The photo on the left shows the front porch as we saw it when we first pulled up to this house. The home looms high on a hill, older and larger than its neighbors, but with a porch simply made for cocktail hour. The porch was honestly what sold us on the house. We figured renters would feel the same.

Back in February, the painters we hired to prep the house for sale had painted the blue-gray front porch and green-blue front doors (thank God I like both colors), so luckily that wouldn’t be required again. But the doorways needed several coats of fresh white. We also decided to remove the screen doors, which were barely functioning and just looked cheap.

Sad black mailboxes had been drilled onto the columns years ago and were barely hanging on. So to replace them, I scoured online for something cute that wouldn’t take too long to receive. I was inspired by these mailboxes available via West Elm, but they had a waitlist. So to get the look quickly (for less), I spray painted new metal boxes the same slate blue gray as the porch. Once dry, we affixed brass numbers to the mailboxes using liquid nails and then installed the mailboxes against the house just below the lanterns (all sources in the caption of the mood board below).

Speaking of lanterns, we removed the old ones that were way too small in scale and felt out of place with all of the soft colors. I love that the new lights have a farmhouse feel because the home is a Victorian farmhouse (this house was somewhat “out in the country” when it was built, although it’s just a few miles from downtown). Because the lights are white, they blend in more with the overall aesthetic.

Finally, I just knew this porch needed a swing, and I love that this one has a drink holder in the center. Setting the scene of how to actually live in this house would make it more desirable to potential renters and also potential buyers down the road (we’d like to recoup some of our lost cash before trying to sell again).

Oh! Also I painted the porch steps — first white and then a charcoaly-ish gray because the white felt too fresh and new. The gray helped disguise them and make the house more of a visual focus.

And finally, a few additional sources worth mentioning (but not really worthy of a full blog post):

*Hallway lights: In the hallway between the bedrooms, we swapped old boob lights for sweet star flushmounts. And to make them feel more historic, I spray painted them

*Floor paint: The floors were covered in a ratty old carpet, which we guess was a way to help conceal the age of them? Or hide the big slope to the back bedrooms. Either way, they were nasty and needed to go stat. And then when we pulled them up and saw how beautiful the floors were underneath, we were thrilled. To make everything look more uniform, we painted them a deep blue that would look decent with the Repose Gray walls (selected by the painter, not moi) and also flow right into the kitchen tiles. I took a tile with me to Home Depot to ensure as close a color match as possible (always do this!).

*Window treatments: Can we all agree that mini blinds are they worst? They always always feel cheap and fall apart so easily. But we knew renters would need something for privacy and to diffuse light. Of course the windows are all different sizes in here, so we needed a source that I could order custom sizes. I found these cordless bamboo woven wood shades that were subtle but made a noticeable difference in softening the bedrooms and making the home feel more welcoming. I love the texture of these and they only cost, on average, about $60/shade. We added them to every window in a bedroom, both downstairs and upstairs.

*AC units + fans: One of the biggest issues with this house is the lack of central air. We’ve gotten a few quotes on adding AC, and both came in around $50k. Since that wasn’t an investment we’re willing to make on a rental (and it’s honestly a can of worms with moving plumbing too), we decided to stick with window units and put fans in every bedroom. That way the renters would have plenty of options. I like this simple white fan that I often recommend to clients.

*Closets: We rebuilt every single closet in the home, which meant removing the old simple rails and adding shelves, new rods, and painting each one white. I don’t have sources to share for this, but just wanted to give my husband a shout-out for tackling these all himself.

As for the old heaters, they appear to work just fine. We’ll be assessing them in the winter months and will replace as needed.