always an oasis...

When we purchased our house, it was far from ideal. We bought it because we could see beyond the misguided decorating scheme (Seriously, polka dotted blue and white wallpaper in the dining room? White and red plaid wallpaper in the kitchen?) and notice that it had really good bones. I'm a firm believer that houses can speak to you and this house was crying out for someone to come back in and take care of it an love it. The porch itself was in a state. The previous owners actually used table salt (which we found on the porch) to melt the snow on the walk. The porch itself was painted flat white with peel and stick linoleum in various states of scruffiness. In short, anything I did was going to be an improvement so there was little room for fear.

In a word. SAD.

Like most new homeowners we didn't have any real money to put into any renovations that weren't absolutely necessary. After all, there were furnaces going awol and water heaters to replace! So gathering up left over supplies, art supplies I had and taking into consideration the room's use itself, I decided first to vacuum up any old bugs and get rid of everything the previous owners had left that was unusable. Then to scuff up the surfaces so that they would accept the paint, I used a rotary sander and sanded all the surfaces with fine grit sandpaper. Then I took TSP (found in any home supply store) and washed down all the surfaces. Then to eliminate any stains from coming through, I used Kiltz for acrylic paint and painted two layers. After that dried, we get to the fun part, PAINTING!!!

 

Step 1: Sectioning off a section of floor

              for where the rug should go.



I love paint. I love it as a noun and a verb. Paint is truly the great equalizer. When you don't have lots of money, you can still create brilliant effects just with paint. I painted the entire porch a battleship grey color that I had left over from another project. After applying a couple of coats and allowing them to dry, I immediately began loving the porch. But now to what makes the porch special. A rug. Not just a regular rug, but a painted rug. You see, the porch is very much used during the summer and winter months. In the summer months it's a pleasant place to linger, but in the winter months, it becomes a place for wood storage for our wood stove. Knowing this, I didn't just want to put out a rug to have underfoot that could cause a tripping hazard. Also, the farmers are constantly working the fields during the summer/fall months and a cloth rug would have to constantly be laundered. So the logical and creative alternative

                                                            was to paint a rug.



Step 2: Sectioning off your grid.



After the paint dried, I positioned our wicker seat to figure out how large the rug should be. After doing that I used painter's tape to section this part out. I painted the base, neutral color to act as the background and let that dry. Then I sectioned off the squares I wanted for the rug, using the linoleum as my guide.





Step 3: Applying second color.

 

Then painting every other square I set down my second color.

After the paint has dried thoroughly, remove your painter's tape and retape, this time taping the inside of the colored sections so you have the maxium amount of the background showing up. Using a stencil, stencil

Step 4: Tape off in the colored section's

(in this example, the blue section) edges

to bring your stencil to the very sides of the

neutral area, like a real rug.

                                                      your chosen pattern on this

                                                      portion. 

Finally, for added interest, I taped up a border and using a combing tool (you can purchase these at Micheal's or even your ACE hardware), I dragged the wet paint to the edge of the taped off board to act as the "binding off" area of my rug.

The finished result is below. A beautiful "rug".



Now with a new wicker set purchased after summer for a discount, and a few items we bought through the years at garden centers/dollar stores or we made, the porch is now a thing of beauty. It's a joy to sit out there and watch the Fourth of July fireworks or just the sunset going down over the trees.



The finished rug.



Most importantly, it has the cats' seal of approval and knowing how particular their taste, what could be better?

Tux approved!

 I think it just shows you that you don't have to have tons of money if you have the willpower and the creative drive to make your home, YOUR HOME. I hope you find this interesting and inspirational and maybe start looking at projects you can do. Life is too short not to live it beautifully and you have all the talent and ability to do this as well. So get to it!

The end result! Wonderful!