Pretty Small Front Porch Decorating Ideas for Summer

Are you ready to spruce up your front porch for summer! These small front porch decorating ideas are a great way to add curb appeal.

If your porch is on the smaller side like ours, these small front porch ideas for summer decorating will add a pop of color and style to your home’s curb appeal this time of the year!

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Don’t you just love a gorgeous big front porch decked out with cozy seating and rocking chairs and front porch swings and lush pots of flowers and ferns and plants layered together and overflowing. Oh, how I love a big, beautiful front porch!!

However, if your front porch is on the smaller side like ours, you have to maximize its impact and make the most of your small front porch decor. If you want to create a welcoming and inviting front porch, follow along for some of my best tips for creating the look of a large, inviting southern front porch when your space is limited.

Tip and Ideas for Small Porch Decor for Summer:

Your entryway is the first thing guests see when they arrive at your home. Even though your porch may be small, don’t be afraid to inject big personality and personal style. Our porch is the focal point of the front of our house, and there are so many ways to use this outdoor space to create a beautiful and welcoming entryway for guests!

1. Make a statement with your front door color!

A new front door color can make a huge difference to the look of your home! Since space is limited on a small porch, make the front door the center attraction. 

I have to confess, I love to paint our front door to change up our look! Don’t tell anyone, but in the 16 years that we’ve owned our home, our front door has been 4 different colors!

Our door is currently painted Sherwin-Williams Endless Sea (SW 9150), and I absolutely love this color!! It’s the most beautiful blue with just enough color to pop, but still subtle enough to work with our brown brick. You can see the previous door color here.

We have a north facing home, and our covered front porch can feel a little dark from late morning throughout the rest of the day. My goal with this blue paint color was to have just enough brightness to add life to the porch throughout the day, and I think I achieved just that!

2. Create a cohesive and eye popping color scheme for your small front porch.

When choosing flowers, pots, rugs, and other decorative items for your porch, stick to a cohesive color scheme to pull it all together and make a big impact in this small space.

This bright pink, white, and blue palette is such a fun color scheme for our small front porch.

If your home is brick, it’s important to choose colors that compliment the color of your brick. I love how pink and shades of bright magenta pop against our brown brick. The white in the flowers, wreath, and planter box creates a fresh look and adds a lot of brightness to our north-facing porch to keep it feeling light and airy.

The blue pots, blue striped rug, and ribbon on the wreath repeat the color of the blue door and pull it all together.

3. Add a wreath to your front door.

A pretty wreath is one of my favorite ways to add color and style to our porch. I just love this white faux heather summer wreath!! This pretty white and green wreath is simple and airy and will coordinate with any color scheme if I need to change out any colors throughout the summer. I can change the bow to some patriotic ribbon, or add a little touch of red to it to have the perfect wreath for the patriotic summer holidays!

I purchased our wreath from Kirkland’s a year ago, and it’s no longer available; however, this wreath has a similar look. I also added a little of this greenery from Hobby Lobby to our wreath to give it a little more fullness.

I added a bow made with this blue and white gingham ribbon.

4. Use a variety of pots and planters on your small front porch for interest.

I like to use a variety of height, color, and texture in my flower pots. The tall black planters with the Kimberly ferns add nice height and create a perfect green backdrop for the pretty pops of color.

The smaller textured gray resin pots have been staples on our front porch decor for several years. They add nice neutral texture.

I’m so excited about our new white planter box! I love this look, and this one is actually plastic and just clicks together. It’s such a pretty, classic look and is so easy to just pop in a new pot of flowers! I only ordered one planter, but I plan to order more to use in other areas around our landscaping.

I love how blue glazed flower pots just make your flowers pop! They’re such an eye-catching color and they’re perfect with our blue front door!! I purchased this one from a local garden shop, but this blue pot from Amazon is similar and comes in two sizes.

5. Create a wow factor on your front porch with your flowers!

Oh, how I love picking out summer flowers! If you have a covered front porch, you certainly want to consider the amount of light your flowers will get. Since our north-facing front porch only gets a little morning light, I’ve found great success with New Guinea impatiens and Rieger begonias, and Kimberly or Boston ferns.

The pink geraniums currently in the white flower box will need to be moved further down our steps to a spot that receives more sunlight. Last year, I had great success with a potted Endless Summer hydrangea in this location, so I will probably end up switching out the geranium with a hydrangea variety in this front entry area.

For the color palette of the flowers, I chose bright pink and white blooms and added pops of lime green with the Creeping Jenny — one of my favorites!! Adding splashes of lime green is good idea if you want to brighten up a shady area!

6. Layer in some pretty rugs on your front porch for summer!

I wanted a small blue and white striped area rug for our front porch and found the perfect blue and white rug at At Home!  The 3′ x 5′ outdoor rug adds nice color to our porch. The white background adds light, and the stripes add color and pattern. The width of the rug adds visual width to the porch to create the illusion of a wider space in this little cozy nook.

I layered a smaller decorative coir welcome mat over the blue and white rug to serve both a practical purpose of cleaning shoes as well as adding natural texture to the look of the porch.

7. Add a touch of whimsy with small chair or bench.

If you have enough space on your porch, you can add interest by placing a small chair, bench, or garden stool to your porch area. This seating space is perfect for pretty summer throw pillows, or can even serve as a small surface area to add an additional potted plant.

Search your local thrift store for fun options to add a little creativity and whimsy and create a welcoming front porch.

I hope these favorite front porch decor ideas inspire you to make a big impact on your small front porch this summer! Even with limited space, by applying these simple tips you can create a big impact and an inviting atmosphere for all who enter your home!

Happy Porch Decorating!

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