Take Time To Smell The Flowers

Remember what my front patio looked like?

You don’t?

Could that be because I don’t show photos of it very often?

Hmmmm…….it’s true. I don’t. Wanna know why?

Okay I’ll tell you but it’s just between us…..

Since a picture is worth a thousand words…..

This is one of the very few photos I’ve ever posted of my front porch area where you can see much of the concrete floor.

Carefully staged to cover some of the worst ugly stains!

See what I mean? That’s been scrubbed and scrubbed and pressure washed and it’s just there to stay.

I’ve wanted to do something about the floor for years because no matter how nice my decor is on my porch, the floor always grabs my eye whenever I look at it. It’s collected water over the years and there are so many stains.

Why did I wait so long? I’ll tell you……

I was afraid.

Afraid that I would go to all this work and make it look so pretty and within a couple months I’d have peeling paint and it would look worse than before.

Once I cautiously applied a stone “paint” that was supposed to give the concrete some texture and make it look like stone but it was so transparent that it didn’t cover the stains.

It was expensive too!

But then?

My favorite blogger Karianne Wood over at Thistlewood Farms painted her brick porch.

Of course I loved it but I wondered what she would think when her porch paint was peeling and no longer looked like a show home. I felt relieved that it wasn’t me that would have to deal with that.

But then it didn’t.

And then she wrote a new blog post recently showing how well her painted porch has held up over the past year even under snow this past winter!

And I knew I finally had the courage to give it a try!

I ran out to my local Home Depot and grabbed a gallon of their Behr Premium Porch and Patio Floor Paint in the color Jet Gray and I grabbed a paint brush and a roller too. Then I rushed home and started cleaning my porch floor off.

First I removed all the furniture and then I swept it really, really well. Then I carefully went over it and made sure there were no lumps or bumps and I took a wire brush to any icky spots and then I scrubbed it and let it dry. I was so proud of how patient I was being.

And then?

I jumped right in the deep end! I kept my broom close by in case any bit of dust or leaves DARED to blow onto my floor while I was painting.

It really went on so very quickly and easily. I put it on nice and thick and it easily covered in one coat!

After a little while waiting for it to dry I admired my handiwork over and over and started thinking the same thing I think after almost every project I ever do. “Why didn’t I do this sooner?”

I waited 24 hours for it to dry and that was the best I could do at waiting to put my furniture back in place.

2 new outdoor rugs from Walmart for either end by the furniture and I was about to break into song!

Now I don’t have to avoid taking pictures of my front porch anymore and I don’t have to stage it with pumpkins and things over the worst stains!

So remind me again – why didn’t I do this sooner?

Now I’m ready to sit in my comfy rocking chair on my beautiful porch and take some time to smell the flowers as they start blooming.

Until next time…