My Front Porch

This year I decided to fluff up our front entrance. Most of our friends and family come to the back door. Even the UPS man comes through the back gate. Anyway, I guess I did this for the mailman to enjoy! Our mail box is the little slot to the right of the door. It's great because the mail falls to the inside. I'll have to photograph the inside sometime to show you how that looks.

I added two large ferns to the front corners of the porch, planted Coleus in front of the old day lilies, added two small dwarf evergreens in the little corner on each side of the steps, and transplanted hostas below the dogwood tree that you can't see to the right of the porch. The liriope along the sidewalk finally took hold this year and looks good now.

In the picture below, we added an old twig chair that I used to have in the corner of my living room. I placed a pot of begonias on the seat and little garden angel. There is also a tiny little rake in the front of the pot. Click on this photo to enlarge so you can read the saying on the brass plaque. We get a lot of comments and laughter from people who come to the front door and read it.
My husband works as a salesman for a brick company and got us the neat house numbers that I placed in front of the fern.
The door is painted black. This upset my dear friend across the street when I painted it black because she couldn't tell if the door was closed or open. When my door is open, that means the coffee is ready. It's our little signal. I hung a Longaberger basket with some ivy on the door and then added a door knocker that I got at Nell Hill's in Atchison, KS.
I still felt like it needed something, so I cut a square of chipboard and used a tape runner to attach black and white striped paper to it. I then printed the letter "H" (for Holman) on parchment paper. To get the letter large enough, (since most programs the font only goes up to 100), highlight the number that is in the font box and type in 200 or 300, or whatever size you need. Using the tape runner, apply this to the center of the striped paper. Punch a tiny hole in the center of the "H" and place a large brad in the center. You can then punch two holes at the top, run black grosgrain through the holes and tie it to the basket.