It’s done! Our Spring One Room Challenge is complete, and I can’t wat to share our big southern front porch with you.

When we started this whole ORC project, the thing that made us most excited was building a daybed swing. They always look so inviting, and like you could take a nap and listen to the breeze on an early summer afternoon. Not late summer though… at least not in Tennessee. That’s AC on full blast, how-little-clothing-can-I-wear-and-still-look-professional kind of weather.

I decided that I wanted a Haint blue porch ceiling. For those of y’all who aren’t from the south, you might not know what Haint blue means. Just like the houses I love so much, blue porch ceilings tell a story. Their history in the south goes back hundreds of years, and is filled with superstition, ghosts, and old wives’ tales, just as any good story should be. There are many guesses as to the why behind painting a porch ceiling blue, and I’m sure that the reasons are as regional as the hues.

This week’s project was removing all the layers of paint from our porch floor and front walkway. “Sounds simple enough,” you might say. But you would be sorely mistaken. As it turns out, removing 5-6 layers of paint from a hundred year old concrete slab is not easy.

We’re starting from the ground up–with landscaping in Week 2.

It’s time for the Spring One Room Challenge! We’re making over our big southern front porch–come along for the ride every Thursday for the next 8 weeks as we give this front porch a facelift.