Awnings and Porch Valances

When we are working on the Jersey shore house, I love taking a short ride over to the Bayhead area where there are so many gorgeous homes on the beach and on the bay.   They often provide the inspiration for some of the ideas we are trying out on our project.

For instance, I am smitten with awnings and porch valances.  I love how they add quaintness and a happy feel to homes.

 Is there anything not to love about this one?

This house has both an awning and a porch valance.

For the house we are working on, we needed to bring the color of the new bright blue shutters  over to the left side.   Since there isn’t any room for shutters on the large front window,  we decided to try a porch valance to balance out the color.

This was a DIY project.  I purchased 2 yards of  Sunbrella Baycrest Pacific Awning Stripe fabric from Sailrite.com and cut it to the length and width I needed plus hems for the front piece and two side pieces.  My finished valance is short so as not to cut off the top of the door.  So I cut my panels at 10 inches and then machine hemmed the top and ends.  For the scallop, we made a brown paper pattern and traced it on to the fabric.  I used a coordinating acrylic braid binding also from Sailbrite that won’t rot in the weather and carefully sewed it along the scalloped edge.   For the top edge I sewed on a 3/4″ strip of velcro the entire length.  Along the top edge of the porch, we used industrial grade sticky back velcro from Lowes.

I think with the addition of the porch valance this little house is beginning to say “hey, look at me!”  Next on the list – give that tired, old fence a facelift … stay tuned!  Debra