Transforming Rooms A front porch - brings back such good childhood memories, for more photos & tips on porches, click on this blog:

Http://www.interiordesigngreensboro.com/search?q=porch+addition

lk_designs Aussies are not 'front porch people', and we all have fences between our properties. It's the verandah out the back; or the deck; or the patio. Older Australian homes, the more traditional ones had a front verandah as it was, and often there was a verandah all around to shade from the sun, but the entertaining was always out the back and today it is still that.

kjdick I love our front porch! One of the things that drew me to our house. I have windows enclosing mine, being in Minnesota. From spring till fall the windows are wide open.
One more thing they are great for, watching storms. Beautiful!

simps214 Against all odds, we always ended up on the front porch of our homes in our old neighborhood in Michigan. Before the chill that came to soon, we had sweet tea and sweeter memories-including my first kiss :)

Thanks Houzz I haven't thought about that in years! Now to make DH build a porch for some new memories...

Brenda Reeves I love front porches. I have one, and this inspires me to make it more inviting this summer.

lenlen1 My daughter's country home will be constructed soon and she loves front porch so much! Thanks i found this article, she will surely love this!

lesbeauxsites Wow, beautiful porches! It makes you want to stay outside all day with some good books and fresh coffee... :-)

patricia beharry We live on our front verandah.

Grace Pugh I love front porch so much so that in 2012 summer we ask our builder to add a front porch to inject a much needed character to front of the house that used to be the back of the house in 1905 when it was all farmland. It got re-orientated in 1940's land sub-division for the area. Love the history of the house and love my front porch even more. We can't wait to fully enjoy it this summer

jessbiddle I grew up eating dinner every night on the porch. To this day, the best dinners are outside.

bluegrassmama Oh how I would love to have a big front porch... I have a cape cod style house that is just screaming for a covered front porch though all I have for now is a "stoop" of sorts.... Some day it will happen!!! I do however have about a 400 sf deck that currently goes just shy of half way around my house which I love.. this is my quandry... my deck is uncovered, High traffic, and in the direct sun for most of the day... It is a real chore staining it every year!!! I have tried the "weatherproof" stains and even a oil based paint to seal it yet every year it peals and shows signs of heavy use... Is there a product out there that will withstand the hot KY summer sun and heavy foot traffic that will last more than one season???

lorrayne We live in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area and the homes here are ground level, with no basement or raised entry. I love porches, but they are rarely seen on average sized homes here. Maybe our old western influence. How would you add an attractive porch to a ground level ranch style, that would not look out of place?

luvsdsea We have a covered front porch. I have a set of wicker furniture that was purchased years ago to put on our front porch. However, I have never set it out because I am afraid the elements (we live in a hot, humid climate) will ruin my furniture. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to best preserve the furniture, cushions, etc?

sjmom Love a porch, whether on the front, back or both with some comfortable furniture. Had one on my last home and spent many a summer night there.

Beth Ostrander The front porch on our historic town house is tiny. When we are in town, we expand the seating area by adding a bench in the curbside garden that faces the porch and we place planters and two chairs on the brick sidewalk against the porch railing. Spilling into the public space makes it inviting for the neighbors to join us.

patscats2 I love my porches but hate the work to keep them maintained. Live on a very busy street and the porch is dirty with dust all the time. When the wind blows there is no barriers to stop the rain from blowing on the porch. It gets dirty very quickly after cleaning. Again, a retirement home that we ask all the time "what were we thinking?" LOL

acdaddict The porches and decks are what we loved about the shell of a house we bought 3 years ago. The kitchen is 30x24 with decks on both sides! The living room has a huge porch overlooking a stream and the master bedroom upstairs also has a wonderful porch. One of these days (we are on S/S) we will finish our house! We are doing it ourselves! Hopefully we can use some of the first floor this summer!

beckiewert We live on a 100 year old farm in the rolling hills of NE Kansas which has a gracious wrap around porch. A wonderful place to sit, to be sure, but when decorating must take careful consideration of rain, wind and rodents! Real country living isn't quite as poetic as some may think! I wouldn't trade it for a house in town and am willing to pair down the decor in favor of practical functionality.

queeniemmp I was born and raised in a Civil War house with a beautiful front porch. I spent many hours rocking and on rainy days the porch was my "playground". My house has a wonderful L-shaped front porch and our 5 daughters were raised doing the same. If I had to do away with any area in our house, it would not be the porch.

lc29 I'm hoping to cover a large 2nd floor balcony to make a covered porch off the master bedroom soon. I have great memories of my grandparents farmhouse, it had a formal front porch that was rarely used, but the back porch was a great gathering spot with a wooden porch swing that was my personal favorite! It was where we gathered after one of my grandmothers great meals and churned homemade ice cream to go on top of that homemade pie.

impressive I grew up with a front porch with a swing. I enjoy it then and now I enjoy my own front porch with 2 red rockers. Spend a lot of time on the proch during spring and fall seasons.

