The Front Porch Is Finished! (Front Porch Makeover With DIY Concrete Faux Stone Skirting And Cedar Sealed With Pine Tar)

Here is a closeup of the cedar porch boards with the new pine tar and linseed oil finish. I can’t even tell you how impressed I am with the coverage and the evenness of the color of the pine tar.

As I mentioned yesterday, the one drawback of pine tar is that it takes a lot longer to dry and cure than any outdoor stain product that you’ll find in a big box home improvement store, so I won’t be able to walk on it or place things on it until the end of the week.

I’m so pleased with how this turned out. And I’m even more ecstatic about the fact that for the first time since we bought this house, the front porch is completely finished. I did a major front porch makeover back in 2018, and that did wonders for the front of our house. But even at that point, the skirting of the front porch was still plain, ugly concrete. But now the porch is finished finished, complete with a faux stone skirting that actually matches the stone on the front of our house.

Before I show you more pictures of the finished front porch, I have step back in time and remind you of what this porch looked like when we bought the house. It was a lot to take in, and not in a good way. But I knew there was a diamon in there somewhere.

And then in 2018, we got new siding, and that’s when I did the original front porch makeover. This picture below was taken before I built the front steps, but it’s the only one I could find that shows the porch makeover with the plain, ugly concrete skirting.

And then over the years, that original front porch makeover started looking really worn and old. I was dealing with some rotting wood on the columns…

And because I used real wood (and not even the right kind of wood), the fascia boards were also rotting.

But now, the columns have been repaired and repainted, the rotting fascia boards have been replaced with PVC boards, the concrete skirting has been covered with faux concrete stones to match the stones on the house, and the cedar boards have a fresh coat of Authentic Brown pine tar and linseed oil.

I also gave all of the white trim on and around the front porch a fresh coat of paint. I installed new lights by the door. And the door has a new paint color.

Please kindly ignore my fallen tape lights. 😀 I can’t believe I forgot them again! I’ll try to remember to replace them as soon as I can walk on the front porch, but if I forget them again at the end of this week, or if I get too busy on another project, I’ll definitely replace them when I return to my outdoor projects later this year.

I can’t wait for the pine tar to dry enough for me to walk on the front porch so that I can get all of the pretty stuff back in place. The porch looks so pretty and clean and fresh now, and I can’t wait to see it with the chairs, maybe some new colorful pillows, potted plants, etc.

And then in the fall, my main goal will be to get the planting beds around the front porch done. I’ll need to bring in more dirt so this area is more level with the sidewalk. Right now, there’s about a five-inch step down from the sidewalk to the dirt. I want that to be more level, and then I want to get mulch around the porch so that I won’t have to deal with dirt coating my porch skirting every time it rains. (Yes, I know I need gutters, too.)

From a distance the porch looks so dark. I really love the dark color because I like that high contrast with the white trim. But when you get close, you can still see the wood grain. I’m so glad I went this direction instead of going with my plan to paint the front porch!

This front porch has come a long way! It was a lot of hard work, but it was so worth it.

I have one more outdoor project that I want to finish for now before I head inside and focus on the storage room. I want and need to finish the faux “stone” around the bedroom door.

Once that’s finished, that will wrap up my outdoor projects for now. And I’m ready! Our temps here in central Texas are getting into the 100’s. It’s supposed to reach 103 degrees today and 105 degrees tomorrow. So I’m ready to finish up this outdoor work and head inside for a while where I can work in the air conditioning. 😀 But I won’t walk away from this unfinished project. I’m determined to finish it before calling it quits for the rest of the summer.