southern fried gal

First of all, THANK YOU to all who joined the Practice Hospitality Party this week! We had a nice little gathering and some super cute ideas for welcoming our guests. A couple of you mentioned you were working on your doors a little more. I took that as an invitation to share ideas – hope you don’t mind!

Granny Sue has this GORGEOUS porch. I love the door – wood, leaded glass, and architectural details – perfection! I don’t think this door needs much.

I think something simple like a tall, friendly plant to greet guests would be perfect. I’m not sure how much sun this area actually gets so my recommendations are based on a low-light situation.

Something like this dried topiary would look nice to one side of the door with a smaller pot or two leading up the steps.

I try to go real with plants as often as possible but I also have a good eye for real-looking fakes. There are some AWESOME fakes out there these days and because this is a covered porch, they will weather well.

Believe it or not, this is a fake. The owner has had them a couple of years now! If I had more cover on my doorway I’d snap something like this up in a heartbeat!

I think a friendly fern on a crisp, white pedestal would do the trick as well!

Amanda over at Serenity Now beat herself up over her curb appeal even though it is truly lovely. I had to scold her a bit – ha! To borrow Nester’s mantra – it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful – OR welcoming!

Amanda has some great ideas using vinyl for the front door. I love how she has pots of flowers leading up to the path.

Her dilemma is that one side of her door is in the shade and the other in the sun…

I think a nice grouping of pots to one side would be the perfect addition to the area. Something like this would look cute on the left side opposite the purple petunias.

Or a sun-loving trio with a little more height would look lovely to the right of the door.

I also think one large container with various plants would be nice as well. I love this palm with potato vine and I would probably tuck a flower in for a pop of color. I’m not sure how the palm would do in the winter months in your area so you could substitute a juniper or arborvitae for year round green.

I have had a ball this week sharing door ideas with you. I hope you have enjoyed them as well. I have another round of stalking pictures to share tomorrow to round out the week. I am probably on every crime watch bulletin in the city at this point – ha!

Don’t forget Week 2 of Practice Hospitality will go up Sunday evening. This week we will share ideas for Special Touches – how do you make your guests feel special? (examples: guest bath, guest bedroom, welcome signs, party favors, etc.)

~Southern Fried Gal