hotsudge I grew up with a front porch and our current house has a full porch which I'm so glad my family enjoys as much as me. It's a regular occurrence to come home to find the porch full of friends, family or neighbours. Many a great impromptu dinner has combined and shared on our porch. We are currently house hunting and finding it difficult to find a new house with a full front porch - it's a must!

lk_designs I said at the beginning of this discussion that Australians aren't 'front porch people'. I've just come in from taking the dog for a walk and looked at all the front porches. They may have seating on them; or a table but they are inevitably covered with plants. Or they have nothing on them. And there are some great porches. There are very many 'ground level' porches too. The idea is to protect the front door from the weather. Sit on the seat on the front porch? Nah. Porch out the back? Everyone goes there for parties ! Anyway, we all know the best parties end up in the kitchen !!

mangay Refreshing. Those of us who live in apartments will feel what we are missing

Kellie Davis I'm an Aussie too and I have always wanted a big front porch :) The one thing I have envied about American home...the beautiful big porches and the cape cod style home!

OUt home is a small, but lovely 3 bed one bath built when our neighbour on the corner cut their yard in half and built this little thing in the back yard with its own street frontage.

We have a small space out back that has 2 raised garden beds and large table, that where we entertain....but our tiny little porch out the front (and i mean tiny) house 2 single chairs and a small round table. It's my husbands and my favourite place for breakfast together (if we rise before the kids), or late night cuppa before bed.

Our house is very close to the street front so when people walk past they can't help by see us. At first this felt a bit uncomfortable, but now we are used to it and it didn't take long before we new all our neighbours, and random people walking past now stop and say hello while walking their dogs.

Sometimes when I'm in my Pj's this feels a bit awkward ;) and I consider a taller fence...but mostly people smile at us, comment on how comfy or cosy we look and go on their way.

But if I had the chance, I'd love a deep front yard with a massive porch!

karelina I love your porches! A new home owner, I haven't yet worked much on my porch yet, but you've provided lots of wonderful ideas. One item on my list is a porch swing. Had one growing up.
One comment: I don't believe a covered porch gets enough sun to grow herbs, most of which prefer full sun.

Retractable Screens, LLC Porches are great for relaxing and entertaining and can be even more enjoyable without annoying insects!

johnnigirl I'm with patscats, the upkeep is lots of work, but what a nice place to pass the time with friends and family, or just sit a spell.

Kathy Powell Interiors I have a covered wrap around front porch, it's The Veranda for us. It was built when the house was renovated before we purchased. It's raised about 2 feet from the ground which allows us to see the street and passerby. Shady oaks surround the house which helps keep the temps more comfortable in the summer. We use it as often as possible and it comes in very handy when we entertain. There is enough room for a round table for 4 and then spaced seating through the porch from front door to kitchen door. A feature we appreicate is a ramp (wheelchair accessible, if needed) makes it easy to bring packages and groceries inside the house.

Originally made of cedar stained wood floor and pickets blend into the scenery. Hanging baskets of seasonal color help with the splash of color and the front yard is a mix of azalea and hygranga and a woodland floor of mulched leaves, nandina, ferns, dogwood tree and spruce pines under the oaks.

Eventually we will replace the wood with composite material to keep maintance upkeep easier as we grow older here.

cfox2 We completed our retirement home in Sept. and as we are outdoor people, had a big covered front porch, as well as a big covered deck built. We have only been able to enjoy it for a week since then, but can't wait to actually move there and set up a wonderful outdoor room. Sitting on the porch that week gave us the opportunity to already meet some of the great people we will be living near and can't wait to welcome neighbors to stop for a cold one and relax during their treks. It rained the week we were there too and were able to sit on the porch and enjoy the rain without getting wet. Loved it.

KACK I love the romance and looks of a front porch, but we don't use our front porch nearly as often as I thought and have learned a few things about decorating a porch in the process. Ours is an L-shaped front porch. One part of the porch (the front part of the house) never gets sun. As we live in a mild climate and only have 2-3 days a year of stifling hot weather, we're not drawn to sit out there but a few months a year. When I decorated the porch, I thought mostly of the front part of the house, but the part of the porch that gets sun is where we spend most of our time. Btw, we eventually, added a skylight to our porch on the sunny side (recommended for a mild climate).

Think about how introverted you are. I find myself not wanting to sit on the porch when I want privacy. I enjoy it most when I'm socializing with a girlfriend who comes over for a visit, which always involves a conversation or two with passing neighbors.

Lastly, and this goes for any part of the yard, media keeps us in the house much more than I would like. It's difficult to persuade my family to join me there. Eating dinner outside is the easiest way to enjoy it, but we usually only do this in the warmer months. I'm tempted to start thinking about bundling up for dinner and making it a year round activity, but I can hear the protests, "it's too cold!"

cfox2 hubby and are empty nesters now and both of us would rather be outside as much as possible. We live in Colorado now and probably 8 months out of the year, barbecue and eat outside. When the kids and their families come over, we are all outside, no one is into tv, video games etc. Rather have a softball game going, or playing horseshoes, etc. Our new house is in southwest MO and the climate there will fit our lifestyle well. Can't wait to scope out some nice patio furniture for our outside living. I grew up with a wrap around porch and have wonderful memories of it and all the things we did on it.

