The front porch is finished! (Front Porch Renovation with DIY Concrete Faux Stone Baseboard and Pine Tar Sealed Cedar)

Here’s a closeup of the cedar porch boards with the new pine tar and linseed oil finish. I can’t even express how impressed I am with the coverage and color uniformity of the pine tar.

As I mentioned yesterday, the only downside to pine tar is that it takes much longer to dry and cure than any outdoor stain product you’ll find at a big box home improvement store, so I won’t be able to walk on it or put things on top of it until the end of the week.

I am very happy with the result. And I’m even more excited by the fact that for the first time since we bought this house, the front porch is completely finished. I did a major front porch renovation in 2018 and it did wonders for the front of our house. But even then, the front porch baseboard was still plain, ugly concrete. But now the porch is finalized finished, complete with a faux stone baseboard that really matches the stone on the front of our house.

Before I show you more photos of the finished front porch, I’ll go back in time and remind you what this porch looked like when we bought the house. There was a lot to take in, and not in a good way. But I knew there was a diamond somewhere.

And then in 2018 we got new siding and that’s when I did the original front porch makeover. This photo below was taken before the front steps were built, but it’s the only one I could find that shows the porch makeover with the simple, ugly concrete baseboard.

And then, as the years went by, that original porch makeover started to look very tired and old. I was dealing with some rotted wood on the columns…

And because I used real wood (and not even the right kind), the fascia boards were rotting too.

But now, the columns have been repaired and repainted, the rotted fascia boards have been replaced with PVC boards, the concrete plinth has been covered with fake concrete stones to match the stones of the house, and the cedar boards have a new coat of real brown pine tar and linseed oil.

I also gave a new coat of paint to all the white trim in and around the front porch. I installed new lights by the door. And the door has a new paint color.

Please ignore my fallen ribbon lights. I can’t believe I forgot them. again! I’ll try to remember to replace them as soon as I can walk across the front porch, but if I forget them again at the end of this week, or if I’m too busy with another project, I’ll definitely replace them when I get back to my outdoor projects later this year.

I can’t wait for the pine tar to dry enough so I can walk across the front porch and put all the pretty things back in their place. The porch looks so nice and clean and fresh now, and I can’t wait to see it with the chairs, maybe some new colorful pillows, potted plants, etc.

And then in the fall, my main goal will be to finish the flower beds around the front porch. I will need to bring in more dirt to make this area more level with the sidewalk. Right now, there is about a five-inch step from the sidewalk to the ground. I want it to be more level, and then I want to put mulch around the porch so I don’t have to deal with dirt covering the porch baseboard every time it rains. (Yes, I know I need gutters too.)

From a distance the porch looks very dark. I really love the dark color because I like that high contrast with the white trim. But when you get closer, you can still see the grain of the wood. I’m so glad I went this direction instead of following my plan to paint the front porch!

This front porch has come a long way! It was very hard work, but it was worth it.

I have one more outdoor project I want to finish for now before I go inside and focus on the storage room. I want and need to finish the stones (i.e. more artificial stone using concrete) around the bedroom door.

Once that’s done, that will conclude my outdoor projects for now. And I’m ready! Our temperatures here in Central Texas are reaching 100 degrees. It is supposed to reach 103 degrees today and 105 degrees tomorrow. So I’m ready to finish this outdoor job and go inside for a bit where I can work on the air conditioning. But I won’t walk away from this unfinished project. I’m determined to finish it before giving it up for the rest of the summer.