Feature Friday: Ruby’s Southern Porch

I’ve shared some of my friend, Ruby’s house in the past, her beautiful kitchen and master bedroom/bathroom and she and I have had a blast the last few years pulling her spaces together.  She and her hubby built on a screened porch a few years ago and she and I hit the yardsales, scoring all sorts of great wicker pieces for her large porch.  She has a beautiful porch and it was first decorated around 2003 with a black floral fabric that was very trendy back then.  Ruby felt the need to freshen up her porch and bring a little more color out there, so she and I got fabric samples and played around with them.

Here’s the BEFORE of the porch, all the wicker was painted black and the black and gold fabrics were great back then.

This porch served them well for many years, but it was feeling a little tired.

We found all this wicker at a yardsale back then and she got such a steal on it all.  It completely made her porch.  The round glass top pedestal table and 4 chairs were part of that score as well.

Back then, we were all smitten with painting diamonds on the floor, which got started when our friend, Debbie, painted black and white diamonds on her porch, which I’ve shared before too.  Ruby’s diamonds were gold and white, but again, it’s time for an update.

You’re going to love what Ruby has done with her porch this time around!

The gold and white checks became chocolate brown and white.  I’m taking a page from this and you’ll more than likely see brown and white diamonds on my porch too.  This will go great with my chocolate wicker as well.  I did black and white diamonds on a small little porch I used to have in Georgia and loved them.

Ruby’s porch is plenty big enough for entertaining.

All the wicker got a fresh coat of paint in chocolate brown.   She has a spray gun and sprayed them outside.  I’ll have to find out the exact color she used.

The glass table is great for outdoor dining.

Their property sits high above a trickling stream in the trees, just like a treehouse.  The new wall color is just perfect and we both fell in love with it.  It might be the perfect springy lime green, called Fennel by Pratt and Lambert, it can also be mixed at Sherwin Williams, as they have the formula too.  Just ask for it!  This color will find it’s way into my house too.  Ruby’s daughter-in-law used this hue in their house and we both loved it so much.  I’m always on the lookout for a great green and this is one of those.

This sofa was a real find earlier this spring.  Ruby called me one day and said, I’ve found a fullsize wicker sofa on Craigslist, go with me to pick it up.  And I did.  She got this for around $80, if I remember right and it is a Henry Link brand, which is very expensive.  She had the cushion made out of that pretty green fabric. We played around with all these fabrics coming up with fave combos.

She had all the cushions covered at a local shop.  The outdoor rug came from Homegoods and she has another on on order (a striped one that coordinate with the colors in this floral one).  The bigger rug will anchor the sofa and seating area.

The sofa is fullsize, perfect for napping, which is just what Ruby was looking for.

A vintage lamp from her mother-in-law is perfect out here.

The soaring ceiling really makes the room tree-housey.

A pretty ceiling fan makes this outdoor room perfect for hanging out.

These chairs got a new paint job too and the main fabric, a pretty colorful floral takes center stage.

A side table holds some pretty accessories and a lamp.

There are those fabrics that we stared at for a few weeks.  Love them!

I love these large modern florals and the colors in this one are so springy and easy to live with.  The blue coral fabric was a splurge, but well worth it.

A close up look at the brown and white diamonds.

A yardsale lamp gets a new paint job too.

Treat the walls on a porch just like another room and hang some things up there.

Plants on a planting cart.

Overlooking their small but pretty backyard.  The rest of the yard is just trees, beautiful trees.

Hope you enjoyed this respite from the summer heat in Ruby’s newly renovated porch.  Aren’t the fabrics so yummy?!

In fact, I am getting so inspired that I am going to host a summer Porch Party, so I hope you’ll write up a post about your porch and let’s share ideas. I am getting so excited about my own little screened porch, I can hardly stand it.

How about Wed., June 13th, we’ll have a fun Summer Porch linky party?  Come back here and share your porches:  Front porch, side porch, screened porch, sunroom, deck porch, any porch will do!  

Won’t that be fun?!

I just have to tell y’all that I am so fortunate and incredibly blessed to be doing what I love to do and get invited to so many fun events.  Wednesday evening, I went with a couple of friends to the launch party of the new Southern Living/Ballard Designs tabletop accessories and we got to tour the just opened Southern Living Idea House in Senoia, GA.  I can’t tell you how gorgeously beautiful this house is!  I took a zillion pics and can’t wait to share them with all of you.

Oh, and I got my pic taken with the Editor of Southern Living himself, Lindsay Bierman.  Pinch me now!  Southern Living is one of my TOP magazine loves.  So enjoyed meeting the Southern Living folks and Ballard Designs girls too. 

As soon as I can, I’ll get those pics up!

{Giveaway winner for Darphin is posted here!}

Don't Miss a Post, join my list!