When it comes to your home, there are some things that cost a lot of money with little visual reward (rewiring the house, replacing the pipes, etc). And then there are some things that cost next to nothing and produce majorly momentous results. And you wonder why no one ever tells you about THOSE projects so you can swank up your house without breaking a sweat (or the bank).
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re here to spread the word about one of those very projects. This weekend, while at Lowe’s (where else would we be?) we noticed that the big lush hanging ferns that are usually around $15-$20 were on sale for $10. Sold!
We’ve always toyed with the idea of adding some ferns to the front porch, but decided it would be awkward to hang one in front of the door. The lightbulb finally went off while we were staring longingly at the fern sale, and we decided to try hanging them on the sides of the porch instead.
And we love the result. For just $20 we snagged two ferns complete with their own hanging baskets so all we needed were two tiny plant hooks to hold ’em up and we were in business. They definitely add interest and charm to the porch, and we were surprised to notice that they even made our house look a little taller and less squat by drawing the eye up. Which is always a good thing. We even updated our website’s header to reflect our newly spruced porch, ferns and all. You likie?
Gotta love fast and fabulous mini-makeovers like these. Do you guys have any of your own that you’d be kind enough to share? If only someone told us about hanging ferns oh two and a half years ago when we moved in. If only…
Like the ferns! During the spring, summer & fall, I always like to have a large potted arrangement of some sort on my front porch/steps to inject some color. Typically for spring that would be pansies, summer – a combo of brightly flowered plants, fall = mums!
I love to use these beautiful hungs
Very nice! I have always loved ferns, or other hanging plants, on a porch. Wish we had a porch!! :)
Love the plants!
I would say that my one tip to new home owners looking to spruce up thier aging/not-quite-their-style home is to add hardware to your kitchen cabinets. Its so easy peasy and it adds a lot! When we moved into our home it had no hardware on the cabs and when we added the low cost ones we added, it simply took the kichen from retro blah to ooh la la!
See it here:
http://19butternut.blogspot.com/2008/06/cooking-up-plan.html
Love your blog!
~Stacy
They totally swankified the porch! (That’s my new favorite word)
Wow, Stacy, you just tackled my weekend project! Those handles have been waiting for to long, is about time they get to the cabinet doors!
By the way, I love the ferns. It’s like they bring some of the green that surrounds the house “into” it, so it looks much more cohesive with the garden. Love them.
I look at ferns every time we go to Lowe’s, and I always talk myself out of buying them. It really does make your porch look inviting!
Stacy – The photos of your kitchen look great! Have you considered painting your existing cabinets white? It would look fantastic!
Loving the ferns – they are a great addition! We don’t have a front porch (townhouse) but just adding a large potted plant near the front door made all the difference (and it was only $10 at Ikea!).
No quick fixes here – our house is new construction.
I just moved into a different office at work, and I only changed two things about the room when I moved in. 1. I added plants to the room. 2. I turned off the harsh overhead light and turned on the lamps that were in the room. Several people have asked me if I rearranged, or what exactly I did to make the room seem so wonderful. It is amazing what a little greenery and soft lighting will do!
I love the ferns! I would use some chain to lower them a little bit though, as they seem a little high to me. Otherwise, just gorgeous!