Screened Porch Makeover
by Jenn Marsh
5 Materials
$1000
7 Days
Medium
One of the big selling points for our house was the screened porch. It's off the master bedroom and makes for a great sitting area in addition to our other outdoor spaces. However, ours was in need of a refresh. Updates included painting the concrete floor, new rugs and furniture, curtains and cleaning.
First, we cleared off the porch and sold the existing furniture. One big lesson early on is that our screened porch gets very wet during rain. My mom has a screened porch, and hers doesn't get wet at all when it rains so she has a few pieces of indoor furniture on the porch. That is not the case with ours. After a few heavy rain showers, I realized we needed to invest in actual outdoor furniture that could stand up to the elements.
The plan for the porch also included:
- Purchase new seating to seat at least four
- Paint floor
- Update the color scheme to make it brighter and more fun
- Add accessories to make it feel more room like
- Purchase new and bigger rug for under the coffee table
- Add curtains
- Replace screens (not done in the initial makeover)
After clearing the porch, I scrubbed the floors to get them as clean as possible before painting. I'll do a full tutorial on the floors soon, but I decided to go with stripes.
After the paint was dry, I layered in a new rug under the coffee table. It took two full days to clean, paint and let the floor dry.
I also invested in a new loveseat and chairs from Lowes. While I wanted to replace everything, I knew this would happen over several years. At the end of the post, I'll include a picture of what the porch looks like today and share how I've continued to update as budget allows.
Early on, I decided to go with a blue and green color scheme. Navy is a color that appears in almost every room in our house, I wanted to continue that same flow outside. Initially, I added cheap curtains from Ikea. You'll see what I replaced them with at the end of the post.
I love seating and wanted to fit as many people as possible out here. I found two outdoor poufs from Target and added them to serve as ottomans or extra seating.
Since the initial makeover, I've since changed a few things up. My plan was to add a bigger rug and layer the Target navy rug over it. Unfortunately, the Target rug disintegrated when I went to move it. So now, I have a larger neutral rug. I've also added plants to the porch, along with some more side tables.
I was also super excited to switch on the fan this summer! This one is wet-rated and does a great job of keeping us cool on those hot Georgia nights. You can also see the new curtains better in this photo. Tip: They aren't actually curtains - they are shower curtains purchased on Amazon! They hold up much better to the elements than the Ikea curtains did.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 28 comments
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very nauticaL. I could eat a lobster out there. Beautiful!
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is it just screening or windows and screens
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That looks so cozy. Can you tell me how you hung your curtains? My sunroom is all aluminum around the windows and was just built in September. We didn’t want to drill holes. Thank you!
Jeri