A Little Spring Update for the Porch

Welcome to the 477th Metamorphosis Monday!

Good Morning! Sharing a mini-Met today that may be opening a big ‘ol can of worms. I’m good at that…opening up cans of fat, wiggly worms!

See those striped cushions on the chairs in this older photo taken back around the 4th of July?

 

They were never quite what I wanted for the porch, but worked in a pinch a few years back when I couldn’t find anything better.

 

They are starting to look pretty tired and faded these days. I tried washing them once in my washing machine and it didn’t work so well. They ended up with whitish streaks across them.

Old Cushions

 

In yesterday’s post HERE, I shared a couple of cushions I purchased on a shopping trip to Pier 1. I love blue and green together, it’s one of my fave color combinations. The green looked like it would work with the green settee and swing cushions I purchased back in 2008 (also from Pier 1) when I added on the screened porch.

 

So here’s how they look on the porch. These pictures were taken late yesterday evening and it was almost dark out. Ignore the bare hutch, I haven’t officially opened the porch for business yet, but with temps in the 60’s and 70’s this week, I think it’s about time. The pollen still hasn’t hit, though…it should be here any day.

Nighttime on the porch, White Wicker

 

The green cushions on the swing and settee have held up quite well these past 10 years., especially considering they live out here full time. I don’t even take them in during the winter because I enjoy using the porch on the milder winter days we occasionally get here.

Seating Group, Wicker Furniture, Screened Porch

 

The cushions at Pier 1 cost a bit more than in some stores, but the quality is always excellent! When I purchased the green settee and swing cushions back in 2008, I caught them on sale, 40% off, so they were only around $40 each. So watch for those sales if you’re in need of cushions.

Evening on a Screened Porch

 

Here’s a little close-up. I don’t know why I love this shade of green so much, but you’ll see it in many places on the porch…like the hutch and the lamp here beside the chair. I think I love it because it’s so restful, so relaxing. Plus, it makes me think of nature, trees and pretty green fields.

New Striped Cushion for Porch Seating Area

 

So about that can of worms…these are the cushions on the wicker chairs around the table. They are still in very good shape as you can see, but I’m wondering if they conflict with the green and blue cushions I just added to the seating group. They do have a little blue in them, although it’s more of a pale blue.

Striped Chair Cushions

 

They work great for these chairs, fit them as if they were designed for them. Plus, they sit wonderfully. I purchased them back around 2008 from Kohls. I wonder if Kohls still carries this style, didn’t see them the last time I was in there. Maybe it’s good to have the dining area a little different from seating area…not too matchy, matchy. (Tablescape can be viewed here: Summer Table with Watermelon Centerpiece.)

Be glad when the trees look like this again, shouldn’t be too long now!

Summer Dining on the Porch, Watermelon Centerpiece

 

Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters for this week’s Metamorphosis Monday!

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Metamorphosis Monday

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Comments

  1. Peggy Gregory says

    I have always heard green is a restful color so it is good to have in a bedroom also. Down in LaGrange, GA the pollen has begun. We gathered all the furniture, etc in the middle of our screened porch and covered it with plastic to minimize the cleaning when pollen season is over. Also, we are having the porch rescreened. I think after 20 years of use, it is time. Your porch looks so inviting. Enjoy it.

    • Love that color in a bedroom, too!

      Peggy, I had to get all new screens a few years ago. Mine are removable for painting or replacing if needed. Well, I had the porch repainted (it had been 7 years) and the workman the painting company used to reinstall the screens, dented and damaged every one of them. So the painting company had to pay for all new screens, and it wasn’t cheap! Hopefully these will last a long time.

      • Talk about getting screens replaced. My cat loves to climb the screen to tell me she “wants in”. I also had a tree branch poke a significant hole in one screen. I know you can get screening material and do DIY, but I chose to take three screens to Orchard to be rescreened. One I had done in pet screen. I almost fell over at the cost: $96.99 and that’s without tax! So, I’m glad you have new screens although unfortunate for the painting company.

  2. I know you love fixing your porch for Spring, and the new cushions are so pretty! Pollen is thick in Birmingham, it should be coming your way soon! Thanks for the party and if the table cushions are perfect I wouldn’t worry about it!

