Since almost all July 4th celebrations happen outdoors, getting our porches ready for the big day is a must! Dress up your porch with patriotic pillows, flowers, flags, and other accessories. The sky is the limit! Take a look at these festive July 4th porch ideas you can re-create yourself, and for cheap, too!

1. Get Creative

We’re loving this shutter painted with a star and stripes. The burlap garland draped over it gives it a rustic feel, and the DIY scrap wood firecrackers complete the display. Recreate the look yourself using a reclaimed shutter, and scrap wood or logs.

2. Budget-Friendly

To decorate your porch for next to nothing, try these tissue paper fan decorations! Dollar stores are a great place to find tissue paper on the cheap, and you can hang up the fans using tape. Try hanging them on twine for a fun garland. Tutorial here.

3. Add Flowers

Put together a few hanging planters with red, white, and blue flowers. Hang them up in groups for a more dramatic effect, and don’t forget to stick a small flag in the middle!

4. Use Palettes

Reuse that palette that’s headed for the landfill with this easy DIY! Simply paint on the American flag! Place it in a corner of your porch and decorate by adding potted plants.

5. Pillows and Cushions

Adorn your porch swings and chairs with festive pillows and cushions. It’s the easiest way to change the look of your porch instantly and add a splash of color. If you don’t want to buy new sets of pillows, make slipcovers!

6. Decorate With Vintage Flags

If you’ve got a few vintage flags in your collection, show them off by standing them up in a vintage bucket or pot. We like how in this rustic display the large flags take center stage, and the smaller ones adorn the outer edge.

Photos: Hoosier Homemade, Martha Stewart, Josie Jones and Co., Neftali Valadez, Gail’s Decorative Touch, Flickr.

There are certain rules everyone seems to follow when decorating their home. These rules are never questioned, and people don’t feel comfortable doing things out of the ordinary because of these so-called rules. Most of the things you hear about decorating are guaranteed myths, and we’re here to tell you that you don’t have to follow along! Take a look at our top 7 decorating myths, and think outside the box!

1. Sofas Always Go Against a Wall

This has got to be the most bogus rule we’ve ever heard! You can put the sofa wherever you like! You don’t have to push it against a wall, put it where you think it will look good! Putting the sofa against the wall does give you a lot of floor space, but it also changes the flow and feel of a room if you angle it in a corner instead.

2. Low Light Hides Dirt

If the lighting in your room is dim, this can actually make the room look dirtier. If your furniture and decor is worn and old, and you don’t have much money to spend to replace it, try investing in more lights. A bright room looks newer and cleaner.

3. All Ceilings Must Be White

People usually paint their ceilings white because it opens up the room and adds more light. The lightest color in a room will always draw the eye. So, if your ceiling is bright white, it will draw people’s attention upwards. If your ceiling is darker in color, eyes will be drawn to other areas of the room.

4. Small Rooms Need Small Furniture

Having a few large pieces in a small room instead of many smaller pieces of furniture can be more efficient. A love seat and a chair with thin arms and backs can seat more people than two chairs in less space. Adding a day bed gives more sitting space, and it has storage underneath. The key is to minimize the amount of clutter in a small space.

5. Pick Rugs Last

The rug is always the base of your room design. Designers always pick the area rug first to define the palette of colors for the room. Basically, the area rug needs to tie the other colors of the room together. Buying the rug last makes it more difficult to find one that matches all your other furniture. Pick a rug first and build the rest of your room around that.

6. White Rooms Look Bigger

When people’s eyes move across a space, their eyes go from dark to light. Uniformity in color keeps your eyes steady. Walls that have different colors make your eye move between them to differentiate the distance between the walls. Basically, uniformity is the key that gives rooms a bigger feel.

7. In Decorating, There are Rules That Need to be Followed

Actually, professional decorators break rules all the time. Have fun, and be creative when decorating your home. Always remember that you’re never breaking any rules, only starting new trends.

Photos: West Wing, LPC Furniture, The Budget Decorator, Vissbiz.