I live in an older neighborhood where all of the houses are connected town homes. We all have huge front porches and enjoy sitting on them during the summer and warmer seasons. It used to be much better though.
Back in the day, this neighborhood used to be lined up and down with people sitting on their front porches, walking about in the streets, sharing meals and visiting together. In the last few decades, the neighborhood grew a steady reputation for being too involve with drugs.
People started going into their basements to hang out because they didn’t want to be caught doing drugs. Back on the streets, the druggies were getting violent, so no one wanted to hang out on their front porches anymore.
Now, the neighborhood is really cleaning up, but the porches have never been the same as the outdoor living rooms that they used to be. Some of the older folks in the neighborhood have begun using the porch as they had in the older days, which is kind of inspiring us all to get out and have some fun.
When I decided to join the rank of porch-goers, the first thing I did was to purchase some comfortable furniture to lounge around in. I found a beautiful wrought-iron sofa with cushions and a pair of matching chairs. To them, I added two nice, glass coffee tables.
I then decorated the space with beautiful and lush plants. I put hanging baskets of ferns on every corner of the porch and placed baskets of colorful flowers on the tables. The place looked very much like a greenhouse in no time.
Finally, I purchased nice outdoor carpet to cover up the cement flooring. The floor itself was cracking and chipping way too much because of the harsh winter ice.
My husband joined the ranks with his set of toys and brought his grill around from the back of the house. We put a little counter next to the grill and really made the space lovely for summertime fun. It’s amazing how fast you can get to know your neighbors when you’re actually out on the front porch talking with them. Our porch became one of the most comfortable and central porches on our entire street.
When the cold weather came around in the fall, we decided that we still wanted to use the porch as an integral part of our house. We looked around to see what other people did in the winter and called a porch manufacturing company.
The most cost-effective way to continue to use our porch in the winter was to enclose it using removable plastic walls. The walls let tons of light in because they were clear. The unit even came with a doorframe and door that replaced out front door.
We now put a small space heater on the front porch and have found that it stays very warm. The plastic front porch walls don’t look terrific, but we figure that it’s a small price to pay for having a home that we really enjoy and a room that is full of light year-round.