The porch spillith over.....

My porch was becoming a catchall for all the construction going on.  Piles of tile waiting to be put down, old windows for a Pinterest project, various tools, clutter, junk and mess!  It had become not only a dumping ground, but an eyesore!  My neighbors began giving me dirty looks!  What used to be a showplace, had turned into just another hoarded mess!  I decided, I have to do something.  I got one of my nieces and a friend to come and help me.

It was really hard work, carting off the wood, the windows, the junk and either tossing or putting where it belonged.  It went fast though, with all the help.  The real dirty work was still to come.  Cleaning and wiping off road grime (I live right off a main road to the local High School) and sorting.  I'm going to show you some pictures from years ago, then it clean and nice like a magazine, then a hoarded mess, then clean AGAIN!

Right after I moved in.

Front porch freshly painted!

As I began the long journey towards restoring this old gem!

Cleaned, freshly painted, looks like a magazine eh?

My pretty flowers!

A little welcome display!

As you can see, I did so well with it, but sadly, the painted porch began to come off almost immediately, as other work came and went, it fell into a sad state of affairs, and here I am 10 years later, cleaning up another mess, trying to restore order as we move through yet more renovations!

Oppsss...I did it again!

Cleaned up AGAIN!

A sweet place to sit in the summer time evenings with a glass of wine!

Only an afternoon of 90 degree heat!

And don't be stingy with that wine either!

Soft glow of candles!

So there is a continuing theme here.  But the mess from rehabbing is starting to wear thin on my nerves!  I call this place Chez Shifting Sands, as the furniture shifts from room to room, as I push into the next project, then the next!  Sometimes, it just feels as if it will never end, but each change has brought its own pleasures once done.  And, sadly, once done, I have a hard time remembering how unattractive it was before, because each change has suited it so well.  EXCEPT the junk, the dust, the mess!  LOL!

So any thoughts?  Ideas?  Horror stories?  Pictures of your journey through this process?