Hi Friends! I hope you are enjoying your summer. We are having fun with our boys. Over the years, I have learned to trim down the summer activities and let the boys be boys. They fill their days hunting for turtles, exploring the area, swimming, riding bikes, catching fireflies, and they even put on a cowboy play for us last night! Trust me, there has been plenty of arguing, hitting, and screaming too! But, all-in-all, we are having a wonderful summer break.
So, I wanted to share my porch remodel with you. Back in 2012 when we were discussing remodeling the porch and adding an outdoor kitchen area, I threw in that I would rather spend the money on the
kitchen, since that it where we spend the majority of our time. My husband agreed and we worked up a budget to do both. Well..... the kitchen budget quickly overtook the porch budget and we decided to just scrap the porch remodel altogether. In the middle of the kitchen remodel, we got hit with a major hail storm. Still, since we decided to upgrade the windows and siding, we would not be doing any porch remodel any time soon. It wasn't until we removed the vinyl siding, that we discovered water had accumulated under the existing porch roof and basically rotted the headers.
Our contractor wouldn't move forward without replacing the headers and some adjoining framing. Well, if you give a mouse a cookie, he is going to want some milk to go with it, RIGHT? :)
Down came the porch roof.
Out came the brick border that was built on sand.
A brick pattern was laid out to copy the rest of the house. My goal was that the porch look like it had always been there.
A new roof was constructed and installed. This time adding about 10 feet to the width.
Trimming out of the posts and paint was next.
Furniture came, and furniture was returned. We finally agreed on the look we were going for and everything came together perfectly. I am still searching for the perfect ottoman/coffee table. But, in the meantime, we are enjoying the porch and wonder why we didn't do it sooner!
Thanks for following me here on my blog! I love sharing my home with you!
xo, Emily