wooden doormat.

This is what the front of my house looked like at the inspection (from the house tour):

My brother-in-law Vince ripped the awnings down the same day I moved in, and they made a huge difference! The house looked a lot less dated, and the inside was so much lighter.

Both the front and back porch had red outdoor carpet – I ripped that off several months ago, along with the rest of the nasty carpet in the house. Outdoor carpet is a little weird to me anyway, but with two dogs that shed, it’s just not a good choice.

I haven’t done much else outside. I have some plans and ideas, but I’ve been focusing on the inside (and the first floor) first. Eventually, I’d like to pull out the existing bushes, add new landscaping, stain the concrete, repaint the rest of the porch, and replace or reconfigure the existing trellises. In the back I’d love to add a large patio and a raised garden bed or two.

I did complete one small project for outside, though. I’ve had this wooden doormat on my “things to make” list for a long time now.

Please excuse the poor picture – it was difficult to get a clear one between the sun and the trellis. To make this, I used inexpensive pine 1x2s (4 at $4.13 each). The tutorial called for 2x2s, but that seemed a bit thick to me. Each piece was cut to around 22 inches long (I picked a length that looked right, then cut the other pieces to match). I used a small can of semi-transparent exterior stain ($3.68) to stain each piece, then knotted the slats together using 1/4-inch sisal rope ($5.58). The entire thing cost just over $25, with some supplies left over for other projects.

It’s was a simple project, but I’m glad to finally be getting something homemade out here. If only the rest of the porch didn’t look quite so ugly…someday!