Jill of All Trades: Sprucing up the Front Porch

So, this isn't exactly the post I wanted to publish today. I wanted to show you my beautifully painted Adirondack chairs or my front door in it's lovely new coat of paint, but unfortunately the weather hasn't exactly cooperated. It's also turned out to be a much bigger job than I anticipated. Don't you love when that happens?

So here we are. Chairs that are still in primer and a front door that's a hot mess.

I wish it were as easy as slapping some paint on the door and calling it done, however the surface of the door was not in good condition. No telling when the last time the door was painted, but it had several layers of white and cream paint that were cracked and flaking off. So I took my trusty 6-in-One tool from Ace Hardware and began the arduous task of scraping off the paint. It came off surprisingly easy on the lower half of the door. The upper half, however, put up a fight. So I had to bring in the big guns: paint stripper, and soon the upper half of the door as well as the jamb began to look like this:

Paint stripper is nasty, messy stuff. If you've used it before you know exactly what I am talking about. Prep is key. You'll want to make sure you wear long rubber gloves, eye protection, and use plastic sheeting to protect the work space below (something I, regretfully, did not take into consideration). This is what your floors will look like after you scrape the chunks off if you do not prep the floor properly.

Oops. So, it looks like I will have to add "pressure wash" to BOB. Which works out because I had the intention of pressure washing the underside of the porch roof anyway. Speaking of BOB, I don't think I ever laid out my "game plan" for the porch. Here's my list of goals:

Seating
-~~Prime~~ and Paint
Paint shutters black
Paint front door and frost the windows for privacy
Powerwash underside of porch roof and concrete
Paint/seal concrete slab
Remove ivy from perimeter of the porch
Remove azalea
Add steps to create a traditional entry for the front porch
Upgrade porch light
Tiered planters with house numbers (something like this or this)
Landscaping
Window boxes for added privacy and color
Maybe beef up the porch columns

So, as you can see, it looks like I have barely scratched the surface of my list. One thing at a time, right?

So, now that it is raining again, here's a sneak peak of what I've been working on inside. It, too, is a tedious process, but perhaps at the end of the week I may have some more to share. :)