Porch Prettiness

Every summer, I find joy in creating a little sanctuary on our front porch with odds and ends from around the house, and lots of containers of flowers and greenery. This is the view from the street:

Here is dear old St. Francis, who has suffered much in our garden; he has been beheaded and mended with Gorilla Glue, and now I notice that the poor little bird he holds has also lost its head. But they're nice little greeters at the foot of our stairs.

This is the view as you ascend the stairs. Container gardens seem to be my thing; no weeds, a bit of water each night, and we're good to go! Our in-ground gardens, on the other hand, are a mess!

A close-up of the box you pass on the way to the door, which I showed you before in this post:

If you turn left at the top of the steps, you see our make-do seating area, which leaves something to be desired in the decor department, but is fabulously functional. We just need to find a suitable little table or an ottoman, as we tend to want to put our feet up when we're sitting here. Prince Caspian, whom you also met in the post I linked to above, claims the purple chair as his throne while he and I water the plants in the evening, but he will also force his large limbs to fit into the smaller tub chair if the other is claimed:

And here we have our little herb garden. We have yet to make good use of the herbs, though I did use several sprigs of mint to decorate dessert tonight :)

So there you see a little bit of loveliness that delights me morning and evening -- and many an afternoon, too!

Do you have a favourite little sanctuary that you've created in or around your home? What have you done, or what COULD you do to create a tranquil spot for you and your family to enjoy a few quiet moments? I'm always interested in hearing new ideas, so please do share in the comments below, and link to any pictures you might have posted :)

Before I go, DD8 wanted me to take a picture of her pretty toes that we painted together last night. She was standing on the porch, so they fit with the title of this post ;)

And I just thought I'd share with you the little bouquet of wild flowers DD8 and DS3 collected for me while we were on our "Morning Glories Walk" yesterday:

Such variety of colour and texture! Even weeds were created to delight us! ;)

I linked this post to Funky Junk Interiors blog party.