We took a week off posting for One Room Challenge and for me that meant spending time muted - to listen, learn and discover. Between that and quarantine life with a family and business that has been ramping back up we have been working as much as we can on our Front Porch and Garden project. Here is where we are at now...
We built the 8'x2' planter box as per the HGTV post I found. Thank goodness for a cut list and pretty good instructions! It would have taken me forever to figure out how to build it and what I needed. Here is the HGTV 12' planter below:
Photo Credit Sam Henderson - and HGTV
So far our modern planter box/bench combo looks like this...
I still have to paint the frame black (I'm waiting for it to dry out a bit more) and clear coat and install the seat boards. The seat boards are just placed there in the photo and will look similar to the HGTV bench. After the finishing step I can line it with landscape cloth and add gravel, soil, and decorative stones...and of course plants! I'm thinking of a tropical look with a couple of plants I can bring inside in the fall and continue to enjoy. :) What would you put in it?
We scored this cute little vintage chair the other week during our bulk garbage pick-up. Our neighbour put out 4 of them, but this is the only one that wasn't torn and falling apart. How cute is this?? I probably have to spray it with a clear coat so it can withstand the rain, but I like how it looks out here.
Pssst...Do you see our door mat? I saw that at Winners in the Fall and had to get it and give my love some Yoda joy :)
We finished building our privacy screen to camoflauge our garbage and recycling. I can't wait to see them painted black and add that modern contrast to the red 60s brick.
And we've finished the narrow garden bed in front of the house! We edged it with 4x4's, added three small blue/green grasses (gifted from a client that was removing them...thank you!) and have added a yucca, a couple large rocks shopped from our backyard, and natural cedar mulch. We like the idea of keeping it relatively open and having the negative space be an important design detail as well as the repetition of the grasses. We'd like to add something sculptural on the corner of the house but haven't decided what that is yet. I was originally thinking of this sculptural fountain from Rona...
But it is $200 and I'd like to see what other options are available. I almost wonder about making a fountain, but that may be a project for next year. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you have some ideas! Update: as I'm copying the link for the fountain, I see it is now on sale for $150...hmmm...what should I do?
For now this garden section is pretty complete, and I'm happy with how it turned out. It will look even better once the privacy screen is painted black and the black shutters arrive and get installed.
And another detail that was installed since my last post is our beautiful seasonal planter arrangements by Artistry Blooms by Dee. She is super talented and a wonderful person. I hope I can keep them all alive and blooming all summer!
Here's a shot from the driveway showing up the only garden bed that is mulched! The rest of the gardens have had top soil added, plants rearranged, plants reduced, and several new plants added. Today the boys helped me edge it all, so tomorrow afternoon everyone is going to help me finish off the gardens with fresh natural cedar mulch! I was hoping to get it done in time for this post, but I spent all day out in the garden yesterday, and today we were celebrating my love and his Father's Day with the boys.
Oh yeah, yesterday morning I went with my FIL and his truck and trailer and picked up 1 cubic yard of premium soil and 3 cubic yards of mulch! This is the pile we have to shovel and spread out into the garden tomorrow...
This doesn't look quite complete without the mulch and the privacy screen and planter box painted black, but the transformation is already pretty amazing. I added a yellow elderberry, sedums, decorative 3-4'grasses, and yuccas along with the existing and trimmed juniper, rhododendron, and golden barberry.
Here's a shot where you can see the two blooms on the rhododendron. I had to trim some of the ivy off of the house where a vine was damaged when we were building the fence. My Mom and MIL both think I should totally remove the ivy from the house. People either love or hate it I find. What do you think?
I'm loving the yuccas and the smaller sedums with the existing one in the centre. It give it the Modern Vintage and as much southwestern vibe as we can have!
So what's next? And what's the status of things? Lots done, but lots more to do!
Mulching tomorrow and place the decorative rocks and then the garden portion is done!
Lightly sand and paint the privacy screens and planter box black
Clearcoat the planter box seat, attach, and get it ready for plants...oh and buy plants for it!
Finish shopping for decor...I have a lantern on it's way, but I need cushions, a planter on stand (since the one from Rona is not available anywhere so I'm assuming that is covid related and never arrived), and a few accent pieces.
I need to sand my existing vintage log slice table and finish it somehow.
The shutters have been backordered twice already and now I don't even know when to expect them...I'm assuming covid related. It's unfortunate because they were the first thing I ordered and hoped to install before the ivy started filling in.
Figure out what decorative stone and plants to put in the planter box, purchase and install
Waiting for the door step decorative tiles (they are backordered until the end of June so I already know they will not be installed until after the ORC reveal. I haven't shown them to you, have I? I was inspired by Lela Day Design who I follow on IG and how she tiled her porch step with decorative cement tiles shown here:
I found a great tile at our local Flooring Canada that works with the concrete porch, and adds a nice detail without detracting from the rest of the space and not clashing with my black and white area rug. I had several samples that I was able to look at in the space. Scale and pattern size were key for this small 6'x27.5"step in front of the door. And it needed to have just the right balance of gray black and a bright white didn't look right. So this 6"x6" mix set of 8 different patterns in a more muted tones of gray did the trick. I can't wait to get them and install them!
Centura - Pietra del Nord (6" tiles in 8 mixed patterns)
I'm waiting for the house numbers to ship and hopefully arrive in time for the final reveal to install on the large privacy screen...I'm so excited! They are from Modern House Numbers and we ordered 8" brushed aluminium like this:
Photo credit and great person to follow on IG for a gorgeous Modern Vintage home with amazing gardens and property @wildwoodmodern
And once that's all done I can do the fun styling of the porch! Hopefully I can get most of it done in time for the big reveal in 2 weeks. Well thankfully I really have until the deadline of July 5th to post the final reveal, so that gives me three weeks. And I'm thinking I will probably need every last minute! Wish me luck!
And please let me know what you think! Thanks for following along with me and my ORC Spring Challenge!
Your Designer, and Modern Boho Mom,
Ramee
xo