Must-See DIY Porch Ideas to Steal for Your Home

A custom railing planter is your summertime solution for curb appeal that lasts all year. Our DIY design can be adjusted to fit your railing and your style, unlike many store-bought options. In just a few hours, you'll have instant curb appeal with this project made with two window boxes.

Few things are more inviting than a porch swing. Pile on the pillows and a light blanket to ward off any chill, then you've got a bona fide crowd-pleaser on the porch. Paint it a cheery color, and keep a table or ottoman nearby to hold drinks and snacks.

Related: How to Build a Porch Swing

When the sun goes down, the party doesn't have to end! Enjoy socializing on your porch long after dark with outdoor lighting. Exterior light fixtures add safety and beauty to both the architecture and the landscape. Here's how to replace an exterior light to add curb appeal to your home.

When your porch concrete gets stained, there's no need to fret. Just paint it. A coat of paint will help disguise repairs and provide a clean, finished look that will give a home's entrance great curb appeal. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you paint your concrete stairs and walkways.

What could be more versatile—or more adorable—than a traveling cart on casters bubbling with drinks, snacks, and other party essentials? Its wheels let it roll from the kitchen to the porch with ease, while its shelves can corral all manner of goodies for guests.

Related: How to Make a DIY Bar Cart

Whether a porch needs privacy, shade from the sun, or a little of both, cloth curtains are an airy answer to both desires. Choose clean, cream-color ones, like on this sunny stucco porch, so they disappear into the background. Opt for curtains in a vibrant pattern for a louder style statement.

Refresh porch furniture by updating existing pillows with easy-sew pillowcases. Utilize fabric leftover from past sewing projects for bonus savings. Pile them onto a porch swing, loveseat, or outdoor sofa for a new look.

Unfinished walls and exposed studs can be quaintly endearing with a coat of whitewash and a few beloved collectibles. Use the wall's horizontal members (they're called stiles) to prop up a couple of framed pieces, books, or shapely bottles. Slip a humble tension rod between the window frames and thread on a breezy curtain.

Of all the colors of the spectrum, red grabs our attention the quickest, so it's a savvy choice for a front door. (There's really no missing it, is there?) Learn how to paint your front door for a quick exterior facelift. A nearby length of driftwood, mounted on the wall and drilled with hooks, catches towels, hats, and other items before they make it inside.

If you're lucky enough to have a protected porch—enclosed on all sides with screens and walls—options for furnishing and decorating it are almost endless. Even indoor pieces, such as this loveseat and fabric ottoman, can comfortably nest in such a porch without fear of damage from sun or rain. Make your own pouf ottoman for a footrest that can double as seating when needed.

Available for a song—or even for free—wooden shipping pallets find a useful second life as durable outdoor furniture. Assembled two high, screwed together, mounted on casters, and protected with glossy white spray paint, these pallets transform into a wide coffee table sitting at just the right height and stacked with built-in shelves.

Related: How to Build a Pallet Coffee Table

Who says indoor furnishings have to stay inside? Let their form and function spill onto the porch too. Here, an all-weather metal table in zingy lime-green serves as a sideboard of sorts for drinks, napkins, and plates. A pair of movable seats—logs made mobile with casters—can scoot around the space as needed for extra seating or as a surface for setting glasses. And a giant glass cloche encases a couple of houseplants on a wooden tray for an eye-catching centerpiece.

A striped rug in saturated hues enlivens this screened porch and provides a color palette for the rest of the room. (Notice how pinks pop up on cushions, pillows, and plants.) Furnishings like a floor lamp and flea market side tables give the impression of indoor living.

Related: How to Paint an Outdoor Rug

If you're lucky enough to have a porch swing—or any comfy seating, really—it can seem impossible to resist reading outdoors for hours on end. Keep books at hand by gluing a clear acrylic magazine holder to the side of the swing. Use construction adhesive for good grip.

It wasn't daring enough to coat this porch's ceiling in sky blue paint (a Southern tradition). This room goes full-tilt with two walls of blue and white stripes, which somewhat resemble outdoor siding. It's an eye-catching accent that revs up the room despite its otherwise-neutral palette.

Because porches often bask in sunshine, they can usually handle strong color. For proof, see this screen porch, where one screen wall is sheathed in botanical-printed pink paper. The play between pink and green delivers vivacious contrast made all the more lively by the leaves and flowers (both real and printed) on the two walls.

Outfitting an outdoor porch with all the comforts of home will stretch your living space beyond four walls—in fact, you might want to stay outside all day! Lavish a porch with sturdy, weatherproof chairs, colorful pillows sewn from outdoor fabric, a breezy ceiling fan, and nubby rugs underfoot to give it all the amenities of the living room—and with fresh air to boot. Make a mobile coffee table out of metal basins (available at garden centers and refreshed with spray paint), a pair of salvaged doors (or plywood slabs cut to size), and casters. A hedge of chrysanthemums in tall containers provides a bit of a barrier for privacy.

Conventional practice says to string a hammock between two trees, but that means you'll have to contend with bugs and harsh sunshine while you're trying to kick back and relax. Mounting a hammock on a screen porch eliminates any airborne pests as well as the risk of sunburn—while still letting you sway in the breeze. Install hooks in your porch's ceiling or walls to accommodate for a hammock or DIY your own hanging swing.

Paper lanterns in a rainbow of hues resemble a bundle of balloons when strung by ribbons from the ceiling, but they're much sturdier and longer-lasting! They're not expensive at all, but they deliver a lot of bang for your buck. A stylish porch makeover is affordable—just choose lanterns in a handful of colors and a few different sizes for visual dazzle.