Welcome!

This idea has been bopping around in my head for a few months, but I have to admit I am a little surprised at myself that I am following through with it.  Not that I have a problem with follow-through, necessarily, but I have wondered if, with so many talented people already in the blogging world, do I have anything to add?  I guess we shall see!  In the meantime...

I thought my first post could be about my latest house project.  About a year and a half ago, we (my husband Brent, daughter Nina, dog Frankie and I) moved into a new house in a suburb of Denver.  It is a new house, which is a first for us, since we generally prefer the style and character of older homes.  (Unfortunately, Denver's high housing prices kicked us right out of the market for any charming older homes that were bigger than a postage stamp!) I have spent most of my time on the interior of the house, but recently got fed up with the hodgepodge that was my front porch, so I mobilized.  Here is the only "before" photo I could find.  It's from before we even moved into the house.

What you can't see is that the front door was a lovely shade of pinky-red.  Where do these builders come up with these color combinations?  Actually, it wasn't terrible, but it didn't feel like "me," and so the whole front porch just sat there since I couldn't get past the front door color enough to do anything else.  Yeah, I am weird.  Anyway, here is the "after" photo of the door, along with some of my favorite additions.

The front door is now black, and I just love it.  I can't believe it took me this long to paint, it's so worth it!  The wreath is made of (I think) bay leaves, and I got it at my favorite local antique dealer/random flea market.  The topiary...oh, I am so proud of that thing!  It started out as a strangely green swirl of fake plastic leaves.  It looked so bad sitting there next to the natural greenish-brown in the wreath, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy something new.  So off I went to Hobby Lobby (or as my daughter says, "Lobby Bobby") and bought some greenery when it went 50% off.  A few snips of the wire cutters, a few glue gun burns and here we are!  Such an improvement.  The rooster next to the door was on clearance at Pier 1, and the little star was a $3 find at the my same favorite antique mall, with a dose of chalkboard paint.

Over in the corner of my porch is a little cafe table and chairs that I convinced my husband to buy when we were just dating (Why isn't he so easily convinced to buy things now that we are married?).  It had a terrible formica top that we replaced with this marble top that we found at a Crate and Barrel outlet in Chicago for $20.  The chairs were equally ugly (think Brady Bunch orange cushions), but a staple gun and some black and white toile material went a long way!  The little jute rug was another Hobby Lobby find (of course I used a 40% off coupon!).

I absolutely adore this pot.  It was a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law.  It is so French looking, at least to my completely unpracticed eye!  I will tell you something about the rosemary in the pot, though...those herbs are brand new from the garden store!  I have already killed one pot of rosemary this summer and needed a replacement.  How can I love the look of flowers and greenery so much but have absolutely no ability or discipline to keep them alive?  Anything that is alive in my yard by this point in the summer is due to sheer dumb luck!

So that's my latest project!  It is so much more fun to come home now and see a welcoming front porch.  Plus, I finally feel like our guests' first impression of our home is something that I am proud of...because when you walk through the door to our front room, it's all downhill from there!  But that's a post (and a cry for help) for another time.