Lilacs and Lemonade . . .: unusual side tables

Don't you just love old-fashioned southern porches?

You know, the kind that are filled with Victorian wicker, flowers, ceiling fans and a big, round table large enough to feed eight farmhands? I often daydream of relaxing on one like that. . . sipping lemonade. . . enveloped in the fragrance of lilacs. . .the soft summer breeze drifting over me. . .

Well, there are day dreams and there is R-E-A-L-I-T-Y! I have a southern porch alright. It runs the entire length of the house, but. . .it's very narrow. You couldn't seat eight farm hands around a table on my porch, even if you used a shoehorn!

So. . . my challenge was to make it inviting and usable, without lining up chairs along the front like a row of tin soldiers on parade. Hmmm, what if I used a couple of rockers and a clever little table on one side and made a romantic dining spot for two (notice two, not eight!) on the opposite side?

Not wanting this to be an expensive proposition, I decided to see what I already owned that I could use. I went "shopping" in my storage shed and back yard. In the storage shed I found a child-sized, wooden ironing board that I re purposed for a side table. I placed my twenty-plus-year-old Cracker Barrel rockers on one end of the porch, with the newly painted ironing board between them. A cute lamp, a couple of ceramic coasters (stolen from the sitting room) and a large print purchased from Goodwill ($9.99).

Now, for that romantic table for two. . .

I brought my metal bistro table and two chairs (World Market) from the courtyard and placed them on the opposite end of the porch. I also had a white, plastic, free-standing shelf that had not found a home yet ($5 from the ReStore). I added that to the end of the porch to use as a buffet server/plant stand. A couple of Kroger bargain-barrel prints on the wall ($6.00 each), a few plants, a candle or two. . and VIOLA! A romantic dining spot for two (notice two, not eight!).