    • Ugh, time to batten down the hatches! lol

    • BamaCarol says

      I was just going to say it is thick here – just South of Birmingham, in Indian Springs Village. Still using my porch though as much as possible. My black cat loves the screened porch and he comes in with one side or another covered in pollen! He gets a good rub down every evening, but he does love to be petted and rubbed on.

  3. Answering your question. The chair pads around the table definitely conflict with the new pads in the wicker chairs. But they are hidden under the table and when people sit on them. If you can live with the mismatch, keep them until they are no longer serviceable, or maybe have a friend you could pass them to.

  4. I love the new cushions. While I am not one to spend money just because I can, after 10 years I would probably be ready for a bit of a new look. (You could always sell those older cushions on Facebook’s Marketplace if you didn’t want to hold on to them for use later on.) And since I am most comfortable with symmetry in my decorating, I would buy more of the new ones from Pier 1. But that is just me…..you have a wonderful touch when decorating that screened in porch and whatever decision you make should be about what brings YOU joy! Your blog posts popping up in my in-box are a joyful experience for me every single time.

  5. Your chair cushions are in two separate furniture arrangements serving two separate functions. I think it is fine that they not match. Each has a separate personality. Your floral pillows on the swing don’t “match” your new chair cushions either, but it all looks beautiful and inviting.

  6. Regality (aka The Quing) says

    1. Yes, I think they clash with the table chair cushions.

    2. But sometimes the table chair cushions clash with your tablescapes.

    3. Therefore, you need to “acquire” some neutral cushions to occasionally substitute for the those cushions.

    There, worms slithering all over the place. *L*

    • Neutral is sooo boring. lol Someone used to regularly leave comments on my posts that my cushions were fighting my table settings, so I started removing the three you can see when I take photos. It’s impossible to have cushions that match every table setting and white would look awful when the table is not set…not to mention get dirty easily. See the dilemma. Argggg!

  7. The new cushions look great! They look like they are a lot thicker & comfy!
    I love that green too. I did my hallway bathroom that color. It’s also a part my family room color scheme. It feels very nature like to me!

  8. Linda Rubin says

    I love your new cushions. The cushions around the dining table do not match in any way, shape or form. I think just some white cushions would be perfect around the dining table and would not compete with the colors in your tablescapes or surrounding furniture.

    • White would be so plain with a white table and chairs, plus would show dirt very easily. Definitely wouldn’t conflict with future table settings though. lol

  9. Thank you Susan for sharing how your cushions brighten up your seating area. Comfort first. Thanks for hosting MMM today.
    Joy

  10. I am picky too about matching. Could you cover the dining chair with a solid color, like green, so they wouldn’t clash with the other cushions or tablescapes?

    • Thanks for the suggestion, Anne! Maybe that would work, although the hutch right behind it is solid green in color, so that may be a bit too much the same. I feel like it needs to be a print. Whatever I choose will conflict with table settings, though…so I’ll probably continue to just remove the three cushions that are visible when taking pics of a table.

  11. I love your screened porch, it’s a beautiful outdoor room. I have a question – how does the green wood bookcase hold up on the porch? I have something similar I’d like to use on my porch. Thanks!

    • Thanks, Drew! It has done well out here. I have one spot that the paint wants to lift up, but that’s my fault. Apparently, when I was sanding it before I primed it, I didn’t do a very good job of sanding that one area. Otherwise, it has held up great. It’s gone through all kinds of temperature extremes and humidity.

      I only paid $92 for it at an antique shop, and I sanded and primed it first before painting it with exterior paint. You can see the painting process in this older post: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/painting-furniture-a-china-hutch-transformation/

  12. Your cushions are great. Blue and green are always pretty together.

  13. Susan, please don’t rush summer. Before too long we’ll all be melting in the hot, humid bugs galore GA.
    I’m with you on the not too matchy matchy. Leaving the “old” cushions just make you feel you are in a different space, even if it’s only two feet away.
    Have I seen your swing before? I’ll mark that as my seat.

