The Inspired Room

Simple Ways to Decorate Your Porch for Spring

Spring is here! If you’re as excited to get outside as I am, here are some simple ways to tidy up and decorate your porch.

1. A fresh doormat

I love getting new doormats. I don’t necessarily get them every season or every year, but depending on the condition of the one I have (or my desire for a new look!) spring is a fun time to splurge on something new.

Whether you get a new doormat or not, take a few minutes to sweep off the porch! My porch still had a few fall leaves and some pine needles from my Christmas decor. :)

Find more of my favorite doormats here!

2. A layered rug

Give your doormat an extra dose of pizzaz! Doormats aren’t always pretty. Layering a larger indoor/outdoor rug underneath a smaller doormat can add an interesting twist with additional texture, pattern or color. A larger rug can also make your whole porch look refreshed if the paint or concrete has seen better days.

3. Plants in pots

I love going to the garden center this time of year, do you? Treat yourself to a new outdoor plant. Fresh greenery will bring a touch of life to your porch! Sometimes I don’t even plant mine, I just keep them in the pot they came in and then set into an existing pot. Instant SPRING!

4. A spring door basket

I love hanging a basket on my door for seasonal flowers! It’s so easy to add a spring bouquet or some plant clippings from the yard into the basket (you can set a small vase or jar inside)! Refresh as needed! My basket above was hung by a ribbon tacked in between the two parts of the front Dutch door.

Find similar hanging door baskets by scrolling the arrows above!

Have you decorated your porch for spring yet?

Door paint colors: Blue Note Benjamin Moore, and Ozark Shadows by Benjamin Moore. Find all my paint colors here,

Related Posts on The Inspired Room:

Inspiration: How To Decorate a Porch

24 Simple Ideas to Bring Spring to Your Home

Where We Got Our Dutch Doors and FAQ

DIY: A Free Standing Cabinet Command Center

You might remember seeing this cabinet in our home over the years. We’ve even repurposed it a couple of times to suit our needs in two different homes! Today I’ll share how we set this cabinet up as our home command center.

Life around my house gets a little hectic sometimes. Simplifying, editing and staying organized has to be a daily task. I’m not obsessive about detailed organization, but I definitely feel more at peace when I have a few simple systems I can rely on.

I’m a big fan of creating “destinations” or designated “stations” for organization! Coffee stations, gift wrap stations, mail stations, family command centers, I enjoy them all.

Since the task of decluttering or organization itself isn’t a big passion of mine, I guess thinking in terms of a creating a specific “destination” for things I like to do in my home is more inspiring to me. It’s how my mind works.

You may remember seeing this cabinet in my books (Simple Organizing), or in our last house, too, when it had an entirely different purpose.

In our old house, this cabinet was in our dining room. We used it as a hospitality cabinet! It’s where we kept things like our cloth napkins and napkin rings, dinner candles, serving utensils and special glasses. So handy and fun to have a spot for table setting.

When we moved to this house, the cabinet ended up in our little entry. Early on I realized we didn’t have a good “spot” for “those things” that you need to keep track of in a busy household. So I decided to reinvent this cabinet and give it a new purpose as our command central. (This cabinet is out of stock, but this one is similar and I’ll link to others at the end of the post!).

We don’t have a lot of room and our budget for completing this project was probably less than $30, so we had to get creative and use what we already had. I’ll put a source list at the bottom of this post with what we used and similar sources!

The glassware and entertaining items were relocated to a different cabinet to make room for the new command center. Once we emptied the cabinet, it was easy to reimagine it for a new purpose.

We still use this organizational system today, so this isn’t one of those projects bloggers might show that never really get used. A couple of years later I can say this continues to be a useful and (fairly) organized destination in our home that we still use every day!

It actually didn’t take much to make this cabinet useful for our needs. A few peel and sick cork boards on the inside of the door became a spot to stick things like emergency numbers, addresses, contractor business cards, lists, school forms or invitations.

My cork came in the shapes of triangles, but you could (of course!) use any shape or size to suit your needs.

Paper trays keep our most important, currently relevant and more time sensitive papers sorted so I rarely have to panic wondering where I put something. The answer is usually “in the cabinet.”

Wire bins can hold anything. Eye glasses, receipts…we’ve used them in different ways in different seasons, depending on our needs. The key with baskets is to give them a designated purpose and stick with it. If they become a catch all it’s time to pare down to a more defined purpose.

Press and stick hooks on the other door hold an extra set of keys and an emergency flashlight. This is a handy location for these items in case the power goes out, or if a guest is staying in our home and might need to easily access them. We also have a magnetic clip (stuck onto the door with a command strip) to clip notes.

Keeping certain items handy in this cabinet means we also feel prepared with some essentials in the event of emergency. If we need to flee in the middle of the night with keys and a flashlight, we’ll be all set. Safety first, you know?