Celebrating Long Sunny Summer Days on the Porch

There are so many aspects of summer that make it an irresistible season. Perhaps the best part of summer, that makes so many of summer’s other benefits possible, is the long lingering days of endless sunlight. I have to say, in my third trimester of pregnancy, the long days give me life and extra motivation to keep moving as I’m inevitably starting to slow down a bit. When we bought our house, one of the things I was most excited about was our side porch (technically called a piazza in Charleston!) because I knew it would be a place where we’d spend time throughout the year.

When we renovated our house, we actually restored the piazza thanks to the help and talents of Olivia (more on this below). I adore a porch because I’ve always known them to be places to enjoy some of life’s slower moments like a sleepy morning breakfast or an evening of gin rummy. While pregnant and while spending so much time at home this year, this has been especially true! As I get more and more excited for our baby’s arrival in September, I’m trying to not wish away a single day. Instead, I’m focusing on celebrating long sunny summer days on the porch as the last days of just Edwin and me. We recently spruced up our side porch for summer with a few new beautiful outdoor items from Serena & Lily that are too lovely not to share.

Celebrating Long Sunny Summer Days on the Porch

When I was thinking about our piazza, I knew I wanted to create a balance of color between our house, the furniture, and the accessories. I zeroed in on green (because our house is green), yellow (because my favorite beach/outdoor towels we own are the Serena & Lily ‘Capri Fouta’ towels in yellow), and natural tones to act as the balancing act. It might sound silly to put an emphasis on the color of our favorite towels but it was actually quite a natural choice. I love pairing yellow and green together as it’s very aesthetically pleasing to my eye.

We also use our towels so much on our porch, in our little yard, with our dogs, and on trips to the beach. I knew they’d take center stage quite frequently on our porch so I wanted them to have a cohesive look with the rest of our porch. The towels are made in the tradition of Turkish towel design, have different stripe prints on each side, are completely soft and totally absorbent, and come in 5 colors… hence why we love them so much! Okay, I sounds like a crazy towel lady but they really are a must-have summer accessory (perhaps I should say necessity!).

I decided to bring in natural tones with the furniture we selected, namely the bench and the side table.

Instead of going for a matchy-matchy look, I decided to mix up the natural tones and materials for a more interesting feel. I opted for Serena & Lily’s ‘Pacifica Bench‘ in driftwood and their ‘Blithedale Side Table‘ in wicker. I think they look fantastic together! Both pieces are done in all-weather resin so they can withstand outdoor elements and be easily wiped down… a must in Charleston. I adore the whitewashed, lived-in look of the bench and the comfy cushion designed to pair with it. The bench cushion is done in an all-weather Sunbrella fabric so it is super durable and made for the outdoors, which takes away all my stress of weather and nature blowing by.

I decided to bring in a touch of green to coordinate with our green house through the pillows on the bench.

Green is forever one of my favorite colors but it is having such a moment right now. Surprisingly though, it’s harder to find gorgeous green pillows than you might think. I searched around but kept coming back to the Serena & Lily green pillows as my favorites (they have so many!). I selected two green and white stripe pillows. However, I selected them in different shapes and sizes.

I also went with contrasting stripes by selecting one pillow with a thin green stripe and one pillow with a bold awning stripe. They coordinate but aren’t matching – just the way I like it. When ordering pillows, it’s important not to forget to order pillow inserts! Here are a range of square pillow inserts you’ll need as well as a range of rectangular pillow inserts you’ll need.

Since we’re spending so much more time at home this summer, sprucing up our porch was the perfect project to take on. There is no better time than the present to tackle an outdoor porch, patio, garden, or yard project. This was our first stab but we also want to possibly add rocking chairs or these outdoor hanging chairs to the other side of our front door. In addition, I think some rattan hurricanes would add some warmth and beautiful glow to our porch in the evenings. Lastly, it isn’t an outdoor space without some potted plants. Edwin has more of a green thumb than I do so I’m going to have to leave that up to him!

As I mentioned above, we worked with historical preservationist and interior designer, Olivia Brock of Torrance Mitchell Designs, on our house.

Thanks to Olivia, we learned that our house originally had a piazza that had been removed by an owner sometime over the course of the house’s history since the mid 1800s. Olivia helped us restore the piazza by restructuring it and bringing it back to life, which we think restored much of the house’s original glory and charm! You can see some of the piazza’s journey in this post. Olivia is also a paint MASTERMIND. She is responsible for helping us select the gorgeous green color of our house, the lovely white color of our house trim, and the dynamic blue color of our privacy door and front door. To say we love all the paint colors would be an understatement!

Serena & Lily Bench, Bench Cushion, Side Table, Towels, Square Pillow, Rectangular Pillow, Square Pillow Insert, Rectangular Pillow Insert (c/o)

Photography by Edwin Eversole