    • I love the heat, Kem…I’m weird that way. lol
      That’s true. Well, they have to stay for now until something else as comfortable comes along. They are such a perfect size/fit for the chairs, wish I could find more in a different pattern.

  14. Snowflake281 says

    I really love your new cushions! Those colors are right up my alley and they look soooo comfortable. If you don’t have anything in mind as to what to do with the old cushions, your local animal shelter may accept them for their residents!

  15. I have been following you for a long time and I think you have the most talent, at decorating, I have ever seen!! I love it all!! i think the chair cushions all, look fantastic!! I lust and envy your porch!!! Every season!!!

  16. Do you bring in all the cushions, and whatever you can carry, before the pollen hits? Or at least during its peak? It is still in the 40s here and should be high 50s.

    • I normally don’t, just vacuum everything off. One year I covered the seats with a sheet and just removed it when I wanted to sit on the porch in the evening. I may bring them in this year and just leave one out in the chair where I normally sit, maybe cover it with a sheet. Pollen season comes pretty early here in the south. We’ve already had a little, but then it backed off when it got cold again. Now that it’s warm again, I’m sure it will be raging soon.

  17. Not wild about mixing the different stripes. Usually if you mix patterns with different colors they should be a smaller or larger pattern with similar color values. Since they work so well on the chairs could you have covers made in a small blue and green check or floral? Just a thought.

    • That’s true, that’s what I normally do…the rule I follow. Just hate to get rid of good cushions, but may end up doing that. Thanks, Rebecca!

  18. Susan, if you really want to have the cushions coordinate, sew some simple slip covers for the chair cushions. Envelope style with ties in back will slide over your comfortable cushions. Maybe green plaid or check?
    The new cushions look great with the swing cushions. Green is one of my favorite colors, too!

    • I thought about that…was thinking of sewing some with the flat pleats all the way around. Not sure what that style is called, but I love the look. Sounds like a lot of work, though. 🙂

  19. Susan, Pier One has a different pattern cushion with the same colors which would look nice on your dining chairs. Margaritte Blue is the pattern. My IPad won’t let me post a photo, sorry.

  20. Oh, I have a bad case of cushion envy! Love those colors! I, too, hate to get rid of serviceable things. While the dining table cushions do not coordinate, they are two semi-separate areas. If they are in good condition, I would keep them for now and just keep an eye out for different ones when the sales hit. Well made cushions are an investment! Or see how much to slipcover them in a coordinating outdoor fabric….?

    Just thinking today i need to pull in my cushions before pollen season. Been nice sitting on the screen porch during this warm GA springtime though….

  21. Ann Zimmermann says

    I just love your porch. We are starting on one in April. I also want a swing. What did you wrap the ugly swing chains with? Thank you.

  22. I love the green. Green is soothing and green brings in the garden. I agree the dining room cushions don’t match at all because of the rust, but it is a separate section of the porch. Talk about a can of worms. As someone else pointed out the pillows on the settee and the swing don’t match! Now what? I know you have the solution.

    • I love the pillows with it, though…the colors of the floral pattern on the pillow are very similar, but add a few new colors so it’s not so matchy-matchy.

  23. Count me among the “change the chair cushions” crew above. They clash badly. How about white washable, and sew pompoms all along the seams to make some textural interest if you think white is too boring? Just don’t deploy them until the trees are though with that yellow stuff!

    • I just read through some of the comments and they seem to be all over the place. You mentioned you feel the cushions should have a pattern, so why not try a floral or possibly a check. It think that you have two strips is what is putting some people off, but stripes look well with florals or checks if the scale is right. 🙂

    • Wow, Beatrice, I don’t know how my comment wound up up here! Lol. Anyway, is NextDoor one of those online garage sale style places? I’ve heard of something called Varage and it’s also supposed to be very effective.

      • Nextdoor.com is a nation-wide way of connecting to your community. You have to use your real name, and you must be a resident of that community. It’s wonderful…everything from what sandhill cranes just hatched, to what issues are coming up for a vote. It’s a great resource for all things that affect you and your neighbors.

