Thriifty Decor Chick: porches

Showing posts with label porches. Show all posts

The Master Painter gets it DONE!

This past weekend I swore I would accomplish two projects: paint the lattice on the front porch, and paint the second-hand steps for our back door.  Weeeellll, things don't always go as planned.  I've been pretty darn sick, plus had a teenager who had to get ready for her 8th grade school trip to DC, and another teen with a bad foot and two doctor appointments.  Still, I tried. So, here it is TUESDAY morning.  All was not totally lost because I did manage to paint 1/2 of the lattice and, with the help of my 4 year old Master Painter, the second-hand back steps are done, even though it was 90 degrees in the shade.  Not too shabby, as the Master Painter mused. Today, however, the heavens have decided to open, so I'm not going to be able to show you any pictures of our handiwork.  However, I am going to give you a few words of advice on painting lattice and second hand steps.  Notice that I didn't say whether this was going be good advice or bad advice... I googled "painting over weather beaten wooden steps".  The results were overwhelmingly ambitious. Quite frankly, I wasn't feeling too ambitions.  Our back door to nowhere (eventually it will be to the patio) is hardly worth ambitions.  We were given a set of steps that happen to fit the space pretty well, but they had been sitting in a hedge row, and needed some attention.  On Saturday, I spoke to the paint guy at Home Depot and explained that my steps are old and are only going to be used in the interim until we put in the patio.  Therefore, I wasn't inclined to put in too much work.  Even the Home Depot guy wanted me to put in a little more effort than I was really prepared to do.  So I smiled politely and pretended to head in the direction he sent me. The four year old Master Painter and I considered our options.  This is what we decided to do:  We bought two 3"  "economy" brushes (read: $1.30 each).  We bought 2 quarts of outdoor ultra pure white paint and left Home Depot before the Home Depot guy could spot me not following his advice. First things first - my handy hubby did power wash the steps and that did clean off a lot of loose paint chips, which are now firmly planted in the grass. After the steps dried, I took a paint scraper and went over any rough spots. I then took out my broom and just gave them a good sweep, to get rid of any dust and/or bugs.  Prep work done! The Master Painter and I each grabbed a brush and got to work.  I put the paint on pretty thick, but tried to make it fairly even.  The Master Painter had his own unique way of putting on paint - which was to press the paint brush bristles flat onto the wood, and push the paint around.  This is more of a "brush mashing" movement than a "brush stoke", and is surprisingly effective.  (A tutorial may follow.)  Once our first coat was done, we waited a couple of hours and put on a second coat. To jazz things up, I think I'm going to order rubber stair treads something like this. <a href="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/stair-treads.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-233" height="300" src="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/stair-treads.jpg" title="stair treads" width="300" /></a> Now, similar to the stairs, I googled "painting lattice".  Holy Moly!  Here's what most experts wanted me to do... 1. Take the lattice off the porch 2. Power wash it or wash it with soap and water with the hose 3. Dry 4. Primer both sides 5. Buy a paint sprayer 6. Spray one side 7. Dry 8. Flip over and spray other side 9. Repeat 6-8 10. Re-attach lattice Well, I probably don't have to say this, but really?  That's a lot of work, or at least too much work for something that is going to be covered up  by foundation plants!  Sometimes in life you just have to either A.) fake it or B.) get it done.  I'm not even remotely suggesting that you should follow my advice or that my way is the right way to do things.  Cuz I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble.  But here's what I did: On Sunday, I bought 2 more 3" economy brushes, and a gallon of stain, we happened to want to try the black.  I waited til the Master Painter's nap time, and I took my trusty broom and brushed the lattice to remove any unwanted bugs, dead leaves, and dirt particles.  Whatever refused to move, got painted over. I took my cheap paint brush and slapped the stain on as fast as I could.  It was 90 degrees out and not only were my shoulders burning, I could barely see cuz the sweat was dripping in my eyes. Well, I got it half done, and I have to say it looks pretty darn good! This week am going to finish the other half of the lattice when the rain subsides, and then I can cross off another task on my to-do list.  Which, I have to say, is a pretty satisfying feeling!  I just hope that my "cheating" to get these projects done doesn't come back to bite me! What projects do you feel you "cheated" on?   Did it backfire?

The Master Painter gets it DONE!

This past weekend I swore I would accomplish two projects: paint the lattice on the front porch, and paint the second-hand steps for our bac...

4:42 AM

Porch Railings...

