While February usually brings deep snows and frigid temperatures to Ohio, this year we have been enjoying a stretch of unusually warm weather. February and March were to be my months for organizing my dressing room and pairing down my wardrobe. But with temperatures climbing into the 50s, 60s and even reaching a 70° day, it just didn’t seem right to be cleaning in dark closets or sorting off-season clothing in the attic.
And so, a little adjustment in the “Organize It!” plan. Instead of the dressing room, my enclosed front porch became my February project. The switch meant that my husband and I could still get some work done on the house while enjoying the warm sun as it streamed through the front porch windows.
I decided on a whim that we should paint over the bright yellow porch walls. In my basement was a leftover half gallon of charcoal gray paint that I mixed with another leftover can of light blue, a shade that I never really liked. The combined colors made a gallon of a medium blue gray. The new color will make a nice transition from the outside where my husband has painted the exterior brown and gray with a deep burnished red trim on the porch windows.
Bearing the heart of a recycler, I like the idea of using leftover paint. I’m fussy about color and therefore I don’t usually have leftover cans that will make a color to satisfy me. Its nice when I finally do find something that works. I not only saved a few dollars but more important than that, I came away feeling like I had done a little something for the environment.
We left the ceiling as it was before, a pretty shade of aqua blue. We also left all of the Navajo white trim which only required a light cleaning. 
My daughter and I made a trip to Home Depot where I picked out and purchased 4 boxes of vinyl plank flooring. I chose the click and lock planks just because we’ve never used vinyl before and we wanted to try it out before flooring the rest of our house.
It was a little more difficult to work with than I expected. Locking the planks in place was a bit tricky. Cutting the planks was easy – score it with the utility knife and then snap off the end. It took no more than an afternoon to finish flooring the narrow porch. I still need to have a new piece of molding installled along the bottom of the wall but otherwise the porch is finished.
Because I had chosen to go the gray route, the honey colored dresser where we store hats and gloves clashed with the new decor. But it was an old piece, and cheap to begin with, so I had no qualms about painting it and I gave it a coat of glossy white. We next moved in two white wicker chairs that I have always loved but never really had a place for. It will make a cozy corner for sitting, especially in the summer when we can open the big windows.
And now halfway through March I can begin a new “Organize It!” project. Back to the dressing room I go!
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