Our Sad Looking Front Porch

Do you have an area in your home that has a lot of potential, but you just can’t seem to find the time to work on it? And every time you see it, you get embarrassed? Well, that’s our front porch for me.

Every time I step onto our front porch, I have to remind myself of my personal mantra for the year: I’m only one person, and I only have so much time. I’ll do what I can (while really trying to use my time efficiently), not do what I can’t, and feel no guilt about it.

I do a good job of not putting unnecessary pressure on myself, or heaping too much blame on myself for not doing more. But at the same time, there are some things that cannot be delayed forever. And when it comes to a home’s exterior, and dealing with materials and finishes that are exposed to the elements, putting off projects and maintenance can become more expensive over time.

It was around this time last year that I showed you the front porch, and how wood planks hold up compared to PVC planks. I had hoped to find time last spring to do some maintenance on the front porch, and yet, here we are. A year later, and the front porch still looks worn and sad, and still needs maintenance.

So while I want to stay focused on my studio, and I’m determined to do my best to get it done by mid-August if possible (but no offense if I can’t), at some point in Before the real warm weather gets here, I need to spend some time focusing on the front porch. It looks a bit sad these days, but there is so much potential here! This is what it looked like this morning.

Everything needs a good pressure wash, and then all the cedar porch boards need to be sanded and refinished/sealed.

And do you remember the tape lights I put up a few years ago? They are so beautiful at night!

Well, they’re coming down (because just relying on adhesive tape to keep them in the humidity outside doesn’t work), and the lights are just hanging straight up on the left side of the front steps. I need to put them back together and find a better way to secure them so they don’t fall out again.

I always have random things on the front porch – an empty box I put out for a stray cat during a rain storm, things left over from projects because I use my front porch balcony as a work bench because I don’t have a workshop, etc.

The ceiling of the balcony also needs attention. When I painted it for the first time, I did it without priming first. Why? I don’t know. I know better than that, especially when painting boards full of knots. And now all the knots are showing. So the whole thing needs to be primed and painted.

And then there’s the faux stone skirting. I can’t remember when I started this project, but it was half finished a long time ago. I remember making great progress, but I had to stop because it started to rain. And it rained, and rained, and rained, so I moved on to other projects and it never got done. It’s been like this for an embarrassingly long time now.

This is the part I showed you this time last year, and I’m still trying to decide how I’m going to handle these columns. Learn from my mistake and don’t use primed fingerjoint boards outdoors. Even if you plan to prime it well with an oil-based primer before using it, don’t. For outdoor projects, use PVC boards whenever possible.

The primed fingerjoint boards I used, even though I primed them well with an oil-based primer, didn’t hold up well. But the PVC boards I used held up perfectly. They need to be cleaned, but the boards are in perfect condition, and the joints (joined together with PVC glue) are also perfect. None of those joints were split. My shutters, which I also made from PVC boardsstill in perfect condition.

You can see the big difference between the two below.

So at some point in the next few weeks, after all of our rainy days, but before the warm weather gets here, I want to spend a few days focusing on the front porch. . I just want you to know to expect that so that if I’m in the middle of a fun studio project, and I stop to work on the front porch, you won’t get mad at me and tell me I need to learn- on to stay focused. 😀 I just couldn’t stop it for a year. I don’t want to find myself in a position of having to replace the porch boards because I’ve put off maintenance for too long and a lot of damage has been done.