How to refinish a porch with some paint and stain, a huge makeover on a small budget! Affiliate links are included for your convenience.
I posted this little makeover on my Instagram stories and my inbox FLOODED with messages about colors, details, process, paint color…all the things! I figured it would be easiest to put into a simple post for you to have answers all in one place.
Let’s rewind – back in 2015 we had our deck boards ripped up, and put pressure treated wood down. We were told not to stain/paint it for at least a year, so it could weather and acclimate. Well, 2016’s summer passed us by and we didn’t touch them. Now that 2017’s summer is almost over, I knew we needed to get this project DONE and off of the (never-ending) to-do list.
UPDATE: This product has weathered really well!! We are refinishing our huge wraparound front porch with the same product because it’s weathered through two winters well so far.
It took 2 Saturday afternoons, and a little bit of prep work. And hello it’s done!
What you’ll need:
- Pressure washer
- we bought this one because the reviews were solid & the price was too! Glad to own instead of rent.
- Exterior paint
- Exterior stain + sealant
We knew we’d need to wash other parts of our house, and we’d use this on our porches/exterior in the future, so we bought this pressure washer. I am so glad we did! The reviews were great, and it did a great job cleaning our exterior.
I picked paint/stain based off of the wood we had, and the reviews online. We did pure white paint & used the stain in the “mountain cedar” color:
I pressure washed the deck on a Thursday night, and then stained the deck on a Saturday afternoon. Make sure it gets plenty of time to dry before you stain!
Oh man, I got really nervous about the stain as soon as it went on the wood. But I already paid for the stain, and I was not going back to the store! Anyone else stubborn like that? 😉
I finished the first day, and liked how it looked fresh, but didn’t love the orange hue. I prayed it would weather to a more brown tone…
Fast forward one week later – and it DID! Hallelujah
We added a new wood board to cover the weirdness we had on the top step, and then I put a second coat on. I got a littler nervous when I started – it beaded up a little bit at first. When I made my layer thinner, it looked perfect.
I LOVED how the color looked when I was done with the second coat, and I’m so glad I did it! But then it truly started to pop when I painted the backs of the stairs white:
I did two coats of the white paint…stepped back…and:
It’s SUCH an improvement – I can’t believe we waited all summer to do this!
Kate Hollingsworth says
Hi Christina, our front veranda is long and narrow just like this and I’d love to know: how on earth do I decorate a long narrow porch? I could fit a bench but not a couch or comfy chairs. Please give me ALL the ideas! xx