By Dave and Mary

Front Porch Appeal Newsletter

Spring is Within Your Reach

Issue #90 March 2018

March is the month when many of us have spring showers, beautiful spring bulbs popping up and of course, colorful decor on our porches again.

Although you may still have snow, just know that warmer days are ahead. The official start of spring is only a few weeks away; making March the perfect month to visualize how you'd like to decorate and freshen up your porch.

We also offer advice about solving a lawn drainage problem, show how to make an amazing porch bench, give you a St. Patrick's decorating idea and design ideas for a cottage-style walkway. Oh, we also share with you the beginnings of our spring porch. We are decorating with the theme of forsythias.


spring walkway lined with tulips
Wouldn't it be nice to stroll on this walkway lined with radiant tulips?
If winter temperatures and snowflakes are in your weather forecast, that's alright. Spring will be here soon for you. Mother Nature has a way of making sure that happens. Above photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Just think yourself into spring.


Picture This: A Forsythia Wall Hanging

Forsythia wall hanging
This is a glimpse of the wall hanging we made for our spring porch
We will show you more you next time, but this is the start of our spring porch. We decided to go with forsythias as a bit of a theme.

I painted this wall hanging with acrylic paints on an inexpensive fence slat. Fence slats can be purchased for less than $3 in our area.

First I created the background by painting vertical strokes of gray, deep blue, burgandy, green, tan and white. I poured small puddles of the paint on the slat and let the colors mix a little as I stroked them on.

The forsythia blossoms need a darker background in order to "pop" - I discovered this after painting them on a white background initially. Oops, that didn't work so that is when I made the background you see above.

Then I painted the branches, the blossoms and the finishing touches, in that order. The blossoms are done in two shades of yellow, a bit of white for sparkle and a touch of orange.

Very simplistic style of painting - just yellow marks for the flowers.


Fun to Put a Bit of Green on Your Porch

A fresh spring decorating idea - tulip-themed pillows and wall hanging
Make this adorable little burlap pillow for St. Patrick's Day
We were inspired by Domestically Speaking for this little burlap pillow. You can make it for any season or time of the year. And you don't even need to be Irish. Just have fun with it.

Get the easy instructions on our St. Patrick's page here.


How You Can Create a Cottage Style Walkway

As extensions of your home, walkways add lots of appeal besides being quite functional. Even the simplest designs can change the look of your home and create an inviting pathway to your porch or front door.

We put in this cottage style walkway a few years ago and it has been quite a popular topic on our site and in our youtube channel. Our pea gravel walkway nicely graces our porch and home.


Our DIY cottage garden walkway and landscaping in front of porch. Full details and video are on our site.
The cottage-style gravel walkway at our home
We get many compliments on our pea gravel walkway and it still looks good after several years with just a little maintenance.

If you'd enjoy a walkway like this, we show you how we created it here.


Enjoy Our Very Popular Video

Dave shows you how he put in our walkway
We sure receive many questions about our walkway - everything from how it was put in to how we maintain it. It's easy to maintain unless you're a perfectionist. Then this walkway might not be for you. It's casual and pleasing.


Want to Solve a Lawn Drainage Problem?

Lots of rain and snow will quickly identify a lawn drainage issue. Keeping water away from your home or to reclaim areas from pooling water in your yard, can be an on-going issue.

Whether it is near your porch or in other parts of your yard, we offer a simple fix for minor to moderate drainage problems.


collage of pictures showing drain solution around front porch
Solve your lawn drainage problem



Do You Like Our Home Plan Choice of the Month?

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase through affiliate links on our site, we earn a commission at no cost to you. See our disclosure policy.

This lovely Craftsman-style home design boasts a large wraparound porch for all to enjoy. It's definitely large enough for a family in which to grow and create lots of wonderful memories along the way.

Note the splendid gables and stone fireplace chimney.


cape cod home built from plan by familyhomeplans.com
Family Home Plan #75102
We share many home plans for almost every category of architecture - enjoy.


Perfect Spring Project

DYI: A Gorgeous Cherry Bench for Your Porch

We show you how to build this beautiful porch bench to be enjoyed for years to come. This has been one of our most popular videos in the past couple of years.

Dave built this cherry bench for our neighbor's daughter who was getting married.


finished diy garden bench on porch
Beautiful finished DIY garden bench

Watch Our Video to See How This Beautiful Bench is Made




Are You Looking for a Helpful Contractor?

January and February are really good months to start lining up contractors to build your porch, screen porch, or other home project. Not sure exactly sure of the specifics for your project?

A good contractor can work with you to give you ideas, show you where you can save money, and help to finalize your plan in addition to providing an estimate for the work.


tape measure, square, and bin boxes on table


Want a Super Nice Mother or Father's Day Gift Idea?

Details captured in a house portrait
A gift that will be treasured for years to come
Our friend, Leisa Collins, paints amazing watercolor portraits of homes that will surely delight your mother, father, or grandparents. All she needs is a photo and she'll artistically recreate your home.

Enjoy more of her custom house portraits here and see how you might have one done.


We value our sponsors and the products and services they provide. They are like family to us!






You're invited to be part of our Facebook community. We share ideas with one another for decorating and using our porches. We are blessed with over 17,000 followers and would love to count you among them.


Mary and Dave Please enjoy browsing past issues of our newsletters right here. Take a few moments of chill time.

Happy porch sitting from your friends,

Mary and Dave


Life is short. Enjoy your porch.



As an Amazon Associate and Amazon Influencer, we earn from qualifying purchases. We also earn commissions from other companies where are are participants of their referral programs. Here is our full disclosure about affiliate marketing.








Mary and Dave, Founders of Front Porch Ideas and More
Hi! We're Mary and Dave, lifelong DIYers, high school sweethearts, and we both love porches. You've come to the right place for thousands of porch ideas.

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Mary and Dave, Founders of Front Porch Ideas and More
Hi! We're Mary and Dave, lifelong DIYers, high school sweethearts, and we both love porches. You've come to the right place for thousands of porch ideas.


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At no extra cost to you, we earn a commission by referring you to some products on merchant sites. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. As an Amazon Influencer, we earn from qualifying purchases. See our disclosure policy.
We, Front Porch Ideas and More, confirm, as stated on our privacy policy, that we do not sell personal information.

All content here is solely for presenting ideas. We recommend consulting with a licensed, experienced contractor before you begin your project.
We make no guarantees of accuracy or completeness of information on our site or any links to other websites contained here.


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