Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung on my front porch and the rest of the farm!  Its such a 180 from last year at this time.   Right about now we were busy ripping up old carpet and plywood so we could replace the floor on the porch and this year I’m doing fun stuff like decorating and sipping wine!

The front door is off centered from the opening of the porch steps which gives me a good opportunity to decorate and fill up that part of the wall 🙂  I decided to try do a bit of a substantial looking planter – I wanted something with height.   I’m on a ladder kick right now since I’ve been building quite a few lately.  Turns out other people like them as much as I do.  They are so versatile! You can put blankets on them, towels on them, decorations on them…(I’m starting to feel a little bit like Bubba from Forest Gump – shrimp kabobs, broiled shrimp, shrimp creole.. Ok and now I’m getting hungry for shrimp!)   Anyways back to blanket ladders.  I though why not transform one of my blanket ladders into a planter?! It gives nice height and great way to show off a lot of color with the flowers.  Here’s how I did it:

First.  I build a blanket ladder.   I wanted to place three planters on it so I decided to make it with just three rungs.  Then I bought three lined long planters

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Here are the rest of the supplies I used: key hole screws tape measure and pencil for marking to make sure I have it all level.

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Originally I was going to just screw the planters right onto the rungs but then you didn’t see the rungs at all and I felt like they added visual interest.  Screwing in the key hole screws  about 3 – 4 inches below the rungs and placing the planters of them worked perfectly.  Last I just added flowers.  I chose impatiences because it will be in the shade most of the day and they are super easy – I know my limitations and flowers are definitely not my strong point.  My mom is so good with them.  She knows all the fancy names and everything. Flowers are like cars to me unfortunately – I’m more like “I like the red one”.

Here is how it turned out:

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The ladder is super sturdy and stable  but since we’ve been getting hurricane force winds all spring long I decided to go on the safe side and secure it to the wall.  I just placed another key hole screw into the house wall and tied the ladder to it with gardening wire.

Here are a few more pictures of the porch all prettied up.  I use patio chairs from a set we had in town.  Rocking chairs would look amazing on this porch but I can’t justify spending the money on them when these chairs are perfectly fine and are super comfy too.  For patio tables I had my heart set on taking old half whisky barrels and turning them upside down. Unfortunately all the ones I liked were either way too big for the space or just too darn expensive.  Instead I took a couple of old crates we had and jazzed them up with lanterns and flowers.  I’m so pleased with how they turned out and they cost me nothing which pleases me even more 🙂

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I can’t wait until the rose bushes in front come back and all the perennials start blooming.

And because the farm is so pretty during all the seasons I took a few more pictures for you to enjoy:

The biggest oak tree in the yard. I had to lay on my back just to get the whole thing in the frame.

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An old chair that I painted yellow and let mother nature get all chippy.  I paired it with an old tin bucket.  We built the doghouse last year for shadow.  Its got that ratty old rug on the front because that is exactly the way my grandma used to do it on her dog house 🙂

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Morning light on the porch.

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Flowers next to the old barn.

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Sunset walking down to the lane.

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The coulee in the back.

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An evening view from the porch.

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Time for some wine.

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Let’s toast this gorgeous night! Good night folks.  LOL (lots of love).

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7 Comments

  1. carmen

    I hope you know I am going to copy your idea!! It’s too beautiful not to. I love all the pictures too.

  2. Jeanne

    As always, you amaze me Heather! What a beautiful home you have created. LOL to you and your family!

  3. Linda Bell Polowski

    Your place is beautiful. Can’t wait til the next time I’m in ND and can see it.

  4. Wanda

    It has been a while since I stopped by for a visit and so glad I did that today. It is nice to see spring in North Dakota and even nicer to see spring on your porch. You are one talented girl. Every time I stop by, I think “Geeze, I need my own farmhouse” but I will have to settle for enjoying yours… ?

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