My once welcoming porch no longer greeted my guests with a “come on in and stay awhile.” Instead it said, “I’m old” (which it is). And “I’m tired.” Oh, “and be careful on the fourth step from the bottom. It’s a doozy.”
It was just plain scary. And not in that intentional decorated for Halloween scary way.
And then there was my once-fabulous painted on porch rug. It was worn. And chippy. And downright unwelcoming.
So this past weekend I gave the porch a spruce. A quick one, because I heard rumors snow was in the forecast.
Really? Snow?
I focused on the steps and the landing. Starting with my husband hammering a few nails into that doozy of a fourth step from the bottom. And then I headed off to my local Ace Hardware store where the super talented Matt mixed up a perfect color match of that green color. And as he was concocting and mixing, we swopped tips on how best to paint that pesky, tired old front porch of mine …
… and I shared my plans for a new painted on porch rug for the landing.
I decided to go a bit bolder this time around. I thought it would be a more fitting introduction to the bold color choices my guests will discover once they come inside …
And I figured out genius way to paint that rug on the landing that involved a minimal amount of brain-freezing math. But I’ll share that tutorial with you next week. Today let’s focus on giving one of you a $100 gift card from Ace Hardware. You know, to give your entry a quick spruce for the holidays …
Good luck!
Linda
This post was written as part of my partnership with Ace Hardware as a member of the Ace Blogger Panel. However, any and all opinions are my own.
I would let my husband buy work tools with the gift card
i might use it for paint- emmy and i want to revamp her room!
I need paint for my porch railings.
I’d use it on our foreclosure house hallway ceiling… Poor old house is almost all fixed up but that ceiling? Oof! Still needs help!
My baseboards need to be painted badly!
We would probably buy paint for the laundry room.
I would buy paint to re-do my bathroom.
LOOKS NICE! GREAT IDEA
I would buy shelving for our garage.
Snow! That sounds horrible! Your porch looks adorable, though! Hope there’s not snow on it soon!
I would buy a new space heater with this sure hope I win this one.
would use it for gardening supplies; garden soil, mulch, etc.
Thank you for this giveaway opportunity.
We are revamping our open foyer including staining stairs and handrails, and painting kick boards, ballisters, and picture frame molding. A gift card will be put to good use!
I definitely use for sprucing up.
Paint, paint and more paint!
I’d love to do some winterizing – I’m trying to concoct a plan for insulating the windows that makes them look spiffed up instead of dumbed-down. I think it will include magnetic paint and frames. Wish me luck!
My living room, kitchen and guest room desperately need to be repainted. I would spend that gift card on paint.
I would use this for Paint!!!!!! Thanks for the chances to win this wonderful giveaway.
Your porch looks great! We’ve just moved to a new to us home and every room is in need of new paint! I would LOVE to win this card!!
I need to paint the front door….what color…what color?
Ace has the best selection of knobs for cabinets and drawers. I think I would great new ones for our upstairs.
BTW the link just goes to the ACE hardwood home page once-fabulous painted on porch rug. http://www.acehardware.com/home/index.jsp?camp=BLE:Item0011a Sounds interesting – what is the correct link or full name of item?
Thanks for the chance.
love the painted rug… and the bats! oh, i love them too!!! i would buy some paint .. or maybe some new chains for my porch swing, i need to spruce up my blah brown porch 🙂
Love the bats and the front porch checkered look…..I’d love to do something similar to my front concrete area but it has old paint on it so I’m not too sure how to remove the old paint before repainting.
I would buy stain for my deck which dearly needs it I’m usually in ACE in Eugene, OR almost every weekend.
I would buy paint for my front door – it really needs it 🙂
How much cuter could you make your porch? Not. Halloween decorations are so cute, pumpkin, but wreath is wonderful Linda. Then there’s your porch rug, painted on. You did awesome job for just one weekend’s work. I know there’s a way to figure out how to space the diamonds, but will share it? Math was not ever my strong point. Where in heck is my calculator?
Snow, yeah it’s possible. We had snow our first Halloween here, (what they call western slope, Grand Junction, CO).Was downright nippy and windy. Believe me Chicago is not only place wind blows, in fact it’s blowing a storm from southwest here now. Downright windy, has blown stuff off back deck already, blew my big faux decorated pumpkin off stand but wreath still there. High for Sunday is 50 degrees.
Have a great weekend.
I would love to get some things for the kids room to redecorate and to repaint. They really need it. That or my 1970’s bathroom with yellow fixtures I would love to remove the wallpaper but what goes with yellow?
I’m stumped! Really, a yellow toilet? And tub?
yes i saw something in like a light green or a blue(the rest of the house is blue walls or white walls) i seriously need help!
I would poke around the store and use the gift card to buy all those fun things you find when you just run in there to grab something!
I would buy something fun – you know, those cute things you see when you just run in to grab something.
I would purchase some paint for my downstairs bathroom.
I need to do some outdoors painting before it gets too cold 🙂
I would use the card either for paint or hardware for our kitchen remodel! Thanks!
I Would use the gift card for painting supplies. Thank you for a chance to win.
A cabinet refresh for my kitchen and laundry room 🙂
a cabinet refresh for my kitchen and laundry room 😀
paint for the kitchen!
So many cool things to buy at Ace. Would be fun to buy something just because!
organization, anything that would help my husband to get organized!
We are in the process of buying our first house so there is a lot of stuff I could use it for – especially paint!
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
I would buy a hedge trimmer and foam strips to insulate the windows.
Shelving and bins for garage.
I would buy paint for the kitchen and den.
I would use the gift card for paint…and surprise my sister. She just moved to South Carolina and her place needs some DIY.
buy paint supplies
We need a new bathroom light fixture/fan, so I’d definitely get that.
I see you didn’t scare anybody. Your porch looks beautiful, love the painted rug!
I would use the gift card to buy paint for an old head board for the quest room that we are decorating.
I WOULD BUY PAINT FOR MY DRESSER!!
I would buy paint for my bedroom.
There is a product called Wet and Forget that is only sold in my area at Ace. I would use it to buy that,
Let’s see — drill bits, sandpaper collections, paint for my office, etc, etc. I can get lost at Ace…
It would be a perfect Christmas gift for my husband.
Definitely to get paint
I would use it to paint the living room
I would use use this gift card to buy a new faucet for my bathroom!
I’d put it toward a portable air conditioner for the summer.
I would get a new drill!
I’d get some paint.
Holding onto this one for when we build our partial wrap around!
I would love to buy paint to do my bedroom over!
I also could use a re-working of my front steps – my poor rail is rotted on one side. And paint – us DIY-ers can never have too much paint. 🙂
I would use it for supplies for fixing my master bath.
a little paint for the railing and some wood for a new table
Stuff to build for the nursery!
I would buy paint for my bathroom.