Canyon Brown, for the win!

We got it done!

The porch is painted (well, the main posts) and the floor stained.
We went with Canyon Brown by Valspar, in the semi transparent shade.

However, b/c of differences in computer 'recipes' at the store, the color varies
according to which computer you pull the 'recipe' from! Ours is a rich, deep,
brown, but when we needed a second gallon for our 16x12 porch floor, the
worker at Lowes (diff lady) pulled from another computer, and that batch was
a nasty rusty orange color. More orange than anything, with no brown to be seen.

I did not know this til Dh came by work to show me, he thought it was diff (he has
some color blind issues, and glaucoma), and it was awful. No way were we putting
that on the porch. Thankfully, Dh just poured some out into a tray and saw the diff.

We had to take it back, and wait for the first lady to mix it when she came in the
next day, but she got it right. The porch looks great, and if I could share pics here,
I would. They are up on my FB feed.

The little bit of red that was in the tray wound up being a happy accident. I used it
to stain the metal sheet of 'stone' that faces the porch under our picture window. You
can maybe see it in pics of our house earlier in this blog. The sheet was faded to pale
pink, and gave a shabby, worn air to the porch. So I dabbed on some of the rusty
orange here and there, then went over it with watered down Canyon Brown.

It honestly looks more like the dark brick than any stone color, but the blocking on
the metal sheet is def stone shaped, lol. Nonetheless, it is SO much better, and I"m
quite pleased with it, and myself, lol.

We removed one rocker b/c of a broken runner, and rearranged the seating and
grilling areas. We added a deep navy blue loveseat in wicker, and I repainted the
tables either white or 2 diff shades of blue, as blue/white are my porch colors.

So cozy, and welcoming! Around $200 (this includes the $60 loveseat and a cushion),
and we have a whole new 'room' in the house. Well, out of the house, but still!

Well worth it.

2019 Update

We have added a small deck off the back/side door, which greatly helps with grocery unloading and just general going in and getting out. A 4x4 stoop isn't enough. It's actually two sets of mobile home steps side by side next to the existing deck, with the center arm rails removed. Makes it 4x12, or 10, I haven't measured it. Sounds weird, but it works until we can afford a 'true' deck. You do what you have to. I've painted it white to match the front porch, so we'll call that a day.

Our porch has begun to leak. Or rather, it has leaked for a few months now. So tomorrow, a gentleman is coming to fix or patch that area. It's the porch roof, and not the house, so not a panic inducing thing. Still, we want to get it done before it becomes unfixable, and way more costly. The price was very reasonable. Let's pray he does a good job.

The pond area? Well.....
It hasn't been cut in over a year. Year and a half, actually. Dh got really sick, the lawnmower needed repair, ect. We may have it bush hogged as fall moves in and the grass stops growing, then maintain it from here on out next year. That's the plan, anyway.

I want to retouch the front porch with white in the next few weeks. The past year or so was very wet here, and there are mildew patches all over. Yuck. I also want, still, to stain the floor. Prob a deep walnut to hide the existing stains. Ds's 11th birthday is in a month, so I need to get busy!