Switching gears a little bit from the Hummel House to talk about our porch.  Last time I talked about the porch styling was almost 4 years ago when I complained about how tan everything was looking, but did some virtual styling to reduce the monotony of beige.  Last year we did do some major work on the actual porch which made my dislike of the basic furniture seem a little less important, but with warm weather right around the corner I’m back to dreaming of sipping margaritas out here again!

So, the last time I had checked in I had bought this set from Bed Bath & Beyond, which is no longer carried.

I also had that Ikea sisal rug that I had plans to paint, but honestly, who has time for that?! 

My plan was to add color by painting the rug, adding pillows and accessories, and maybe one day making slip covers.  They were grand plans indeed!

Well fast forward 4 years and we still had the tan furniture with a couple pillows, which you can see peeking out in the first photo, and that was it.  I was hopeful to take on this space again and everything changed when I got the Bed Bath and Beyond circular last month and I got super excited about new possibilities.

I decided to stop trying to like my old set and get something I loved, and this Westerly Acacia Wood Chat Set was it!  I knew Mike would kill me if I came home with a new set while we still had a perfectly good one sitting on the porch at the moment, so I reasoned with myself that if I could sell the old one, I would buy the new one.  I posted it to our local Facebook Buy, Sell, Trade group and within 3 minutes it was sold for $150!  I went after work to buy the new set :)

Poor Mike was actually on the porch cleaning it up when I came home with the news that someone was coming by later to take it away.  He’s definitely used to this by now so he wasn’t even that surprised.  I had also picked up a new outdoor rug from Target while I was out and then got to work putting everything together.  I would have liked a larger rug, but we’re limited by width of the porch.

The furniture is surprisingly really comfortable.  The cushions look a little thin, but I sat on the display set before I bought it. 

I’ve got to add some more layers, including a side table for the chairs, planters, lanterns, pillows, and accessories.  I’ve got a couple items in transit, and I’ll share as I add more pieces.   

We’re finishing up the ‘Before’ tour of my sister and brother in law’s house, aptly named Hummel House.  We’ve only got two rooms left, the master bedroom and attached bath.

The bedroom is similar to the other bedrooms, with simple fixtures, plain carpet and the same style closet doors.

The room is obviously larger, has two windows, and two closets.

Some new paint, upgraded closet doors, new light fixture and furniture will update this room.  It also has an ensuite bath.

The bathroom has a good sized window that provides a good amount of light.  While not offensive, everything’s dated, but with minimal work I think this could be a really cute bathroom.

And that completes the home tour!

We’ve already started plans for different rooms, and I’m really excited to see the upgrades unfold, but definitely not as excited as my sister!  There are daily texts back and forth about a chair or paint color, and I love it!

Soon, we’ll be sharing some plans and hopefully not too long before we start implementing them!

This morning we’re moving our tour of the Hummel House upstairs to the bedrooms.

The red continues up the stairs to the small hallway at the top.  To the left is the guest bathroom.  It’s dark, with no natural light, and dated.  Not much else can be said about it.

The problem in here is the pink tile, toilet, and vanity.  Like I said, Michelle and Keith aren’t looking to do major renovations, so we’ll have to work with the tile in the shower at least, and hope to use paint and accessories to upgrade the other fixtures if they are to stay.

On the other side of the small hallway are the guest bedrooms.  One will be used for guests, while the other is made into an office.  Below is the guest room.  The room is pretty inoffensive with white trim, dark gray carpet, and builder-grade closet doors. 

The plan is to use paint and furniture to make this room welcoming to guests (maybe even me if I have a couple too many glasses of wine!).

The other room is similar, if not a little smaller.  And green.  Really, that’s the only way to tell these two rooms apart at this point.

This room will be an office/craft area and I’m looking forward to helping Michelle set up an area for her to get her craft on!  It’s like a rite of passage in my family to get a crafting area, starting with my Grandma, to my mom, and me. 

Tomorrow we’ll finish up the tour with the master bedroom and bath, and then it’s on to the grand plans!