Simple Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

These Simple Front Yard Landscaping Ideas are sponsored by Jasco Products and Acorn Influence. All ideas and opinions presented are mine alone.

We gave our front porch and yard a makeover in one weekend, incorporating lots of simple front yard landscaping ideas. From lighting to plants to ol' fashioned rockers, check out these simple front yard landscaping ideas below.

We're a little bit sore, but man, what a difference one weekend can make! With a little elbow grease and some simple front yard landscaping ideas, our porch and flower beds did a total turnaround. And we're definitely novice landscapers...as in, we know nothing. These were just simple little ideas here and there that worked for us and fit our budget. Check out the entire makeover below.

Outdoor Garbage Can Storage

This post for an Outdoor Garbage Can Storage Area contains affiliate links. I make a small portion when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

We created a simple Garbage Can Storage Area in our side yard, because trash cans aren't pretty. It's been such a welcome addition...even our neighbors are commenting on how nice it looks. It's a simple, but a very effective idea to keep our unsightly garbage can hidden from the street.

Our city-issued eye-sore of a dumpster is now hidden. Amen and hallelujah. I so wish I could have a cutesy painted metal garbage can on my curb, but we get to use these beauties above. They are more practical and functional with their fancy wheels and super truck that picks them up. But...the pretty factor just isn't there.

And I'm proud to say, this mini deck we built for our garbage can went together in one morning's time (this does not include the drying time for the stain and weather sealer we applied). Overall, this project is very simple, straight-forward construction. See how to put together your own hideaway for your trash bins below.

Fall Front Porch Fix-Up

 

While the rest of the world has the spring cleaning phenomenon, down here in hotter-than-hookusville, we often times opt for some fall cleaning. It's when we're finally able to emerge from being shut-in from the miserable 100+ temperatures. We fling open the windows, air the house out and do some nitty-gritty cleaning! {And look a little goofy in our jackets when the temps are in the 80s...it's how we roll}.

 This is what the heat did to my porch...I gave up dealing with it in August. Overgrown caladiums {that hit you in the head when you're in the porch area}, neglected planters and brass insanity...
all in need of some TLC.

We pulled all the old plants and added some mums.

 We cleaned windows and moved the wall planter to the wall on the front of the house...it seemed to take over the porch too much. We also cleaned up the garden area and pruned the suckers from the crepe myrtles. We didn't re-mulch since we just did that in the spring.

I pulled the numbers down and gave them a coat of Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray.

And then went back over the tops of them in gold.

I wanted the sign to match our "new" lighting:

We used Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint for the brass on the light fixtures.
To see the complete tutorial on these, click here. 

I made a new front porch mat in under an hour for ZILCH!
To see the complete tutorial on this, click here.  

And we hung up our funny fall sign.
As my hubs always points out...before 1876, summer just rolled right into winter.

It's not decorated too terribly much...but it's a lot cleaner and ready for the cooler months where we can hang out outside a lot more. I plan to add a lot more pumpkins once our patches start to open up {the pitiful little one above is my fakie}.

Want a chance to fix up your own front porch for fall?

Stop back by for next week's Tuesday Ten and a $25 Lowe's card give away. 

{i linky-party here}

Painting Over Brass with Rustoleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze Paint {a tutorial}

This post for Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze Paint contains affiliate links. I make a small portion when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

We've been wanting to replace our outdoor brass light fixtures for quite some time (we're talking years here). Instead of replacing them, we saved money by painting over them with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze Paint for a fresh new look. See the steps we used to make these last a long time below. 

Do you have a light fixture (or any type of brass hardware, really) that could use a budget-friendly update? Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze Paint is our new best friend these days. It's easy to use for a quick update. But, we did take some extra steps to make sure our hard work on these fixtures lasted a long time. See this complete tutorial below.

DIY Monogram Door Mat {made in less than one hour!}

I've been looking for *the right* door mat forever. I found one the other day in Sky Mall {in a weird way, I'm addicted to browsing Sky Mall...don't ask}...but it was $149. It was in Sky Mall for crying out loud, of course it was $149.

 My quest centered around the fact that I needed a w-i-d-e mat. Not a double one for double-door entries...but an oversized one to at least span the opening of my storm door plus a little overhang {because I'm an overhang kinda girl}.

So, I realized I'd have to make one myself to spare the one-raised-eye-brow the husband would give me if Sky Mall's Sunburst Coco Mat suddenly appeared on my doorstep. Even he knows Sky Mall pricing. Ri-DONK-u-lous, people.

I've got to tell you, this was the perfect project for me...and I had not idea what it would turn out like! But, let me highlight the AWESOMENESS this was:

• I made this puppy in UNDER one hour!!
• I didn't spend a dime {take that, Sky Mall}. I had all of my materials around the house. 
• The level of difficulty was minimal. Minimal.
• This didn't need any special "equipment" to make. We are a vinyl and Cricut-free household...and this was made without those fancy schmancy machines. {Don't get me wrong, I'm totally jealous of all of you stinkers who own one of those}.

For my base of my mat, I used my leftover vinyl flooring. I know you probably don't have three boxes of plank floors sitting under your bed like I do. There's LOTS of other things you could use for a base. I found the above click & lock stuff at Ikea for less than $20 a box {and you'll only use 1/4 of a box for this}. You can also purchase vinyl plank flooring by the box at Lowe's or Home Depot...again they are between $20-$30 per box and you'll only need a quarter of the box}. The possibilities are endless. As you probably know, my vinyl planks are from Metroflor. 

These are floating floors that I have, so they just lock together with those sticky gray strips you see. They are super sticky...they're not coming apart anytime soon.

I did not stagger my seams like you normally do when using this as flooring {not matting...matting?}. I intentionally lined them up together like you'd see on a teak floor mat. I also used my box cutter to score and break off that extra grip strip running on the bottom and left side of the mat in the photo above.

I printed a large "D" just in Word on the largest number I could get it. I used contact paper that I traced and cut my D out of.

Contact Paper D

I also used the grid on the back of my contact paper to cut out strips to go around the D.

I peeled the backing off of the contact paper and adhered my monogram to the planks. I wanted a reverse paint job, so I knew I'd have to cover the rest of the mat as well.

I left a one inch border around the smaller border and attached more contact paper all over the rest of the planks to avoid overspray.

I then sprayed light coats of white spray paint. It took about three coats...and I let it dry for about 5 minutes between coats. I then went over the spray paint with the clear spray paint sealer that I found multiple cans for in the garage {weird}.

Then I peeled off all of the contact paper...it comes off so easily! 

Voila!
While this isn't a mat in the sense that you'll wipe your muddy boots on it, it still serves its purpose. We're in Texas, and let's be honest...not a lot of mud, rain or snow to wipe off around here. Plus I have a large rug in the entryway just inside my door that has more "tooth" to catch debris.

Overhang. YES! 

To see our entire front porch fix-up, click here!

{i linky party here}

and at Savvy Southern Style