DIY Country Porch Makeover

This summer, we finally decided that we wanted to work on the curb appeal of our country home. We built our house in 2013, and we were on a tight budget. The exterior and the porch were one of the last projects on our list!
(YES, we would love add wider stairs and railings one day, but it is NOT in our budget at this time. This is a BUDGET makeover!)

Here's how our porch looked last August. My hubby had made it functional with plywood flooring, and the posts are just the structural ones.





Here's how it looks today. With a VERY limited budget, we beefed up the porch columns and painted everything to make our porch look more appealing.





First, I painted the plywood flooring with a grey paint I had on hand and sealed it with some clear poly coating.





Then, my husband framed out the columns using 2 x4's. He made the columns measure about 1 foot square, cladded them with plywood, and then he trimmed the tops and bottoms of the columns with mitred pieces of 2 x 6's and 2 x 10's.





Finally, I painted the columns and the front trim on the porch with white primer and white outdoor paint. I still have a few spots to paint before winter hits!





All in all, this project was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it all. I can't believe how different our home looks now! For more details and photos, please visit my blog post.












Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/9991196/diy-country-porch-makeover site