$35 Front Porch Make-over for Christmas

Flipping through the decorating magazines this time of year, who isn’t motivated to spruce up a tired Christmas theme?  But like so many of us, budget is a large factor.   This year, I found myself attracted to the natural urn displays with tree sprigs and a few decorations for the pop of colour.  I also decided to switch out my tired door wreath for a decorated swag.

I went to the local grocery stores, box and home supply stores and could not find prices I was willing or able to pay.  The cheapest I could find, at a quality I wanted - $59 for a decorated swag and $40 for an urn display.  “I must be able to do better than that”, I told myself, and better I did.

• $15 for a basic, undecorated swag at Home Depot,
• $17 for a container of ornaments at Walmart,
• $8 for reindeer bells, ribbon and a few larger ornaments at the Dollaramma, and
• Some items I already had around the house; glue gun and sticks (wood chop-sticks and wood meat-kabob sticks), twist ties, and plant sheers.

I started with the urn.  Why would I pay $40 for springs and twigs when I already have bushes and trees in my yard that could use a fall trim?  I clipped and constructed as follows:

1. Empty old fall content from urns.
2. Collect two small planters, with leftover dirt from summer, to ground the new display.
3. Cut one multi-sprig branch from a bush for each urn centerpiece.
4. Cut many sprigs of pine/fern style bushes and trees – using the smaller/flatter ones for the first perimeter to fall over the edges of the urn.  The second type should be hardier and stand straight, once pushed into the dirt.
5. Lastly, pick three decorative balls.  Hot glue a stick to each ball and stick into the dirt, amongst the sprigs of pine/fern (in my case, cedar and juniper sprigs).

10 minutes total preparation time.

Voila – a beautiful, natural display that cost less than $5.

The decorated door swag took a little longer but turned out much nicer than the store displays.  I used decorations from the same set purchased for the urns, to tie the look together.  Instead of $59 for the store-bought version, this luxurious swag cost $30.

1.  Lay out swag with ribbon and ornaments to get a sense of the look you like, before pieces are affixed.
2. Attach bells first to the bottom the swag.
3. Weave ribbon from front to back, leaving large loops at the front for a fuller swag.
4. Lastly, attach balls with twist ties, in a repeated ‘S’ pattern, from the bells at the bottom to the larger bow at top, careful to rotate the colour and texture of balls used.

10 minutes total preparation time.

If you are ‘doing the math’ on supplies compared to the cost attributed for each project, you are quite right that it does not add up, yet it IS accurate.  A number of Christmas balls were left-over and deducted from the cost of the projects.  The remaining decorations will be used throughout the house on the indoor tree and garland to tie the outside displays to the inside décor. 

I am very happy with this project and so excited to complete the rest of the Christmas decorating.  For a total of $35 and one hour of my preparation time, I was able to update my entire holiday theme – now that is a great budget saver AND eco-friendly.  No branches or sprigs were cut that didn’t already need trimming this fall. 

Please share your great ideas for cost cutting projects!!! I will be back for more of the heavy lifting, in the coming weeks.

Happy Holidays!!!

I’m Feelin’ TRIM!!! PROJECT 1: FINALE

Oh yes, I do feel pride when I run my fingers along the smooth surface of my newly refurbished railing.  As I stand across the street and view the improved curb appeal of my home, I can’t help but compare this experience to how people react to my personal appearance on the rare occasion I actually style my hair, wear something other than yoga clothes and UGGS and put a little paint on my own trim.  With a little effort, this Baby cleans up well.

I’ll make sure not to use my zoom lens to reveal where I didn’t sand well enough and painted over old, chipped paint. Or the spots where I got ‘caulk happy’ with the clear silicone, just to learn that it is quite obvious once covered in glossy white paint!  And that’s just my face!!!!!

 

Seriously, the project is finally over.  I stopped for side trips, many days of rain, and some days of pondering (not to mention the time I had to dedicate to my business, family, FB, Twitter and reality TV!!!)  I will do better with the second project and be diligent to actually track time to complete the project.  My best guess with this one is 17 hours, not including the side trips. 

 

This last leg of the journey was more familiar to me.  Once all of the repairs were done, I used my palm sander with a medium paper to clear off the rough surfaces of paint that remained after the power wash.  The sanding was also necessary to repair some of the wood surface where light shredding occurred when I did get too close with the pressured water.

 

A clear silicone barrier at each wood seam is my insurance to avoid more rotted wood replacement in the near future.  That precaution took a great deal more time than anticipated, since the front porch alone has 110 spindles, in addition to the railings and pillars.  I found it easiest to use the squeeze applicator to apply and then my gloved finger to smooth the silicone in place. 

 
I applied one coat of water/stain resistant base, but the appearance of that product is milky and partially translucent so I did the second and third coats in a semi-gloss outdoor paint without the bells and whistles for wood protection.  I decided the caulking and single coat of special paint are more than the builders used 13 years ago so it should stand up reasonably well.
 

While painting, I wore gloves to protect my hands and each time I had to stop for a break, I used a little trick to protect the brush.  I held the brush in the palm of my hand as I removed that same glove, causing the glove to become a protective cover over the brush, until I picked it up again.  When painting around the house, I use the same strategy as painting my nails; first coat light but close attention to detail for coverage, and subsequent with a small roller using more paint to create a smoother, and glossy final product.  By the way, I highly recommend the new microfiber rollers.  The advertising is true – they use less paint and don’t drip, while providing more than adequate coverage.

 

What did I learn from this experience?  It is much more fun to do a boring maintenance project when you have others cheering you on. Thank you to all of my new Blog fans, FB friends and Twitter followers for your support, ideas and assistance.

 

On to the next job – out of necessity, husband and I need to do that toilet repair.  Every hour or so it sounds like our Master Bath toilet is flushing itself … join me back in a few days for my telling of that adventure.