Front Porch Inspiration, Dumpster Diving, and Giveaway Reminder

It's time for a front porch makeover, y'all! My porch, not these lovelies, these pics are my inspiration...my muse! Hee, hee! Here in my very old, small southern town are a street of houses that have been brought back to life over the years by the residents who live there. And I want to live there, too! I have no idea what the insides look like, but if they're anything like the darling outsides, count me in! :)

Here you'll find tin roofs, wrap-around porches, vintage porch furniture, ferns, and lots of sink-into, come & visit, & have a sweet tea kind of seating. I love it!

This one has the largest wrap-around porch, and black wicker furniture with a cream & black toile that's just yummers!

And the home below has to be just about the cutest thing I ever did see! I sigh a sigh of contentment every time I see it. I actually take a purposefully little long-cut on the way home from the grocery store so that I can drive down this adorable street. This home has the most fabulous cottage garden in front. (All the houses on the street have gorgeous blue hydrangeas, just stopped blooming)

White picket fence with a cottagey perennial garden.

A brick path leads to the front door.

And now, here's my porch below. It's a newer house, but I'm trying to incorporate some charm. I have black rocking chairs, and little table between, and black pots with what was a gorgeous arrangement for early summer, but which alas had fizzled out. I bought some lovely wax begonias and potato vine, because I need plants to tolerate intense sun and heat (no pretty ferns for this porch, sadly).

I'm working on a new arrangement to hang on the front door, and bought this cream & black Waverly toile fabric at JoAnn's today to do some seat cushion mistreatments on. I'll add some cute vintagey touches, without it being too much, since the house has a traditional feel, plant my pots, and hopefully have some pics to show to you in a day or few!

Now, for the Dumpster Diving story! I live in a neighborhood with lots of new development going on. Just a few houses up the street (and down as well) they are doing interior work now, getting cabinets and flooring in place. And while driving my kids to school yesterday morning, I saw some wood sticking out of the large, red dumpster next to the house. I thought there might be some good scraps in there for little projects, but I had no idea!

I was a little embarrassed when I went back because my neighbor saw me and waved ;), but I told myself that maybe a treasure was to be found, and boy-oh-boy was I right! LOTS of long lengths of brand new crown moulding, chair rail molding, quarter-round just tossed in the dumpster and ready for the landfill!!! I couldn't believe it! You'd better believe I was embarrassed no more when I saw visions of crown moulding in my powder room, and the laundry room given a cute extra tall chair rail! FOR FREE, PEOPLE!!!

I got a few looks when driving the couple houses back towards home because the moldings were so long they went from the dashboard to several feet sticking out the back window of my suv. Better believe I stashed those babies in the garage right-quick-and-in-a-hurry! (For those of you readers who are horrified by said story, I did ask the construction guy first, and I didn't actually have to dive in the dumpster, I was standing on my tippy-toes!) Yippee for literal trash-to-treasure!!!

Lastly, don't forget to go to yesterday's post "Pass It Forward" to sign up by leaving a comment ONLY ON THAT POST for a FREE GIVEAWAY!!! It's gonna be a good one! You'll be soooorrry if you miss out! :)

Don't miss out on all the....

Blessings to You,

Stacey