For some reason, I always look at certain renovations and think “oh that’ll be quick and shouldn’t be hard” – that is almost never the case. Although wrapping the front porch columns wasn’t necessarily hard, it was extremely time consuming….however, it was 100% worth it! Here’s how we completed our front porch column makeover!
Here’s the before…round columns, that look a little out of place. For some reason they look small to me, and don’t seem to match the style of the home. There were a few different options we had when discussing how to address the columns.
Click here to see all the old, original pictures of our house when we moved it!
We could completely remove the front porch columns and replace them with pre-made columns you could buy at Home Depot or Lowes. We decided against this option for a couple reasons: #1 we didn’t want to have to worry about removing load bearing columns (which these most definately are), #2 the pre-made columns were really small in diameter, so we would have had to have something custom made to give us the look of larger columns.
Ultimately, we decided to wrap the front porch columns. We would keep the original round columns in place since they were already structurally sound, and simply wrap them to square them off. Looking back now, I’m so glad we chose this option!
Phase #1 – Wrapping the Columns
We ended up tackling this project in phases –
Phase #1 was to wrap the front porch columns. We used 1 in. x 12 in. x 8 ft Common Board, similar to this from Home Depot. It ultimately worked well with some waterproofing paint/stain, but I do wish we would have used something that was already weather resistant or pressure treated.
Here’s what the house looked like after we were completed with phase #1 of our front porch column makeover. I did end up quickly painting them with a waterproofing white paint/stain to make sure they would hold up in the rain before phase #2.
Phase #2 – Trim/Moulding
Phase #2 was to add the decorative trim to the columns. For this, we ended up using PVC board and trim instead of wood just to ensure this would last in the Ohio weather.
One quick thing to remember, mitered corners are NOT easy. Sure, you can just set the saw to a 45-degree angle and cut away…but getting everything the correct length so it fits together perfectly takes a lot of time and practice. My husband (Brandon) is actually pretty good at this, but every corner still isn’t perfect. In other words, be easy on yourself, that’s what caulk is for!
Here’s what we used for the trim for our new front porch columns:
- 75-in x 9.25-in x 12-ft) Common Board PVC Board. This actually has a textured woof finish on one side, and a smooth finish on the other. We used the smooth side.
- 1-1/4-in x 8-ft Unfinished PVC Base Cap Moulding. For the bottom of the column, we actually used this as the top piece of our trim. At the top of our columns, we used this at the bottom of our trim.
- 1-5/8-in x 12-ft Unfinished PVC Bed Moulding. For the bottom of the column, we used this as the bottom piece of trim. At the top of our columns, this was our top piece of trim.
I’m so glad we ended up using PVC for the trim of our columns. It was a little harder to paint – the paint doesn’t adhere as easily as with wood. Regardless, it was still worth it!
Phase #3 – Caulk and Paint
Now we were on to phase #3 of our front porch column makeover…which is really honestly the point when my husband completely taps out because it includes caulk and paint lol. OK, being completely honest, I have such a love/hate relationship with caulk. It really takes time to learn how to use caulk correctly so you don’t make an absolute mess. Patience is key!!
Here are a few tips I’ve found helpful when it comes to caulking:
- Using your finger to smooth out the caulk is ultimately better than any tool you can buy. I have used so many tools…I have searched Amazon far and wide, but I always come back to simply using my fingers.
- Make sure your fingers are wet – for instance, I always have a small container of water I dip my fingers in to make sure they are wet. This makes smoothing out the caulk so much easier!
- Invest in a good caulk gun…it’s worth it. It allows you to control the flow so much better vs cheap caulk guns which ultimately leads to less mess.
For this project we used a white, paintable, silicone caulk like this.
Front Porch Column Makeover – COMPLETE
As a result of our blood, sweat, and many long nights……here is the finished result of our front porch column makeover!
I absolutely love our new columns! It really gave the front of our house a completely different look. Let us know what you think of our front porch column makeover in the comments!
