From Sad to Happy Front Porch Makeover

My front porch was looking pretty sad for the summer.  And by sad, I mean bare.  Just two lone rockers, and well, that's it.

 I knew at the very least, the chairs needed pillows.  A few weeks ago I picked up these 4 placemats at Kroger (yes Kroger!) for $0.67 a piece.

 

I have been dragging my feet on making these pillows, because I knew it would involve sewing.  I am still a novice at sewing, so it scared me a bit.  BUT - what did I have to lose?  If I messed up my $0.67 placemats - no loss, right?  I didn't have any pillow stuffing in the house, but I did have some old ugly brown pillows that were sitting in a closet.  So I ripped one open, and repurposed the guts.

 

I pinned the placemats together, sewed them up, stuffed 'em, and low and behold - I had pillows!!  I did it!!  LOL.  

Quick and easy, sure - I was so proud of myself!!  But they still needed something - they needed BURLAP!

I grabbed some scrap burlap that I had, cut them into squares, and stitched them around the outside to prevent fraying.  Then, with my Cricut, I made a number stencil out of contact paper - 74 and 85 - because my house number is 7485.  Using contact paper makes it easy - just cut around the stencil and stick it down where you want.  Then I just painted the numbers.

The last step was to hand stitch the numbers onto the front of the pillow.  Once I was done, I was in LOVE!!

The porch still needed some more stuff - so I grabbed some odds and ends from around the house, and voila!!

I was on a roll, so hubby and I ran out to Home Depot and bought some hanging plants too.  Here's what it looks like all done:

Ahh...we have already spent so much more time out there!  It's so relaxing, right?  Not bad for $2.68 and some stuff I already had around the house!!

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