Day two of staining the porch railings on our new modular home, and it is coming along.  After two full days of work, with the stain scented wind in my hair, and bees around my ankles, I think I have finally cracked the code to painting quickly and efficiently. I had to cover the composite decking, because I do not want to have to deal with cleaning stain droplets off of the deck floor.  So I bought 4 large plastic sheets from Home Depot, which set me back all of $4.  I taped the plastic down and got to work. Not so fast!  It was windy and the plastic was paper thin.  You can probably imagine the wind blew the flimsy plastic, slapping it into the wet stain, and then wrapping it around my bare calves, thus staining my legs.  Not what I call a good look for summer. And not my finest hour. To add insult to injury, I inevitably dripped stain on the plastic, and managed to step in it every time.  Then worried about tracking it around and had to constantly check the bottom of my flip-flop. This clearly wasn't gonna work. So I rummaged around in the basement and found a large piece of cloth.  My first thought was the stain will bleed right though it to the flooring. Despite my worry, I folded the cloth into a 3 ft long square and placed it under the railing where I was working, moving it as I went.  This worked much better.  It was heavy enough that it didn't blow in the wind, and there were not wet drip marks to step in! So, my advice is: save yourself $4.  Wahoo!  Just enough for a RedBull! (I hate them, but you're gonna need one!) Regardless of your drop cloth, staining is sloooow going.  If you have wooden balusters and they're turned, as opposed to smooth, I feel for you!  Here's my advice:  choose smooth balusters if you're going to end up staining them.  Better yet, choose plastic so you don't have to stain them at all!  Only joking!  But for two days I can tell you I was thinking "Curse choosing the turned spindles!", only the version in my head had some more colorful words in it... Here's what I advise for staining, provided you have turned balusters: The porch posts are the easy part.  The surface is larger and smoother. The porch posts or columns extend from the porch ceiling to the floor of the porch and support the porch roof.  To stain the porch posts I used a 2" foam brush.  This seemed to work well, and foam brushes are so cheap you can use as many as you need. The turned balusters are a serious snore-fest to stain. Balusters are usually 36 inches tall and are offered in different widths and styles. We have a turned baluster, which means more nooks and crannies than an English muffin, to paint in.  Balusters are placed between top railings and the bottom rail and are usually spaced 4 inches apart.  What that means is: even if you have a small porch, you'll still LOTS off balusters to stain!  *Caution: May cause marked drowsiness and irritability. So, the posts go pretty quickly.  But if you get stuck, I mean, volunteer to stain the balusters, like I did, here's the fastest way I found to get it done: Start by using a 1" foam brush.  Get the brush wet in the stain, but not dripping wet.  Squish it into all of the nooks in the turns first.  Don't worry if it's a little thick, you can even it out after. <a href="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DSC_00031.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-162" height="300" src="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DSC_00031-199x300.jpg" title="DSC_0003" width="199" /></a>Then slather the stain from the top down, like you're slathering on BBQ sauce, and even out any drips.  Just make sure you get a good cover.  But within reason... It's really easy to be a perfectionist and get caught up in going over every little tiny weeny crack and bump on the wood.  Don't bother!  Just put the stain on fairly thick, even it out and keep moving.  I did an experiment and stained several of the balustrads really, really carefully, and a couple the fast, efficient way. Guess what?   Can't tell the difference when they're dry!   Well that's it for staining the porch railings.  And one thing off my "to do list".  Only 19 to go!

Porch Railings...

Day two of staining the porch railings on our new modular home, and it is coming along. After two full days of work, with the stain scented...

7:58 AM

Porches and Decks

I love our covered front porch which we altered slightly from the original, which you can see at <a href="http://www.keymodularhomes.com">www.keymodularhomes.com</a> .  (Our house is based on the "Waterbury").  We chose to have a composite material for the flooring, and in an effort to save a little we went with the traditional wood railings.  There’s plenty of room for seating, and our little one even has enough room to ride his scooter back and forth.  In the future, we plan to wrap the porch around to the back of the house to incorporate a deck and patio area.  I’ve been buying lottery tickets with no luck so far. Regardless, most modular homes come with the option of decks and porches and there are different floor materials for one to consider. Obviously you want your porch or deck to look good for years to come. Wood is the most common choice for a porch or deck floor.  Of course it looks natural, cuz it is!  Maintenance is essential, and you will have to treat the wood so that it doesn't crack or change color due to weather and sun.  I had a wood deck on my old house that I had to stain and weather proof every spring.  We had a large tree that provided essential shade over one side of the deck.  When it rained, the area of the deck under the shade of the tree stayed damp and would grow a fine moss, which was very slippery and had to be power washed frequently. Pressure Treated Wood is treated with preservatives.  It is inexpensive and is resistant to rot from the elements and insects, but it will still warp and bend. It has to be treated as wood to prevent the warping. Composite is another option. Composite is a combination of wood and plastic. When composite decking/flooring first came on the market it wasn't without problems, but the technology has come a long way.  Today composite decking is very durable and will last a long time, and is very low maintenance.  It won’t warp or crack and is ideal for uncovered areas, as it won’t fade (as much) in the sun.  You will have to clean it, but a power wash now and again is about all there is to it.  The downfall, is composite is expensive! Here’s a picture of our porch with the composite floor and the wood railings (that still need to be stained). <a href="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/497.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-85" height="199" src="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/497-300x199.jpg" title="497" width="300" /></a>It is very simple to make your porch and extension of your living space.  In the summer, I sometimes miss my house because we spent so much time on the porch or deck! Now, I’m not big on gardening, much to my mother’s chagrin, but I do like container gardening.  Porches and decks let you create miniature gardens in outdoor containers, or container gardens.  As soon as we are out of the danger of frost, I will be planting a lot of pots for the front porch.  Not only is it easier than gardening, you can move the containers anywhere at any time.  Hanging plants not only look beautiful, but they can act as natural privacy shield if hung in the right place.  I also like the look of evergreen shrubs or small trees planted in pots.  Year round color! If you need a little privacy from neighbors, or just like the look, there are all kinds of outdoor curtains and blinds to hang from either end of your porch.  Or, do as a friend of mine has and head to the fabric store to pick out a fabric you love.  Hang it up using furniture tacks.  Use table cloth weights at the bottom of the fabric to keep it from blowing too much. You can decorate a porch just like you would inside.  There are indoor/outdoor rugs that look beautiful on a deck or porch.  Throw pillows, candles, vases, bowls - all can have a home outside.  And I love white twinkle lights on the porch all year round.  You don’t have to string them up, just put them in plants or cluster them in a big bowl. Happy porch sitting! <a href="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/4901.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-86" height="199" src="http://www.fyimodularhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/4901-300x199.jpg" title="490" width="300" /></a>

Porches and Decks

I love our covered front porch which we altered slightly from the original, which you can see at www.keymodularhomes.com . (Our house is b...

11:47 AM

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! I spent part of today cleaning up the front porch and hanging my (new) hanging baskets....

12:14 PM

The Master Painter gets it DONE!

Porch Railings...

Porches and Decks

Mother's Day!

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