Answers To The Before And After Challenge

I have to say, Peg has a good eye for seeing the differences in a picture! Thought there were a few things that weren't noticed. Sigh, you aren't the only ones who haven't notice, many of my friends don't unit I pointed it out to them. My favorite change I made was the molded relief that I installed above the bay window. 

Before I painted it, I checked out other houses that had them to see how it was painted on those houses. Not many in my neighborhood, so I resorted to good old google images. The majority of those pictures showed them painted as the same color as it background so white it was. Problem is, it blends in too well.

 Oh well, it still makes me smile whenever I see it. Plus it was one HUGE pain to paint which gives me the satisfaction that I did it myself. I also revamped the corners of each post, giving them a county look. I've always hated how the front of my house looked (hence all the plantings) I'm finally getting it to where I do like it.
Everyone notices that I painted the old rocking chairs. Yes I painted them. It was one of those things where I couldn't make them worse and I had plenty of white paint left over from painting all of the porch thanks to it needing two coats (and in some areas three and four).

 But no one (again including my friends) notice that I added the flower detail to the back and that I made new cushions with back pillows. Yes back pillows due to I had this little bit of fabric left over from making new covers and didn't want it to go to waste. I had some old foam from another project, and plenty of brown fabric for the back. I did try to find some new cushions for these chairs but YIKES they were too expensive for what you get. For a fraction of the cost of new, I sew up some covers and TADA! A fresh new look.

We also added a railing to the left side of the porch. When we first moved into the home the hillside was up to the porch such that you could step down onto the ground because it was that close. 22 years later, and now when you stand on the ground next to the porch on that side, it's up to my stomach. HUGE safety issue when you have a little one who like to play on the porch on rainy days. We've washed away all of the granddaughter's artwork so that it's ready for when she's here the next rainy day.