This fall, with a freshly painted white house as my backdrop, decorating our front porch felt so different than past years. As much I love pops of color in my wardrobe, I prefer a more neutral palette when it comes to my home. So, this year I steered clear of the traditional autumn color wheel when it came to our front porch and I don’t think I have ever loved it more.
Note: I’ve tried to link everything in this post in case you’re interested in doing something similar on your front porch. Just look for the highlighted words and always feel free to leave me any questions in the comments section. xo
The final project for our 2020 home exterior makeover was our new front door. We recently painted it black and it looks so nice and fresh.
You might remember me asking you all about what your thoughts were when it came to topiaries. It was almost a unanimous “yes” to add some type of boxwood to frame our entry way. My amazing sister-in-law suggested I put the taller cement planters we had under our light fixtures with a faux boxwood ball in each. I can’t tell you how much I love these and their new place on our porch! I found these boxwood balls on Amazon. The base of these boxwoods are heavy enough to keep them from blowing away. I highly recommend these if you’re looking to go the faux route. And I just love that I will have these season after season.
I bought the little wooden box planters at the front of our porch from Walmart last fall (I’ve linked similar ones here). They were green when we bought them and my sweet boy Leo spray painted them black to match our front door (my other incredible sister-in-law suggested we do this to create a nice vignette with our black door). The box has an adjustable base depending on the size of the plants I place inside. With these beautiful white mums I bought from Pasquesi Home & Gardens in Lake Bluff, I just lowered the base to the bottom and put the whole mum–pot and all–right into this box.
With my black front door, I finally bit the bullet and bought our “S” door mat. It was a little bit short, so I layered it over this indoor/outdoor mat from Studio McGee’s collaboration with Target.
Finally, my favorite part of this whole thing is my wreath! I found it at Homegoods for under $30! I wasn’t sure how the taupe-y colors would work with our new home paint colors, but I think its works even better than last year when we had our two-tone exterior. If you’re local, I think the Mundelein store has the best selection of wreaths.
I hope this puts you in the mood for fall, and shows that you can keep things pretty simple–while shaking them up a bit!
xo,
Photos by Jenn Marie Photography
I love the idea of the faux boxwood! We had arborvitae on either side of our door that finally gave out after 3 winters of being beaten down by snow. The weight of the snow would leave the bushes misshapen (they were tall & thin). After 3 years of tying-up the branches I gave in and got rid of them. I love the idea of faux boxwood!
I think it’s a game changer…and all of the money I’ll save on filling those pots with annuals!