painted steps - Berry Berry Quite Contrary

Updated on November 18, 2021April 13, 2021Home Decorating Seasons Spring Decor

Spring Front Porch with Painted Steps & Faux Plants

It feels so good to be typing this post out tonight! I can’t wait to share with you all my spring front porch! A little …

Updated on September 13, 2020May 18, 2020Home Decorating

Stenciled Sidewalk Curb Appeal

The last few months Matt and I have been working on the curb appeal of the front of our home. I painted our porch and gave it a mini spring makeover. New rugs and some plants made a big impact. Never underestimate small details; they can make a big difference. And this last weekend I stenciled a pattern onto our sidewalk of the front of our home. I LOVE how the stenciled sidewalk turned out!!! I was honestly a little nervous to do it. I’ve never stenciled anything before and you don’t see too many stenciled sidewalks around. But I decided to just go for it and hope for the best…. kind of been my mantra lately!

Isn’t it so cool?!?! I’ve always loved the look of stamped concrete but that was not in our budget. This cost us $20 for the stencil, I already had the primer and paint on hand leftover from our porch makeover. I purchased this star tile stencil from royaldesignstudio.com to create this pattern. Shipping was SO fast! I was super excited to receive it earlier than expected.

First step was priming our sidewalk. I used the BEHR Concrete & Masonry Bonding Primer. I used a paintbrush to apply it and let it dry over night.

I used the BEHR Porch & Patio Floor paint .

I started out by using a roller when doing the stencil because that’s what I’ve seen others do on Instagram; but after doing a couple I quickly reached for a stenciling brush that I picked up for a couple dollars at Hobby Lobby. I preferred the brush WAY more than the roller. I felt like I had better control and didn’t get any runs with it like I did with the roller.

The black design ties into our black striped porch steps and other decor on the porch.

I only had four more spots to go when I accidentally put my stencil on wrong. Nothing can ever go perfect, right?! That would be way too easy. Luckily I had some paint thinner on hand and a wire bristle brush. I let the paint thinner soak for a minute or two on the paint and used the brush to scrape it off. Worked like a charm. Crisis averted.

I know next Spring I will have to more than likely touch some of this up but I’m fine with that. The snow in the winter can cause some of the paint to peel off; especially if it’s sitting there for an extended period of time.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Updated on November 18, 2021April 20, 2020Home Decorating Seasons Spring Decor

Spring Front Porch Reveal

I am so excited to share with you all our Spring front porch reveal! Get ready for lots of pictures! I’ve been patiently waiting for warmer weather to arrive so I could go out and buy plants for our porch. This weekend was beautiful here and I think the higher temps are finally here to stay! Hopefully. Fingers crossed. You really never know with Kansas weather.

A blank slate.

After! Isn’t Spring an exciting time?! I always get excited to plan and decorate our porch with plants and accessories. This year is my most favorite I’ve ever done.

Last weekend I touched up our shutters and siding with paint. You can see on our siding here that the new paint sticks out. Eventually, as it gets dirty, it will blend in with the old paint. Just thought I’d explain in case you’re wondering what those dark spots are all over our siding!

I wanted to incorporate some pink into our front porch and did that by adding this awesome pink rug. You can see there is some navy in the rug too which helps it tie into our navy siding. It is screen printed and thin so works great here. I found it at Rugs USA for a great price and you can purchase it HERE.

Matt bought me these tall planters for Mother’s Day a year or two ago. Well I bought them and told him this was going to be my gift from him. 🙂 They are really heavy and really good quality. I bought them at a pop up greenhouse here in our town.

This macrame hanger was a Target find. I bought it on sale for $10. You can purchase it HERE. I just stuck a little succulent in it in the same plastic planter it came in.

Since the planters are so tall, I wanted a plant that was pretty tall as well so it would look proportionate. I was SO happy to find these plants at my local Home Depot.

This jute rug was an Amazon find. I knew it was the perfect one right away for my space! I was so happy I came across it! I haven’t found it to shed at all and it seems to be made very well. It’s a thicker rug. Unfortunately the price has gone up almost $15 since I’ve purchased it. Boo. You can find it HERE.