I *love* the landscaping, it looks very natural and classic.

LOVE the use of the stump for your side table. I'm in love with things that are still in their natural state. They bring a unique beauty into every room!

The porch looks great, but more importantly, I want to dognap those dogs. Darling!

at least you used wood instead of that horrible white PVC crap...kudos

Cute idea for the bench! Love it!

Good job! And I know first hand how hard it is to do anything exterior when your interior has so many more demands! Did you reuse the brick from the planters for the walk? Everything looks good and this is only a suggestion, not a critique-for a little extra wow, paint your door an accent color, maybe the yellow from the cushions? And/or paint the top of your rails and the little bit of siding around the dormer a color. I can't get over how great the bench looks-I am a chair hoarder and that is definitely something I'm going to try!

ahh, I saw your house and just knew it was Denver. Live there, too. I also love the bench idea and might have to try that. Nice remodel.

very nice! And I agree about the door and accent color another person suggested- but I love color! Love the new landscaping

It is just the light and the white paints, or did you do some work to restore the brick?

the bench made from 3 chairs is too flippin' awesome! whoa! love it!

the dogs are a nice touch, hehehe! now that's what i call spruced up! really give me hope for other simple yet lackluster exteriors.

Something I always wonder when I see furnished porches: don't people steal your stuff?

Your restoration is perfect. Just enough detail in the posts and railings. Sweet sheepdogs!

Cute little house. Nicely done - 1000% improvement.

Just a small suggestion: I used to use a stump like that on my porch but after a while we started noticing termites inside. Our whole house is brick, the porch floor is brick (I live in a foursquare very similar to yours), no wood anywhere, but we had termites! I would recommend sealing up your stump if you haven't already. :) Gorgeous porch!

The house looks... happier. That's the word that comes to mind. Vast improvement. Well done.

Nice work. Huge improvement.

Beautiful bench! Well, all of it is, but I really like the bench :).

The house looks like its been elevated, looks great!

Your new porch looks great! What color/kind of paint did you use for the concrete?

So gorgeous!! It really looks like an entirely different house! We’ve just started renovating our 1890 Victorian wrap-around porch. It’s an enormous task, since the siding and floor is all wood and needs to be sanded, patched, stained, painted… wish I were at your end of the project—where you get to sit out there and enjoy it!

I'd love to see a diy for converting chairs into a bench! Lovely job all around.

Stunning!

Great job, looks stunning!

I'm so glad there's some Denver representation. Do more!

Fantastic! Every aspect looks great.

Oooo, I love the porch. In the South we consider our porches to be another room. They are not afterthoughts. I know the summers in Denver can be quite lovely and you have made a very nice outdoor room to enjoy with family, friends and neighbors. I am imagining a quiet evening with candles lit and a glass of wine...very nice.

The dogs are really cute. Anyone know the breed?

Very nice! Replacing the tacking ironwork with something more substantial made a huge difference.

Whoops! Meant tacky.

Oh... this is so lovely and EXACTLY the sort of transformation (removing the dilapidated iron from my porch and replacing with wood) that I'm looking to do with my own house! Did you do the work yourself, or hire a contractor?

That bench DIY is awesome! Never seen it before!

Terrific job!

What I love about renos like this is that they give the whole n'hood a lift.

I love everything about the transformation! It looks amazing!!

HUGE HUGE difference. Great job!

It's rare to see a reno on here where I think to myself "they totally nailed it." Usually there are some nice points, but nothing near perfection.

You totally nailed it. Nicely done!

Whoa - it's like a new house! Great work.

At first glance I could tell this was Denver! Love it! Great job!

@doaner245: pretty sure those are Old English Sheepdogs, with summer haircuts.

$200 and the house now looks like a million bucks! Incredible.

great job!

Hello Denver! I'm so happy to see my city on here and what a fine representation. Your work looks so lovely and peaceful! Can't wait to see interior pictures.

Nice job. It looks so much better.

Very very nice,it just makes you HAPPY to look at it.Lots of curb appeal.

I saw the house and before I saw the location, and it made me think of home. No wonder, I grew up blocks away from City Park! :) Great job on the re-do. The bench is awesome. I suggest getting a good bike cable lock to (discreetly) secure it to the railing. We lost a pair of adirondack chairs because we didn't think that anyone would steal them. We were wrong.

Can you sit on your porch and listen to the jazz on Sundays?

I love that chair bench!

This made me smile! great job!

So nice

WOW WOW WOW!!

I hate the neighbours across from me even more now, for demolishing a lovely old house like this to build a grey McMansion.

Beautiful work!

Lovely! I hope you ignore the work you think your interior needs long enough for some serious porch-sitting this summer. Plenty of time to work inside when the snow flies.

Lovely, especially the dog babies in the last pic!

I love how your dogs now match your porch!

Beautiful! Mei-Ling got it right: the biggest bang came from replacing the ironwork.

fantastic improvement! i wish i had a porch!

Looks wonderful. The only things I don't like are the exposed baluster ends on the street side and the two shrubs--Hicks yews I'd guess--on either side of the stairs. The exposed baluster ends make the porch look unfinished from the street; I'd cover them with trim as was done on the house side. The yews--if that's what they are--are going to get far too large for where you've placed them and, regardless of what they are, add nothing to the planting design.

excellent!

