Decorating Ideas for Your Small Front Porch
Do you love making your home warm and welcoming for the Fall season? Our front porch is the entryway into our home for family and guests so we want it to be as welcoming as possible. This can be a challenge if you have a small front porch like we do!
We have decorated our small front porch for Fall and love the results. Today we’d like to share with you the best ways we’ve discovered for transforming a small porch into a wonderful, inviting space!
Before
After
Small Front Porch Makeover Video
Keep it Simple: Small Spaces Easily Look Cluttered.
Our front porch area is connected to the front flower bed so we treat them as a whole. This is the “before” picture of the tired late summer flower bed. This is not the first impression I want to give our guests! Plus this is the view I have out the kitchen window every day. This space needs to be refreshed and to embrace the current Autumn season.
Small front porches can easily looked cluttered. We started by removing tired potted flowers, the exuberant sweet potato vine that was taking over the entrance, and falling leaves that are already beginning to gather on our porch.
One suggestion we can give to make a small space look cohesive is the use a consistent color scheme. The Fall season gives us a natural color palette of red, orange and yellow. We have gone with deep reds, fushia, and purples for our space.
Go Vertical: Maximize Your Floor Space
Right away we cleared the floor space by removing the crazy sweet potato vine.
One of the best tips I have for making your small porch feel and look bigger is to use tall pots on risers. Not only will this give an interesting difference in height, but it will use more vertical space
Next we use hanging baskets to utilize the vertical space. Your eye is drawn upward by the tall pots and continues upward with the hanging pots. This keeps the floor space fairly clear without reducing the amount of flowers you can use. Hanging decor will not use up the precious floor space in a small front porch.
This same principle applies to what ever garden decor you like. Choose items that can be hung from the ceiling, or mounted on the wall. These elegant copper colored wind chimes perfectly fit the bill and they give a pleasant tinkling sound to the space.
Here you see a unique take on traditional window boxes. We don’t have a window here, but I really wanted to create a visual barrier to separate the flowerbed from the porch/courtyard. Our solution was these railing boxes that Matt built to slide over the railing. Besides, more flowers is always a great idea!
In the flowerbed itself we have used pedestal from a birdbath to elevate a pot. Any kind of tall narrow decor will help an area seem less crowded.
Create a sense of space through lighting and color: Small spaces can seem cave-like
We have recently repainted our house in a lovely bright ivory (color matched to Joanna Gaines’ “Lit Candles” paint color). This fresh bright paint is echoed in the creamy white giant mum in the corner. You can bring lightness to your small porch area through the color of the flowers themselves!
Can you see how using the vertical strategy has given us clear, open, and welcoming floor space?
Fortunately, our porch gets a good bit of natural sunlight. Often a small front porch can begin to look like a cave if it is not well lit. Consider upgrading your lighting if this is the case with your porch.
We used strings of lights for our back porch makeover this summer. We love the warm glow and ambiance these provide. They make our porch especially cozy in the evening.
By placing this cheery fuchsia mum in a plant stand it joins the flowers in the porch area, the flowers blooming on the railing, and the flowers in the flowerbed together.
The tall dark blue ginger jar echoes the use of vertical shapes.
I’ve never used pumpkins in my out door fall decor before, but they are a classic Autumn sight and it seemed fitting to include them. Again, a little goes a long way when you have a small space, and a vertical pumpkin stack was just the thing!
Products for your porch makeover.
Here are a few hand selected products we’ve found on Amazon that are similar, or the same as the style we’ve used for our front porch refresh. I hope you find something to brighten your front porch!
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive compensation for purchases made through the links above.
Conclusion
While decorating a small front porch space can be challenging, it is also a lot of fun! What special challenges have you found in decorating your home’s entry? Do you have any helpful tips that work for you? Please let us know in the comment section below.
Also, check out our patio makeover from this summer:
Absolutely lovely. Thank you for sharing
Hello Miss Debbie,
Thank you so much for visiting today! I am glad you enjoyed it.
Your porch looks so bright and cheerful ,I need to deal with ours too ,
Hello Miss Sandra,
Thank you for your kind words. I hope your visit was an inspiration for your home.
Warmly,
Rachel
Just found you yesterday and I’m watching everything . Thank you for all the amazing content!
Hello Miss Debi, I am so glad you have found the Stone Cottage Home family. I home you enjoy all of your visits.
Warmly,
Rachel