When we purchased our third home, the only part “inside” of the house that was not renovated was the screened in porch. We moved in during the spring and spent many hours on the porch. I am a slight germaphobe and got sick of telling my boys to get off of the carpet…yes, carpet! It was a nasty Berber carpet with some questionable stains and the walls were a peach color that were covered in pollen. It grossed me out… so, I finally decided it was time to begin the porch reno!
I decided to tackle the walls first. Georgia pollen is no joke, so I had to vacuum and scrub the pollen off of the walls before I could paint. I chose Sherwin Williams Snowbound in a semigloss for the walls. I painted every chance I got between working, running errands, and taking care of the little ones. The walls needed two coats of paint (even three in some spots) and took much longer than expected to paint.
Once the walls were done, I went to town on the ceiling…which also took forever to paint (you might see a pattern here). The wood on the ceiling was really rough. I tried to use several different types of rollers, but the wood kept ripping them apart. I ended up using a paint brush for all of it. My fear of heights was really tested when painting the ceiling. It doesn’t look very high, but it was enough to make me nervous on the ladder.
After the blue ceiling was done, I painted the rafters the same color as the trim of our home. These didn’t take nearly as long as the ceiling to paint because I was able to use a small roller. Between the white walls and blue ceiling, the dark rafters were a great contrast.
My husband suggested that I try a spray gun about a week into painting, but I was concerned about the prep time required. Looking back on how long it took to paint the entire porch, I wish I would have tried to spray all of it.
Next up…that hideous floor!
I was a little nervous about what I was going to find under the carpet, so I convinced my husband to rip it up (while I was “busy” doing something else). To our surprise, with the exception of a few stains and a little water damage, the plywood below the carpet was in good shape. We decided to replace just one piece of plywood that had some water damage and were amazed at how clean it was below the porch. I fully expected to find an animal or two living (or not living) under it.
Juggling kids and this project proved to be difficult (as with all projects that we do around the house). I enlisted the help of my husband to begin laying the cement board while I entertained the boys. He made it halfway through laying the cement board before a little slip of the box cutter sent us to the emergency room. He cut his thumb and required a few stitches…and I decided he was banned from the rest of the project (which he probably appreciated).
With the cement board in place, it was time to start laying tile! I chose the LifeProof Shadow Wood 6 in. x 24 in. porcelain tile in a herringbone pattern. I was looking for a tile that could handle the water that would be tracked in from the pool, without getting too slippery. We did have a few pieces of tile along with the old carpet and they got super slick when wet. Although I was concerned about aesthetics, safety obviously comes first with little ones running around.
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We laid out a few pieces of tile to determine our starting point and then I quickly went to work laying the tile. I used a Carpetner’s Square and 1/8″ Tile Spacers to help lay the tiles. It didn’t take long for me to realize how much I enjoyed laying tile…it’s so therapeutic!
I laid as many full pieces of tile as I could before I brought out the tile cutter. My husband and I discussed all of the options for cutting tile. He wanted to use a tile saw, but I wanted to go with a tile cutter (Surprise! I won!). The tile cutter was super easy to use and didn’t create much of a mess. My favorite part was cutting the tile and watching it all come together. The worst part: spreading the grout.
To finish of the flooring, I installed quarter round around the perimeter. The quarter round nicely covered up the seams between the house and tile. With a little caulk and some white paint on the quarter round, the flooring was complete!
The final piece of the puzzle was new slip covers for the outdoor furniture! I am so fortunate to have a mother that loves to sew…and is REALLY REALLY good at it. She is always willing to assist in my crazy projects and never fails to deliver. With her help, we chose to swap out the burnt red covers with black and white.
I am so incredibly happy with how the porch renovation turned out! I am, yet again, satisfied with the hard work and long hours that I put into our home. A little elbow grease goes a long way!
