Porches are an extension of your inside home and any opportunity you get to maximize its appeal you should take advantage of it. For most small porch owners they think there isn’t much to do with a small space, especially when it comes to adding decorative color appeal. With the addition of color your small porch will be a pleasure to look at from the inside and outside. Here are tips to beautifully add color to your porch.

• Keep it simple: When decorating a small space, the best idea is to keep it simple and uncluttered. Have minimal seating and enough room to walk between furnishings and enjoy the seating area. Add color with an overhead trellis of flowers, or paint it in a bright color to contrast the rest of the porch. The more you accentuate the architectural details of your porch with color, the more it will come alive with personality

• Flooring can beautify your space: Whether your porch is concrete, wood, or tile a colorful floor will make your porch come alive. For concrete consider staining the floor to add visual interest from the usual gray. Stain wood decking with a beautiful terra cotta coral, deep brown or aged umber can create southwestern hue to your cold porch. Add an area rug for softness to the cold floor and one more layer of color!
• Small porch, big ideas: You may be limited by your space but you don’t have to be limited by your ideas. If you have a covered porch, consider hanging plants, lights and colorful paper lanterns to bring color to the space. If you have a railing, use it to hang colorful real or artificial flowers in flower planters. In the fall and winter seasons, artificial flowers placed in decorative planters will help you stay happy and festive throughout the cooler season.

• Bring color into the furniture: Even if your porch can only fit two chairs, this is an opportune way to bring a burst of color to the space. Use fun colors and patterned cushions, or spray paint the plastic or metal chairs in bright cheery colors. For a screened in porch, consider using slip covers over chairs for a more formal look for evening or a Sunday Brunch!  Even if the weather doesn’t permit sitting outside every day, the first sunny day may be great for catching up on the newspaper or magazine for fresh air for an hour.

Your porch can come alive with color and inspiration with a coat of paint on your chairs and coordinated throw pillows and playful fabrics. Make your small porch feel like a hidden oasis with carefully chosen pops of color. For a personalized look, take colors from your interiors and bring them outdoors. When you sit inside your home it will elongate the space and make your porch feel one with the interior. Remember your home is unique, and a small porch is just one way to make it feel alive!

Freshome readers tell us how you make the most of your small porch. Do you decorate it with plants and colorful fabrics? We’d love to hear your ideas!

Ready for more amazing design ideas? Check below !

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White rooms are completely versatile and can either create a modern sophisticated feeling of serenity or make a fun artistic impact on the energy of a space with a splash of color. The rooms featured below provide a white canvas for an intriguing pop of colorful textiles and accessories that anchor a wall and create beautiful central focal points of interest upon entering. This simple clean style is pretty popular in the region of Northern Europe and apparently pretty difficult to fudge up.The blog Scandinavia With Love has an excellent set of some of these gorgeous spaces for design inspiration. Here are some of our favorite picks:

In this bedroom the vivid blanket on the bed grounds the white floor and helps define the space since there is no clear distinction between walls and floor.

Here, basic accessories like books and a cluster of graphic clocks provide all the color this room needs.

Throwing a group of different citrus schemed pillows and curtains together provides interest but maintains clarity by continuing with solid white as a background color.

What a creative and tidy way to organize your colored pencils while creating a colorful accent wall piece!

A splash of yellow on the wall is the focus here but also balances the other smaller colorful accent pieces on the floor.

Blue and orange are the accent colors which layer this room nicely by covering all bases from the wall to the bed to the floor.

This gorgeous kitchen has bright rainbow colored cabinets that will surely wake you up in the morning…

Although this looks like a coloring box, it is indeed a checkered colored dresser!

An expansive book shelving unit allows sparse splashes of color to be dispersed for their own pop of interest while maintaining unity as one colorful furniture piece in a white room.

In a white room, anything that isn’t white “pops” and that adds interest whether by texture, form or size.

These bright cubed cubes call just enough attention to lead the eye to the huge windows beside them, and beyond for the beautiful city view.

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Your home has character with its style, ornamentation and color.  While the adornment comes with the house, choosing an exterior paint color is up to you! For some this is an exciting chore, while others the thought is daunting. Unlike the interior of your home, the exterior should compliment neighboring homes but still retain its character.  Here are tips on how to choose an exterior paint color and keep your neighbors happy!

• Let your geography be your guide: If your home is located in the tropics, colors are usually bright, playful and cheery. While homes that are located in the rustic mountains will take color cues from nature in browns, greens, and burgundy.  Before you get your heart set on an exterior color, observe the color palette of the geographic area for which you live.  Straying too far away will make your house stand out, and not for the better.

• Adhere to the architectural time period of your area: In historic neighborhoods the colors have been predetermined and should be adhered to as close as possible. Similarly, for newer modern homes and older Victorian homes, the architectural style and time period will also help you define exterior colors to choose from.  If you need assistance in choosing, the majority of paint stores will carry paint manufacturer lines of varying architectural periods for you to choose from.  If you know of your specific architectural period, research palettes online.

• Walk through your neighborhood: Depending on your rural or urban setting, your neighborhood has a big affect on your home’s exterior. Take a look at colors palettes, trim colors and accent features. Although you don’t have to match your neighbors, staying in the same color family is a good idea. For those who want to go against the grain of the neighborhood – your property value and buyer appeal will go down when selling your home.  Above all, a neighborhood that looks unified is a more pleasant one to live in.

• Don’t forget your roof: Believe it or not, your roof color and material needs to be considered with the exterior color. Choose your overall field color of your home and then choose a roof color that compliments it.   Darker house colors may choose a contrasting lighter roof and vice versa.  Also consider the sun reflectance where you live.  Hotter climates should opt for lighter roofs, even terra cotta tiles or standing seam metal roofs will reflect more light.  Colder climates can opt for darker roofs in slate, copper or asphalt shingles.

• Get inspiration: Look online, through magazines or other neighborhoods in your city for inspiration.  Snap photographs, tear out pictures and then bring to your home to see how it will fit in your surroundings.  Once you’ve decided on a color palette ask the paint store for smaller samples to bring home and try out on a small section of your exterior.  Let dry 24 hours and see if you like it!

The exterior of your home is extremely versatile in color selection, but needs home owners to be mindful of their surroundings.  Choose colors that compliment your neighbors, geographic location and architectural time period.  Don’t be afraid! Try out some new colors – your home and family deserve a change!

Freshome reader’s have you considered changing the exterior color of your home? If so, how did you go about choosing the colors? We love hearing from you!

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