Red, White and Blue Patio Finds Inspired by our Patriotic Porch

With quarantine keeping us cooped up at home our screened back porch has become one of the most used rooms in our house. It’s where I sip coffee in the mornings. It is an office and a playroom by day. And it transforms into a romantic alfresco retreat for our at-home date nights.

With all the time we were spending outdoors early in quarantine, I took some time this spring to give our furniture a good cleaning and refresh a few accessories and pillows.

Here’s an account of what I did to get our porch summer-ready, along with some cute red, white and blue finds you could use to accessorize your space!

Giving our Teak Furniture New Life

I purchased our teak outdoor furniture set in 2012 at World Market. (They don’t make it anymore but here is a similar set I’ve been crushing on from Home Depot: Willow Glen Farmhouse 4-Piece Wood Outdoor Patio Conversation Seating Set.)

This set has moved with me through four different apartments and has worn incredibly well. But after a long winter without much use it needed a good deep cleaning.

Teak furniture is easy to clean – I just used a nylon scrub brush, and a bucket of water mixed with one cup of white vinegar. I finished it off by coating it with a layer of teak oil.

Here is a before and after:

So much better. I loved the results and feel like it looks brand new!

Power Washing the Porch

After seeing the extreme results from my teak furniture cleaning I was itching to clean our uncovered porch as well. We borrowed my mom’s power washer and Andrew transformed the deck from grey and dingy to a clean and pretty wood color.

The power washer we used is a RYOBI 2,900 PSI 2.3-GPM Gas Pressure Washer from Home Depot. I recommend any homeowner owning one of these!

Adding Pillows & Accessories

This year I decided to switch up our seat and bench cushions, replacing them with a navy set from At Home. I was hesitant to do curbside pickup for cushions, but they are a great blue, good quality fabric and nice and plush.

I also wanted to replace our outdoor pillows. I would normally hit TJ Maxx or HomeGoods, but, well, COVID. So I decided to try some out from Amazon.

For the price I am so pleased. I purchased a set of Light Blue Pillow Covers and another of Red Check Pillow Covers. (These are similar, the ones I bought are here but the red check is now out of stock.)

I put them over my existing outdoor pillows. They are made out of a waterproof fabric, which is awesome since rain still gets into our covered porch when the wind blows. I also love that I can easily take them off and easily wash them.

I also purchased a Blue & White Citronella Outdoor Candle from Amazon to style up the coffee table. It is so good! It helps ward off mosquitoes, is a stylish blue and white pattern and has a lid that I can use to cover it so it doesn’t get dirty between uses.

Reviving our Rugs

I had bought new outdoor rugs a few years ago, so this year I cleaned them using the hose and a magic eraser which totally gave them new life.

I prefer rugs that are 100% polypropylene because they are easy to clean. With a baby and a toddler we have lots of paint and food spills, so I like having inexpensive pieces that I can easily clean or replace.

I couldn’t find the red one, but here is the blue on Amazon: Blue & White Striped Rug.

Restyling our Rockers

On the other side of the porch are our rocking chairs. I purchased these my senior year in college at Ole Miss. It was at a time when I was firmly convinced every proper southern girl should have rocking chairs on her porch. For the record, I still believe this.

I have been wanting to paint them white but am going to save that project for next year. If you’re looking for some rocking chairs for your porch I’d check out these Willow Glen Farmhouse Rocking Chairs which match the teak set I shared above, or these more classic looking rockers: Jakarta Teak Wood Patio Rocking Chair.

I accessorized this area with some homemade jute rope coasters, red martini glasses (which Annabelle promptly claimed as her own) and a blue and white planter.

Here are some similar planters on Amazon that are super cute: Blue & White Ceramic Pots.

Lastly, the little folding table between our two chairs used to be white. I wanted to paint it blue, so I used some navy spray paint we had in the garage. I didn’t love how it turned out so I bought Rust-Oleum Midnight Blue Satin Spray Paint at Walmart and I like it so much more now.

I ended up using the same color to repaint our outdoor dining table and chairs too.

I found these lanterns at Michael’s last season, and they don’t seem to be selling anything similar this year. I found similar lanterns and a red planter like you see here at At Home, and I included the links below.

Lastly, I used the Fabric American Flag I made a few years ago for a party photo backdrop to cover up the old intercom and our water hose connection.

Read more about how to DIY your own fabric flag here: How to Make a Farmhouse-Inspired Fabric American Flag Photo Backdrop for the Fourth of July.

Since a lot of my porch things were found in previous seasons and I couldn’t find for sale, I created this round up of red, white and blue-inspired decor that’s available for purchase.