12 Rooms in 12 Months: My Front Porch Reveal

This post is sponsored by Bed Bath & Beyond. All opinions are my own.

I shared a teeny tiny sneak peek of today’s reveal on Instagram a while back, but today I finally get to share the full reveal. I finished up my front porch makeover and have been dying to share it ever since. And considering how unusable the space was before (click through for the before photos), it’s surprisingly become one of my favorite places to hang out, even in the Atalanta heat.

The porch itself is very small and the fact that it’s the exact same layout as my upstairs balcony, felt a little daunting to tackle with another makeover. Kinda like the movie Groundhog Day – I didn’t want to repeat the same thing over again.

Luckily, with a little internet searching, I was able to find exactly what I needed all in one place, from an unexpected source: Bed Bath & Beyond.

Have you shopped there recently? I generally pop into the store by my house whenever I need more utility type items (like the special trash bags for our Simple Human trash can and CO2 canisters for the SodaStream), but hadn’t looked at all of their decorative items lately, until starting this project.

As it turns out, they have some really unique and stylish pieces. So much so, in fact, that I was able to put together this entire makeover using only items from Bed Bath & Beyond.

Yep, every single thing you see in these after photos (minus the live plants) is from BB&B! The rug, the chairs, the accessories, the planters. Everything! So, I’m clearly onboard.

If you’re completely overhauling your space like I did or you just need a few items to refresh things for the season, I’d highly recommend checking them out.

The online store was such a great resource for me while planning out this makeover and shipping was speedy too. So, let’s get into the details, so you can see what I’m talking about…

The first thing you might notice from the before photos above, other than the fact that we had literally done nothing to it before starting this makeover, is how small it is. Yes, it’s also kind of open feeling because the railing let’s light through, etc but it’s definitely a pretty tight space square footage wise. And it’s also the first thing you see when you walk up to the house, so my plan was to make a visual impact, but also keep things simple. I kept my selections minimal and cohesive and only brought things into the space that 1) I really loved or 2) served a very specific purpose.

So, I started my search with the largest (physical size) items – seating, a table, and a rug. I knew that I wanted to create a cozy, comfortable seating area and since I’ve always wanted rockers, for a time when we finally had a house with a front porch, I started there and based everything else around the chairs. After a little searching, I found this set of all weather wood rocking chairs that are the perfect size for the porch and also actually look cool. It’s not easy to find stylish rockers out there, let me tell you.

From there, I found a set of outdoor nesting tables and this outdoor rug that I really, really like. Cool looking outdoor rugs have been hard for me to find in the past too, and BB&B has some really good ones. If my grey geometric rug isn’t your thing, check out these options, which I also really liked: Jaipur Living Swane rug and the Jaipur Limon rug. 

Once I decided on the grey rug, I picked out some grey pattern pillows from Magnolia Home (and the blush ones as well), along with a couple of blankets (this one and this one) to soften things up. The pillows and blankets aren’t necessarily for outdoor use, so I bring them in when it rains. But they’re also slightly protected anyway, since the porch is covered. 

From there, it was onto the plants, planters, and entryway area. I knew the space would need a few plants, which meant I would need a few planter options. My absolute favorite one ended up being this patio planter (in white) right by the front door. It’s the perfect size to separate the seating area from the entrance and also conveniently covers up that ugly (and pretty large) electrical socket behind it. I added a large spikey plant (I think it’s a desert yucca?) with desert vibes and finished off the entry with a sturdy but simple doormat.

Then, I bought in a few smaller planters to round out the seating area in various sizes to make sure there was a good amount of greenery around, without overwhelming the tight space. I found these two really cool marbled planters by Wedgwood (I have the 4 inch and the 7 inch) to sit on the side tables, along with a low profile bowl planter for a big fern to soften one of the corners.

Other than that, the only other thing we added was a Nest outdoor security camera, which we had planned to get whether we did a porch makeover or not. And it’s probably Jeff’s favorite gadget / tech thing right now because he can see live video of anyone who is approaching our house right from his phone, whether he’s home or not. I can see it on my phone too, but I’m not as excited by it as he is. Haha.

And that’s pretty much it! Overall, I think the final look makes an impact in this tiny space, without feeling overly cluttered or ‘try-hard’. It’s more relaxed and easy feeling than I usually go for, but I like that for a front porch. What about you?

Photography Amelia Lawrence