  24. P.S. Nextdoor is a wonderful place to offload unwanted stuff…it took me 10 minutes to sell a granite-topped entry-room console for $100, when the consignment store would not even consider picking it up, and I’d have to share the sale price with them.

  25. Unless those cushions bother YOU, I wouldn’t change them. The seating area is distinct from the dining area, to my way of thinking. However, if it bothers you when you go out to the porch, then maybe the dining area needs slipcovers or new cushions. (I’d make them slipcovers if they are comfy!)

  26. Susan your porch has always been one of my all time favorites! We are hoping to eventually screen ours in. I need to get out there and make it more presentable now that the pretty weather is here.

  27. Thanks so much for hosting!!
    HUgs,
    Debbie

  28. I love your porch. You could always chalk paint the cushions around the table. I recovered my seat cushions to my dining chairs but the chairs with arms I couldnt remove the pads for fear it would damage the arms. I chalk painted them using Annie Sloan chalk paint and then waxed them. It’s been 3.5 years and they are wearing well!

  29. Valerie Reynolds says

    I too, love green, and love your new cushions. I think the ones at the table should coordinate with the new ones, and to be totally honest, the ones at your table have caught my eye many times clashing with your beautiful table scapes. While you probably don’t want white cushions at the white table and chairs, maybe you could find white cushions with a very thin green line or blue line that would coordinate with your new ones, and not be so opposed to the various colors of your table scapes. I love, love your porch and home so whatever you do will be fabulous, I’m sure!

    • I like that idea, Valerie. Wish this size was more readily available. I lucked out when I found them the first year, they so perfectly. But like your idea!

  30. Mary from Virginia says

    I love the new cushions and in my opinion the table cushions are fine until you see something you like better or sits better. I’m sure they could be covered but that’s a lot of money. If someone comments that they don’t match your tablescape then they need to buy you a new set of cushions.

    I dislike neutral. Color is always in style. Stick to your ideas of pattern and color.

  31. I could not get past that lovely tablescape , the tumblers with the lemon slices are beautiful, I have them too, and bought mine at Dollar Tree. I love the ruching on the porch chains, this really dresses them up!

  32. So pretty, Susan! Your post has me dreaming of spring. I know it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow, but in our neck of the woods, it’s being ushered in by snow. Not fun. I love the new cushions and I say if your eye likes the way it all looks together, then stick. If not, well, shopping is always fun, too! 😉

  33. Selma C. Kessler says

    What about having cushions made with one side a solid color (but maybe a cool texture) and the other side a favorite print? It might cost a bit more, but you could just flip your cushions depending on your tablescape. And since I love tablescapes, I would keep the cushions you have for the occasions where they match! There’s a whole paint can of worms for you! 😀

  34. Susan, have you checked Pier 1’s website for matching cushions in your table chairs’ sizes. I have bought a variety of matching cushions from them in different sizes and thickness . If you take one of your cushions(or sku #)
    Into the store, they will help you search and then ship free to the store. I would even take a chair so they can help you find the cushion with a perfect fit. I love your blog and Pier 1 .

    • I did and saw various kinds, but none that looked the right size or a similar style with the tufting…or whatever it’s called. I like the structured style of cushion, like the ones you see on the chairs, settee and dining chairs, not the more informal type that has the knife edge or whatever it’s called. It’s hard to find that style cushion in the size I need. I really lucked out when I found those in Kohls so many years ago. I will keep looking though, hope to find some eventually or get covers made for these. Thanks, Teresa!

  35. Love the new cushions !!!
    Susan, where did you get your bottle tree with room for gazing ball on top?

    • Thanks, Terri! I bought that many years ago in the Ballard Designs Outlet in Atlanta. They were clearancing them out. They were originally well over $200. When I purchased mine, they were marked down to $80, or maybe it was $60…I think it $80. About two weeks later I stopped in and they had a few left, and they had all been marked down again to $20! I would have bought another 1 or 2 if I could have gotten them home. The bottom section is so wide, it wouldn’t fit in my SUV so I had to hire someone with a truck to deliver the first one. The initial price was ridiculous, so I can see why they didn’t sell.