Lee Poehler I noticed all but one of these have wicker furniture.

rouxb I grew up in the south where everyone had a front porch-and used it. I have wonderful memories of playing with all the neighborhood kids in the street of front of house or on the porch of the neighbors house with parents and grandparents out watching us.

CAROLE MEYER I love the way these homeowners have turned the front porch into extra living space. This all looks so wonderful and cozy.

mskivers Brooklyn apartments didnt have porches; we had stoops :)
In warm weather, all neighbors sat out on stoops and visiting, gossiping, sharing snacks while kids played til it cooled down so we could sleep.

Michael Our home is located in the middle of a redwood forest preserve and our driveway is the first 1/4 mile of a hiking trail that goes all the way to Muir Woods. We do not have immediate neighbours but the trail is only 20' from our front door. We have a huge front porch that actually was built around 2 one hundred y/o redwoods. All day long people walk by our home on their way to hike the trail. Though we have no neighbours we know everyone in our community because people stop at our entry gate because the porch is so inviting and they are curious how our home came about. We've made so many friends this way and even meet people from all over the world who cross the Golden Gate to see the forest. Our lives and our home wouldn't be the same if not for our front porch.

Laurel Ennis I don't know where these folks are living but a lot of places, especially in the US, would see every stick of furniture stolen off the porch the first night you place it there. Hey, you just left a free living room's worth of furniture, lamps, vases, ceiling fans etc just sitting around outside.

mtrezza This is my little porch..It may not be big & grand as some of the porches posted but I love it..My question is..Should I add a "column & railing" to my house or leave it the way it is???

Fauziah Nik_Din i,m thinking more of the same thing with the author. but my problem is the cat.. it leaves the smell, fur and I,m allergic to it..

luvsdsea mtrezza, Love your porch area. We lived in a home with a similar set up and we had a wrought iron railing that was painted the same color as the trim on our house. It looked great! You could see through, air could get through, etc.
In another house that we rented, we had a lattice work fence and gate so that our dogs could be out on the porch. Our porch was a little deeper there but the same idea-- you could see through and air could get through.

Alex Jewett: Godden Sudik Architects mtrezza - I think you have a great front porch. I'm not sure that you want to close of your porch with a railing. Yes, it would add some great architectural detailing, but it might start to feel a little claustrophobic. Rather I would add some planters much like the one already in front of your porch and add some hanging flow baskets along the front beam. This will help to define the space and keep it open. If the goal is to add more architectural detailing try adding a column to the left side and some brackets attached to the columns.

mtrezza Alex Jewett: Godden Sudik Architects..If I send you the INSIDE of my home can you do the same as you did for the outside??

mtrezza Alex Jewett: Thank you for taking the time to come up with this picture ..I love what you did to the front of my home.It's beautiful & as soon as the snow melt I am getting started on adding the column to the left side and some brackets I would love to pick your brain on the inside !! :-)

Saralou Durham There's nothing like sitting on a porch swing on a Sunday afternoon and watching the world go by!

Cypress Moon Wonderful article with wonderful photos! Thank you so much Alex!
Some of these porches might look even better with a porch swing:)

www.CypressMoonPorchSwings.com

kathykeen The new valances on the front porch of my 1903 Folk Victorian. I, too, love front porches. But it seems people don't sit out on them like they used to. I'm trying to change that in my small town.

brettybonbons Can anyone tell me who designed the house you have in this article. It's the one with the steps at the front and has an eyebrow over the left window

Alex Jewett: Godden Sudik Architects Bettybonbons - This house was designed by JB Architecture Group, Inc. they are located in Naperville, Illinois. In the lower right hand corner of the photo you can click on a link to their Houzz Profile Page.

tasimoore Alex, you are completely on target with porches. Remembering days at Lake Sinclair when there was as much square footage outside on the porches and decks as was in most of our weekend homes....because that was where life was and memories were made.
thanks for the reminder!

missym49 We have added two porches to our house that started 25 yrs ago. One in the back sunny south side has screens and keeps out the little black flies in NH woods. The front porch was built two years ago. It is on the north side and we sit there on warm afternoons. We stack wood there for the wood stove in the winter. In the summer we have chairs and a table. We also have a removable hanging clear windowed canvas on the east side that we hang in the winter so the snow doesn't blow across the porch. The real reason for the porch was keeping the dog from running straight into the house with muddy paws. problem with porches is they are so inviting that it is easy to wile away the day just sitting.

ljb2752 blugrassmama we put a product on our deck called Deck Renew. It's like truck bed liner for decks. Comes in all colors and is bumpy so is not slick although you can get matching smooth finish for vertical surfaces, or to do something like a matching park bench like my husband did. It looks like a million bucks and is guaranteed for years. We also enjoy our 8 x 40 front porch.

La Lune Collection Porch weather has FINALLY arrived, and we couldn't be more happy! Especially when it means a porch swing... and here are a couple of beauties from La Lune Collection.
http://www.lalunecollection.com/collection/seating/porch-swing-1091/
http://www.lalunecollection.com/collection/seating/porch-swing-1233/