Welcome to Friendship Crossing!

Where strangers cross paths to become friends, sharing their love of PRIMITIVE/SEASONAL decorating, CROSS STITCH/ WOOL/SEWING/QUILTING/CRAFTING, recipes and home life.

**I have an Etsy shop filled w/the newest PATTERNS/SUPPLIES/KITS that are mostly PRIMITIVE, SEASONAL or WHIMSICAL in style. To take a peek, just click the button below on the sidebar .

***I LOVE reading your comments and thanks to all who take the time to write them. If you ever need to contact me, the best way is to just leave a comment on the most recent post and it will go directly to my email inbox first, w/out being published.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your visit!!

Tanya (pronounced like the color TAN) : ))


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Americana Front Porch Tour

Hello blogging buddies,

I hope everyone is enjoying warmer weather in your part of the world. It sure feels like summer in our area, so I thought I'd show you some pics of our front porch that my hubby totally re-did late last yr. He jack-hammered out the old 8-in. thick concrete floor and put in a whole new porch from one end to the other and top to bottom. I'm very proud of him for all the hard physical labor he has put into our home to make it look so much nicer!

Today I got a card in the mail from him for no reason, and it made me cry. It was so sweet and a total surprise. Gotta love a guy who has a romantic side too! God blessed me w/a wonderful hubby and I thank the Lord for him all the time!

Ok, enough of the mush, and on w/the porch tour! ha

We have a 4-pc. wicker set that we spray painted black and this first pic is where the table fits perfectly. It sits in the corner of our porch when you first come out the front door. Many of the pieces you'll be seeing in the next several pics were once used to decorate our old living room, but now are being used as porch decor. I like to decorate the front porch for each season.




I love all kinds of wooden signs and these are some of my favorites.


I had a flower pot w/nothing in it but dirt, so I just poked a bunch of my flags in it to give this area more color and fill in some empty space.

This old chair has been many different colors over the yrs, but now it's been painted black to match the rest of the wicker set.
I actually designed and printed up patterns for the 'Olde Prim Glory/Americana Rag Bag', which is very easy to make. It is actually two patterns in one. One for the rag bag and one for the stitchery part. I sold them a couple of yrs. ago, so if anyone is interested in purchasing one, just let me know. I think I still have a few of them left.

It looked a little lonely sitting there by itself, so I gave it some company, lol. The basket is made out of resin and the heart shaped box is paper mache, but inside it holds fabric coasters.

I always decorate the big picture window too. The sign used to hang in the living room where the faux fireplace is now.

This is a cr. stitch pattern/kit from Pine Mt. Designs. It stitched up very quickly.
This is a very old pattern from Cross Eyed Cricket, I believe.





Please excuse the dirty floor, it's very hard to keep clean w/all the stormy weather we've had lately.
I need input~ I painted the door white last yr. after the porch was done, but haven't been totally happy w/it. I'm not really a 'white paint' kind of gal and besides it tends to get dirty very easily. I'm thinking I'd like it better painted a darker color, like black or maybe even a dark barn red, but not sure if it'd be too much black or red color, in general. There are several other things on the porch that are white and so is the garage, so leave a comment and let me know what ya think. Paint it another color OR should it stay white???
In our area decorative flags are still seen seasonally. I change this out about once a month. Are decorative flags still a big thing in other areas??

The black barn star is actually about 4 ft. in person, but looks way smaller here. Again, we sprayed it to match the other features around the porch.
This arched part of the porch used to have old UGLY metal awning, which I hated because it was the first thing you noticed when you pulled in the driveway. It always embarrassed me, but not no more, ha. I love the way it turned out!

Hey, there's a sheep grazing in our yard!! LOL (You all know how much I love sheep by now, don't you)???


Oops, how'd BJ get in there? He's our baby, even if he is 5 yrs. old. He thinks he has to go everywhere we go.

This shows how close the 'barn' is to the house. It's right in our backyard and now that we have the new addition(which you can't see from this pic), it's even closer than before.


Our plants seem to be thriving this yr. so far, even tho' it's been quite hot and humid recently.


BJ snuck in there again! He loves getting a tan, lol.

I even like to decorate our garage just a little. (click on for a larger view if you need to).