  36. This is off topic, but have you gotten your latest Talbot’s catalogue? If I wore those colors, I’d have to start on page one and order almost everything. I love all the scallops. So cute. So very, very cute!

  37. I remember that watermelon table scape! It was so cute and the colors look like they were designed to go with the colors of the cushions.

    I don’t know what to suggest to you about the clashing cushions – I’d have to see the whole area together to figure it out. Sometimes a co-ordinated look throughout looks great, and sometimes it can be too matchy-matchy, as you suggested. I guess you’re on your own on this one, lol. 😀 Sorry.

  38. I always love your porch. I’m just not ready for the outside yet. I have to get my inside in order for spring first. 😉 But your porch is beautiful every year.

  39. Linda Page says

    The new cushions are great. Love the blue and green. They look like summer!! As for chair cushions for the table, I think a floral with complimentary colors to your new cushions would look great. The pollen has hit here. My car is covered in it every morning! UGH!

  40. Well, you sure have gotten many comments and advice so I’ll skip that. Do what makes you happy!!! Thanks for hosting each week!

  41. Cyndi Raines says

    Like the new cushions. I agree with the others to slip cover the table cushions in a coordinating fabric to the new cushions, since they are so comfortable, and then you will have the best of both worlds. Happy Spring tomorrow, even though cold temps are hanging on here in MI. ⚘

  42. Susan, First, I am so jealous that you are seeing spring down there. Where I live the high is in the 30’s and bulbs are just starting to poke up. My honest opinion is that I don’t care for the cushions together. They are both stripes but different colors and the stripe appears to be about the same scale in both sets which is usually a no-no in decorating. More importantly is from your blog I believe that since you are already questioning it then it will bother you and you will end up changing them anyway. Sort of like your living room door to the basement. Since you purchased them in 2008 and use your porch so much maybe you can just decide that you have gotten your moneys worth out of them. Good luck.

  43. I love the new cushions! No complaints here! I’ve always loved (and almost coveted!) your porch, it has always been so beautiful and welcoming!

    Thank you for hosting!

    Katherine

  44. You definitely don’t need matchy matchy, but you should also avoid clashy clashy…the rest of your home is so lovely & well-coordinated, the cushions at the table just don’t flow with the other fabrics. Recovering the comfy cushions in a plaid or buffalo check in a color that coordinates with the pretty new striped cushions would create a cohesive color story.

  45. Have you considered painting the cushions? I purchased a new outdoor dining table and chairs. I was excited because at the time I purchased it they included cushions for the 8 chairs. Until I saw them. They were nice but the color not at all what I wanted. I researched the process of painting them and decided what did I have to lose. I am very pleased with the result. It took time but the results and savings were worth it. Your porch is beautiful.

  46. Hi Susan,
    I just got back home from Italy. You know there is an open air market every day of the week in Naples and in neighboring localities where you can buy almost everything you need: groceries, household articles, clothes, shoes, etc. I buy most of my stuff in Italy, so are for instance all my towels and bath towels purchased in Italy. A few years ago one particular market stall had very beautiful ones that I had to have! Since I took 3 sets of 10 pieces (2 sets for me, 1 set for my son) and the seller was a nice guy he decided I deserved a “gift” from him and gave me 6 beautiful cushions which I also liked for my garden chairs, for free! The cushions have a quiet floral pattern and I know they do not always match my tablescapes but you know what? I don’t care!
    I love them, they are beautiful and they still look like new and they were for free, what more could one want? Susan, your porch is so beautiful, you know I love it and I love all your cushions, too, but honestly, I also don’t really care how they look! You have zillions 🙂 of different plates, no one can expect to see matching cushions every time you set a table for us, which is every week! (Plus, my favorite and the most important one is that red, white and blue cushion/pillow anyway…) 🙂
    ~Hugs to you~
    Cecilia

  47. Beth Minger says

    I’d like to add a vote for slip covers – I have seasonal “throws” that I tuck in around our porch cushions. They work great just pull them off and wash and the whole porch smells fresh ( it’s a three season porch with windows). You could use a pattern on one side and a solid color for the other side – that way something would probably always match your tablescape!!

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