Living here has taught us one thing: we spend a lot of time outdoors. With kids taking breaks from at-home learning, weekly s’mores around the fire pit, and long evenings on the front porch watching neighborhood dogs, our outdoor spaces get used constantly. We also love the second-floor deck — on warm, sunny days we sometimes work from our laptops up there, which is where this post was written.
Great weather helps, of course, but having so many inviting outdoor areas is what really makes our home feel larger. Some spots only needed a few simple updates to go from overlooked to everyday favorites. A covered side porch that sat mostly unused for months became one of those spots.
You may remember this area from posts about our exterior updates. For about eight months the porch barely got any use until we realized it was ideal for hanging a large tent we bought for the kids over the holidays. Because the porch connects to our bedroom, it’s a candidate for an eventual ensuite bathroom, but that renovation isn’t urgent. Sharing a bathroom with the kids has been easier than we expected, so for now we’re prioritizing a pool and a small detached guest studio. In the meantime, turning the porch into a relaxed kid-friendly spot for lounging, reading, coloring and quiet play made perfect sense.
The porch floor, however, needed attention. Our contractor had painted it white earlier in the year — likely as a quick cosmetic fix while we decided the space’s future. White decking shows every leaf mark, dirt smudge and footprint, so it quickly looked tired and stained.
We already had porch and floor paint left over from another project, so we decided a warm medium-gray would refresh the space without a big expense or time commitment. Prep was simple: we removed loose leaves and pine needles, pressure-washed the surface, let it dry, and then painted. The pressure-wash didn’t lift all the discoloration, but a good coat of porch and floor enamel covered the stains nicely.
We used a Porch & Floor Enamel recommended by the paint pro, in a warm gray tone (Requisite Gray from Sherwin-Williams). The change is dramatic in person — the floor reads noticeably darker than the house’s white siding, which helps hide everyday dirt and makes the porch feel more intentional. Best of all, the update only took an afternoon — under three hours total for prep, painting and hanging the tent — so it felt like a fast, high-impact upgrade.
The view from the kitchen window now includes the painted porch and our green fence, which has become a standout feature of the yard. We’ll share more about the fence, the firepit area and the landscaping around it soon — the fence color is Halcyon Green by Sherwin-Williams.
The hanging tent itself is large and sturdy — about 60 inches wide with roughly a 450 lb weight capacity — so it feels like a double hammock but more stable. The kids can each take a spot without drifting toward the middle, and the tent supports lounging in any direction. They use it for reading, coloring, imaginary play, and even daytime “sleepovers.” It’s also comfortable for adults: on quiet evenings after s’mores I’ve stretched out there and enjoyed the calm.
We hung the tent using heavy-duty straps that wrap securely around a porch beam, the same kind of hardware we used for our webbed tree swing. Installation felt safe and straightforward. The tent’s fabric is thick and semi-translucent, so it creates a cozy, slightly cocooned feeling without blocking light — kids can read easily inside while still feeling like they have a private space. There’s even a cup holder, which turned out to be a favorite detail during our “safety test” spins.
This small, low-effort makeover turned an underused porch into a functional, kid-friendly retreat. It’s a reminder that modest updates — a fresh coat of paint and a comfortable hanging seat — can transform how we use outdoor space without a big budget or major renovation.
As a final note, here’s a before photo from last February that shows how much difference paint and removing the old staircase made. Small changes add up quickly.
If you want to follow the house’s transformation over the past months, our Florida house archive documents every change chronologically. There are also posts about downsizing and other projects, including how to paint a porch ceiling and favorite porch-ceiling colors like haint blue.
More Flooring Projects
Interested in other flooring projects we’ve tackled? Here are a few posts that walk through different processes and options:
- Refinishing Hardwood Floors 101
- How To Install Hardwood Flooring Yourself
- How To Select Hardwood Flooring
- How To Install Hardwood Floors Without Nails
- How To Install Click-And-Lock Cork Flooring
- How To Stain A Concrete Floor
- How To Remove Carpet
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