Spring Porch Refresh

Happy Spring!  It seems like the East Coast has been a little confused as to seasons this month, but here's to hoping it warms back up very soon!  To me, spring means time outdoors.  What I love most about our home are all of the different patio spaces.  On the front of our house, we have a Charleston-style double porch.  The top porch was the first "room" we decorated when we moved in, and you can read about what pieces we used here.  In the first floor space, we hung the perfect porch swing, and you can read that full DIY from last week here.

What's funny is that the area where we spend the most outdoor time, our screen porch/breezeway off the living room, is the one that we have yet to really decorate.  The bugs in Charleston can be brutal, plus, we love that the cats can hang out with us with the screen.  At least we have more furniture than we did a few weeks after we moved in, but it's really still a mix-match of furniture we used at our house in Connecticut, IKEA plants I'm trying my hardest not to kill, and a broken rocking chair we found on the side of the road (that I keep swearing I'll fix!).

I finally have some true inspiration for what's also one of our main party spaces.  While I love that the other porches are relaxing, this breezeway will be the perfect accompaniment for grilling, lawn games, and parties after dark.

Let's start with the colors.  Our house is painted Summer Breeze by Valspar, so I thought some pastels, especially pinks and corals would be a great compliment.  How adorable is this wooden "hello" that I found on Etsy to hang on the wall?  I love that it's unfinished so I can choose any color to paint it.  Right now, I'm loving this Coral Peach, also from Valspar.

To add even more color, I definitely want flowers for this space.  Begonias and impatiens are perfect for this shady area since they thrive with very little sun, and I love this planter ladder from IKEA.

Like I mentioned, I already have a bistro set from a few years ago (here's a similar one from Target), so we'll be keeping that for sure and just be adding a few accents.  We chose this set because it doesn't have cushions and has definitely held up over time.  An outdoor rug to put under it, and new pillows to replace our faded ones will be perfect.  Here, here, and here are the three I chose - and they're all at a great price!

Last, but not least, a couple of things for entertaining: string lights for partying into the night and a functional (and movable) beverage cooler.

We can't wait to have our friends over this spring and summer in this new space!  What's your favorite way to entertain?