Your front porch is the first impression someone gets when they visit your home and we learned waaaaaay back in middle school that first impressions matter...a lot! Often times your front porch acts as a preview for what your guests will find inside and now that winter's over, it's time to pay a little more attention to the first impression.
When you design outside with the same attention to detail and intention as you do inside, you can create the atmosphere that you want. Playful, cozy, inviting, whimsical. Whatever you want your home's design to say, you can allude to it by giving your guests a peek-a-boo as to what's to come once they open the front door.
5 ways to refresh your front porch this weekend:
1. Start with a blank slate: clearing everything off the front porch so you can start with a blank slate allows you to do two things - deep clean and think creatively.
2. Choose a color formula: YES, even outside - choose a color formula you want to work with in your outdoor area. Sometimes it can be a replica of what's happening inside. Other times you may want to treat it as its own mini-design habitat. Choosing a color formula helps you make intentional choices when you begin gathering your items.
3. Work from bottom to top: think in layers starting at the foundation - your porch's floor. Layer, add height, texture and depth. And be sure to check for repetition...are design elements (colors, woods, metals, etc.) repeating themselves throughout the front porch design in an effort to create a cohesive look?
4. Design with your senses: Look around at your from porch's design...do you see elements that add to the overall experience? Do you have a variety of textures you can touch, smells you can smell, elements you can hear, like wind chimes. Leaving out the sense of taste but replacing it with feeling - ask yourself how your front porch feels.
5. Add whimsical touches: In this small area, don't be afraid to play! Experiment with design and have fun. Think vertically as well as in layers. Can you hang things on the siding or from the eaves? Think about ambience - do you have lighting other than the overhead porch light? Think 'out of the box' ideas - like teacups as planters, birdcages as vestibules for holding plants. Take risks and have fun!
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Happy styling!
xo,
dani