Before and After: A Wild Pink-and-Red Porch Gets a Chic Boho Redo for $1000

Not every choice the previous owners of your home made is going to be your favorite. Maybe you love the light fixtures but cringe at the sight of the tile, or maybe you’re wild about the built-ins but can’t stand the carpet.

For Jaime Elkins, of Elkins + Co, one piece of her 1957 home that she could do without was the front entry. “It was shocking, to say the least,” Jaime says. “Pink and red ‘camo’ pattern ran across the entire front of the exterior. It was tired and dated and needed to be spruced up.”

Jaime and her husband both wanted something more modern and boho—something that felt “warm and inviting.” The pink-and-red color scheme had to go.

What lay underneath the paint, though, was textured stucco that would be harder to hide. “Since we couldn’t just paint over the pattern, we needed to create something transformative to eliminate the ‘camo’ stucco pattern,” Jaime says.

Jaime and her husband started by painting over all the red and pink—both on the walls and ceiling—with a clean white. Over the spaces where they’d be installing their new slatted wood panels, they used Sherwin-Williams’ Tricorn Black so the gaps would reveal a dramatic peek of black.

The panels themselves are made with 4-inch cedar boards that Jaime and her husband mounted onto firing strips which are screwed directly into the stucco. Since a lot of houses in their neighborhood have a similar style, Jaime liked the idea of adding some unique flair to their digs. “We wanted to be a little different and saw the need to bring a modern mid-century look to this era home,” she says.

Jaime also swapped the old white door for a simple six-lite wood door, also painted black, then added a fresh sconce beside it.

For the floor, Jaime skipped costly tiling and instead painted the floor white before stenciling a black pattern on top. The geometric pattern has the look of cement tile for a lot less.

Total cost: just about $1000, which is shocking for such a big transformation. “The wood siding worked out way better than we ever could have imagined and I wouldn’t change anything about that or the process,” Jaime says. “I’m absolutely elated that we were able to make this happen. I love how $1000 completely transformed the front of the house.”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.