He loves to go out front to wait for the mailman to bring him a treat. He whines like crazy when he sees him. :))

This is actually around back, behind the new addition, which I'll show at a later time. I call them my 'Jack in the Beanstalk' Lilies. They started out very tiny last yr. and this yr. they've gotten really TALL!



We finally propped them up straighter(since this pic was taken) and I'm guessing they are about 4ft. high or so now.

This is in front of the barn. I love the various shades of pink.



That's all for now folks. I still need to hang two flag buntings out front and I'd like to add some hanging flower baskets out there too, so I'll show that when I get it done.
Thanks to all of you who participated in the recent give~away I had. It was so nice 'meeting' many of you and I've enjoyed visiting your blogs too!
I hope everyone has a wonderful summer filled w/warm weather and long lazy days of fun w/your families and friends!
Hopefully next time I will be able to share some pics of our renovation and our new addition we added to our home last yr., as well as some stitchy things I've been working on lately.
So have a great week everyone and as always, thanks so much for stopping by! I love your visits! Take care!
Tanya




12 comments:

Cindy's Stitching said...

what a beautiful home. I love americana decor - red, white and blue all american. You have some beautiful things.

Country Prims said...

What a beautiful home you have Tanya-love ALL your Americana decor. The porch is so inviting:)

Your shutters are lovely too and as for all your handwork-they are amazing:))

The door looks good in white, as it ties in with the windows etc, but if you were dead set on changing it's colour, I would go for barn red, like round your porch, but the white is good:)

Have a good day and speak soon (washing and cleaning:( here)
Blessings, Shazy x

Christine said...

Thanks you so much for the photo tour of your beautiful home and porch! You are right to be proud of your hubby as he did a fantastic job!

All the Americana decorating is wonderful!

I think the door actually looks great in white to match the other paintwork around your home - just my humble view!

Have a great week!
Christine

Nanna said...

you've been busy! everything looks great!I'm slowly getting the yard the way I want it this year, got a lot of prjects in my head LOL
Helen

Sheila said...

Hi Tanya! lovely home you have and in my favorite colors! Love everything Americana with a bit of the old/grungy look too it. I wish that we could add a porch very similar to yours but the power lines are to close to where it would extend! Love porches and yours says "come on in" so inviting. If it were me I'd paint the door a dark barn red close to what is in your bricks. I like the white but think the red with the black storm door would look great too! Touches of black sure make everything else just pop out!
Great job.
Have a wonderful day and thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us.
~Blessings

Valley Primitives Gift Shoppe said...

I loved seeing all the pictures of your home. Your porch looks nice and inviting :) I think your door would look nice painted black. It will fit in nicely with your black shutters and porch furniture. I think red might be too much with the brick. Your flowers are very pretty too. BJ is just sweet :) Our dogs are such a special part of our lives too.
Kim

Karen~The Barely There Primitive Bear said...

I love how your decorated your porch, I
even thought of painting what wicker I
have, black. I have a white front door
with an oval opening and I don't like it,
either. You have a lovely home! I can't
decide on the door, maybe the dark red
would look good. Thanks for sharing...

Bear Hugs~Karen

Unknown said...

Hi Tanya,
Your porch and yard look amazing!!
I decorate my porch in Americana decor also.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful home with us.
Tam

Karen~The Barely There Primitive Bear said...

Hi Tanya, thanks for stopping by! The
watermelon you see in the picture with
the bear, is a slice out of a tree,
that has been painted to look like a
slice of watermelon. I bought it to
put on a chair on the front porch,
but I haven't painted the chair, yet.
I'm glad you like my bears!

Bear Hugs~Karen

Angie Berry ~ Berry Homespun Primitives said...

Sounds like a lot of work your husband did but looks like it was all worth it! Your porch is very nice, very inviting!

Well, being a red door girl myself... I would go with a red door just because I love them so much. But black might look better. I'm a big help, aren't I? Hee hee!

BJ is a cutie! How funny that he waits for the mailman! That cracks me up.

Your flowers are beautiful! Everything looks wonderful Tanya! I wish our yard was looking this good already. We still have a ways to go.

Have a delightful week~

Carmen S. said...

Hi there, just wanted to say I LOVE YOUR PORCH! Very nice and welcoming:)

Alan said...

I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE your porch! So inviting. Thanks for sharing. Jana