I've never something that sad end up looking that adorable. You're a genius!
Seriously, you've done that house and your neighborhood a very very big favor.
Not to mention your own equity. You would get back every single penny x 10 on whatever you spent on it, I think if you were to sell it.

Could you please tell the color of the porch ceiling please? It's exactly what I've been looking for.

Fabulous! Really beautiful!

Are those Hicks Yews or are they Sky Pencil Hollies? (Which might not grow as fast.)

@EDMUNDD, I take issue with your "horrible white PVC crap" comment. We built into an in-progress development and had no choice, but we have PVC railings and I think they look just fine, AND they require no repainting year after year. Low maintenance is a plus in my viewpoint. Apart from occasionally rinsing pollen off, they always look crisp and clean and substantial. If not well maintained, PVC can look rickety and forlorn, but it is not "crap".

wooo! denver! i also saw the pic and was like whoaah that must be one of my neighbors!

beautiful redo

Looks great and inviting.

Hi neighbor! Nice redo and I hope that it will inspire others in your neighborhood. It's nice to see Denver represented and to see someone fixing up an older home, instead of all of the scrape-offs. So often people forget the landscape. One thing I've learned is gardening in Denver requires a lot of patience.

Gorgeous. I would've loved to have known how much it cost to rebuild porch railings.

I love it! Well done! It's so nice to see a porch become cozy and awesome.

a house built in the vernacular where the porch is rebuilt in the vernacular; neither overpowers the other. this works.

I could spot Denver right away too. I think I can even pinpoint the block(but I won't) as I used to live about two blocks away. I remember a lot of porches on this block having some structural issues from a small earthquake back in the 80's. I always loved strolling up this block and it's nice to see such a weel done improvement.

nice job, tho not at all what i would have done. and that stump table is horrid! my stepfather was a wood guy for EVER and we had stumps laying around all the time. they dont look cool to anyone but city people who never saw a stump before. to the rest of us, they look super trashy and hillbilly ><

Wow, this is frickin' awesome! Nice job giving back your home it's classic feel and restoring it to it's better days!

so...looking for an answer re: the paint you used to paint the porch........and any other deets re: the painting that you can share......thanks.

Beautiful! I've been seeing homes that have similar sad porches, and it's nice to see how they can regain their former cuteness. But how much did all that cost? I'd love to know how the porch was rebuilt.

Little changes. Big impact. Nice!

Looks great! I agree that a pop of color on the front door could be fun--but you've earned a good long rest to enjoy your hard work! I also would be concerned about termites with that raw wood right by the house--maybe you don't have termite problems in CO?

Beautiful! I especially like the bench seating and the blue ceiling.

Have the same project on the books....source of columns? Purchased and adapted or custom assembled? Looks great, thanks for sharing. I need the inspiration.

I'll paraphrase a comment I made just yesterday with a (more dubious) re-posted article: I can understand re-posting articles that may be of interest to new readers but out of respect for your long-time readers, could you not label them 'From the Archives'? It would really help your credibility.

Agree with @luckygirl that I'd like to see these labeled as "From the Archives." That said, I commented on this *original* post 9 months ago about how I hoped to have this done to my own (similar) porch, one day. Lo and behold... TODAY is that day! Thirty minutes until I have my contractor come to demolish and rebuild my porch. Why this is relevant... I *totally* used the "after" picture from this post as my inspiration (since my porch looks almost identical to the "before" picture).

Great job... and thanks for the inspiration!

Looks fantastic! Oh and those sheepdogs are too cute!

Looks like a brand new house! Cute dogs :)

LOVE IT! That bench idea is amazing! From a fellow Southerner, let me just say how much I appreciate your plight. I bought a home 2 years ago that's yard was a blank slate, despite being 23 years old! With lots to do inside, I found the outside a therapeutic escape. Now, having "finished" a lot of the interior updates, I'm glad I invested exterior energy too. It's a gift that keeps on giving! Well done!

That is an amazing transformation, it looks beautiful. I would love to know how you made the bench.

It didn't occur to me at all that this was from June. I agree that these need to have a tag expressly saying they're from the archives. How the heck do we even know whether the porch STILL looks like this? Instead of republishing old content just to get page clicks, how about you add value to it by following up with the owners?

awesome job!

The result is very efficient. There's sometimes just few things to change for a greater result. Moi, j'aime bien :)

Such a HUGE difference. Looks so great and inviting!

This is phenomenal!

Beautiful! Great job on the chair bench and I love that you kept the stump table.

@EDMUNDD, I have to agree with SherryBinNH. Where we live, not only does the porch need painting each year, but it has to be totally rebuilt every couple of years because the paint peels and the wood rots in the sun and damp not matter what kind of treatment you use.

I think the porch is just lovely.

Hey neighbor (sorta: I'm just off Cheesman Park) great job bringing a little gem back to its glory days -- and more! Let's hear it for those of us who love old houses in old neighborhoods.

These updates are quite simple in aesthetics but have made such a huge difference! Great job!

As beautiful as that house now looks (and it looks much better in many ways), I would prefer a old rocking chair to a stationary bench any day. You know the old saying: "Rocking chairs are the most soothing form of self-administered therapy ever."

(Lesley Blume, Let's Bring Back: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/book-review-lets-bring-back-by-135913)

Can you tell me who did the work on the porch. I have railing on my porch and would like to remove it with wood. I'm not sure who to call. I really like how yours turned out. I live in Denver as well.