The FTC wants me to tell you that I received something of value for this post by working with Tide Oxi, but I’d have told you about this great value with my honest story and opinions no matter what. I can’t keep this a secret.

Should I start today by airing my dirty laundry? Forever in search of a good stain remover, there’s one that I am absolutely mad for. Tide Oxi Multi-Purpose Stain Remover is now at the top of my list. Have kids? Get this stuff. But it goes way beyond that, even onto the front porch and cleaning up the outside porch furniture!

My story starts even before P&G offered to let me head to The Home Depot and try Tide Oxi Multi-Purpose Stain Remover for myself. The night that I arrived home from Haven Conference this summer, my little girl had a nose bleed. You know how it is when you’ve been out of town, limping along for a couple of days before catching up. Once I was able to treat the stains…WOWZA…I have never seen 2-day old blood come out of anything so fast!

Tide Oxi wants you to know this isn’t just for clothes, and it works on over 225+ types of stains. Jonathan Scott of the HGTV show, Property Brothers, gives you the scoop on Tide Oxi Multi-Purpose Stain Remover in this video. When I saw how well this worked on Pupperina (yes, that’s really her name), I got so excited, I started cleaning everything.

The dirty footstool..

My stained white pants…

Even, my summer shoes, which you could no longer swear were ever pink…

But what I really wanted to get this stuff on was my front porch furniture. It’s white cast aluminum, very sturdy and stylish, but always covered in a layer of…I’m not sure what it is. It’s a powerful cocktail of lichen, algae and helicopter sap from our gigantic maple tree directly above. Bottom line, the bench and the pillows needs a good cleaning at least twice a year, but it is a torturous task. This sits just outside our front door, in a part of our yard that feels like our front porch.

How to Clean White Lawn Furniture: Before

Really, these stains are tough. Even Mr Clean Erasers and microfiber cloths don’t remove them.

I LOVE that Tide Oxi has so many uses, well beyond just pre-treating laundry. Just a couple of helpful hints:

• You can get it anywhere, including The Home Depot!
• A mason jar seems to be the perfect thing to mix it in.
• Mix it with warm water.
• It has a light scent, but nothing perfume-y or harsh like other cleaners I’ve used.
• Scrubbing the stain on clothing lets loose the magic. You don’t have to scrub hard or long, but having a toothbrush handy for getting at stains really lifted them fast. When you’re done scrubbing, leave a little extra on the spot and just walk away to let it do it’s Oxi magic. Just throwing some powder in the wash does not seem to work as well.
• If you use this on hard surfaces, be sure to wipe it completely. When dry, Tide Oxi does leave a bit of a white film, but you can easily wipe it again to remove it.

Out of necessity, I made a little paste to apply to those white porch furniture stains, then let them work while picking up the kiddos from camp. Look at the difference after it sat for just about a half hour.

How to Clean White Lawn Furniture: After

That bottom left picture is amazing, right? All I did was mix up a tiny little bit of water and Tide Oxi in the lid of a mason jar (shown at right) and applied it to the stains on the furniture.

Little Lambchop wanted to help rinse it off when she got home from camp. She’s such a great helper.

The pillows were stained, and they cleaned up in no time, too. Now that they are clean, I’ll water-seal the fabric again.

Time to Freshen the Front Porch Decor

Once my bench was all white and shiny like it hasn’t been all year, I really wanted to spruce up the whole front porch area. There were four little projects to add, and none of them cost me a cent.

Fortunately, our new neighbors put some items out for trash on the wrong day, so they were still there when I cruised past, circling back around to pick up this faux ivy footed planter and scrap wainscot boards. I love having neighbors with good junk. The smaller metal planter had just been sitting in my basement for years and needed a new attitude.

Front Porch Decor: Flower Fail

Did I mention that I can not keep decorative flowers alive on my front porch? It’s something about them needing water and the right amount of sun, whatever that is. So I planned on bringing in color another way.

Front Porch Decor: Flower Planter

The first project was excavating the injected mold foam from the planter and giving the planter a fresh coat of orange. Then I filled it with a green plant already on the porch. It was loaded with flowers when we bought it, but you’ll notice there is only one little sprig of flowers left. That’s how it goes here. So the bright orange brings the color and coordinates with the pillows while the green plant can relax a bit.

Front Porch Decor: Faux Greens Planter

The other planter was the perfect size for three Ikea faux plants. Love these. No watering required.

Front Porch Decor: Hand Lettered Sign

I trimmed the boards to the same size, wood-glued them together and shot them orange as well. A ball point pen pressed just the outline of the word JOY, which my white chalk pen filled in completely. I can easily wipe this and mark up something new for the fall when the time comes.

Front Porch Decor: DIY Hummingbird Feeder

The last project was a DIY hummingbird feeder for just a little more color in the bush behind the bench. I’ll give you more details in a future post, but you can just see the sponge feeder tip peeking out at the bottom.

The best part is that I get to enjoy this little vignette every time I walk past my front door, where it picks up the orange and other colors in the vintage wallpaper in my foyer.

Orange is usually a bit too bright and brash for my decorating, but it is perfect in this little corner of my world, where it stands in for live blooms. It is a can-do color, which is probably why The Home Depot uses it in their logo. Up against that crisp, clean white porch furniture, the orange is perfect for this spot. What do you think?

Thanks also to Tide Oxi and The Home Depot for providing some fabulous prizes for the Painting Workshop at the Habitat for Humanity Restore Montco this week. Tide Oxi is a great first step in refurbishing vintage items from the ReStore.

If you love this front porch decor, please pin it!