WordPress pagination doens't work on home - php

Question

I created a WordPress template file with latest posts and pagination. But when I set this page as the home page, the pagination wont work and it'll display the first page. As a standalone page it does work. Strange! Any thoughts about this?
<?php get_header(); ?>
<div id="primary" class="content-area clr">
<div id="content" class="site-content" role="main">
<?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<article class="homepage-wrap clr">
<?php
/**
Post Content
**/ ?>
<?php if ( get_the_content() !== '' ) { ?>
<div id="homepage-content" class="entry clr">
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div><!-- .entry-content -->
<?php } ?>
<?php
/**
Features
**/
$wpex_query = new WP_Query(
array(
'order' => 'ASC',
'orderby' => 'menu_order',
'post_type' => 'features',
'posts_per_page' => '-1',
'no_found_rows' => true,
)
);
if ( $wpex_query->posts ) { ?>
<div id="homepage-features" class="clr">
<?php $wpex_count=0; ?>
<?php foreach( $wpex_query->posts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?>
<?php $wpex_count++; ?>
<?php get_template_part( 'content-features', get_post_format() ); ?>
<?php if ( $wpex_count == '4' ) { ?>
<?php $wpex_count=0; ?>
<?php } ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</div><!-- #homepage-features -->
<?php } ?>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
<?php
/**
Portfolio
**/
$display_count = get_theme_mod('wpex_home_portfolio_count', '8');
$wpex_query = new WP_Query(
array(
'post_type' => 'portfolio',
'posts_per_page' => $display_count,
'no_found_rows' => true,
'tax_query' => wpex_home_portfolio_taxonomy(),
)
);
if ( $wpex_query->posts && '0' != $display_count ) { ?>
<div id="homepage-portfolio" class="clr">
<h2 class="heading"><span><?php _e( 'Recent Work', 'wpex' ); ?></span></h2>
<?php $wpex_count=0; ?>
<?php foreach( $wpex_query->posts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?>
<?php $wpex_count++; ?>
<?php get_template_part( 'content-portfolio', get_post_format() ); ?>
<?php if ( $wpex_count == '4' ) { ?>
<?php $wpex_count=0; ?>
<?php } ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</div><!-- #homepage-portfolio -->
<?php } ?>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
<?php
$args = array(
'paged' => (get_query_var('paged') ? get_query_var('paged') : 1),
'posts_per_page' => 4
);
query_posts($args);
?>
<div id="homepage-blog" class="clr">
<h2 class="heading"><span><?php _e( 'From The Blog', 'wpex' ); ?></span></h2>
<?php $wpex_count=0; ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php $wpex_count++; ?>
<article class="recent-blog-entry clr col span_1_of_3 col-<?php echo $wpex_count; ?>">
<?php
// Display post thumbnail
if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) { ?>
<div class="recent-blog-entry-thumbnail">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr( the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ); ?>">
<img src="<?php echo wpex_get_featured_img_url(); ?>" alt="<?php echo esc_attr( the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ); ?>" />
</a>
</div><!-- .recent-blog-entry-thumbnail -->
<?php } ?>
<header>
<h3 class="recent-blog-entry-title"><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<ul class="post-meta clr">
<li class="meta-date"><?php _e('Posted on','wpex'); ?> <span class="meta-date-text"><?php echo get_the_date(); ?></span> </li>
</ul>
</header>
<div class="recent-blog-entry-content entry clr">
<?php wpex_excerpt( 18, false ); ?>
</div><!-- .recent-blog-entry-content -->
</article><!-- .recent-blog -->
<?php if ( $wpex_count == '3' ) { ?>
<?php $wpex_count=0; ?>
<?php } ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php wp_pagenavi();?>
</div><!-- #homepage-portfolio -->
<?php wp_reset_query(); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
</article><!-- #post -->
<?php endwhile; ?>
</div><!-- #content -->
</div><!-- #primary -->
<?php get_footer(); ?>

Answer 1

I might have found an answer for this myself, apparently it's different when you use pagination on the frontpage. I used this and it seems to be working!:
if( is_front_page() ){
$paged = (get_query_var('page')) ? get_query_var('page') : 1;
} else {
$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
}