Porch Project in Progress...

Say that 3 times fast!

We've decided to take a slight remodeling detour from the inside of our house to focus on the "outside" of the house. Not that the inside will be totally neglected - it still needs love too - but we figure that as long as the weather is nice and warm for a few more months, we may as well get some use from the outdoor space.... enter project Porch and Patio Renovation.

During our house hunting days when we toured this house for the first time, one of the spaces we loved was the 3-seasons porch off the back of the house. It is a great bonus space that is very versatile, and it gives us both extra indoor space and extra outdoor space - since the backyard isn't that big. When I entered the porch for the first time, the first thought that popped into my head was "this smells exactly like Grammie's porch in Maine" - that old farmhouse smell that I love (the Maine folks will know what I mean). The second thought that popped into my head was "boy, does this have a lot of potential!" - both in terms of overall design (the combo of 70's and bad-90's-redo design isn't working for us) and function (this can be used for much more than a storage room).

So, let's talk about the function part first. Even though the porch is in the back of the house, because of the way our garage is situated on our corner lot, you actually go through the porch to get into the house from the driveway - making the porch our main "entrance" into our home (who needs a front door anyway!). Hence, the porch is the perfect place for a mudroom - a place to drop off our jackets and shoes before entering the house, and store seasonal items like our hats, scarves, gloves, umbrellas etc...Plus, there is a built in bench right by the doorways to accommodate storage and seating. In addition to a mudroom, the porch will also make a great eating space - it's right off the kitchen and the soon-to-be patio area in the back yard. And although we have a formal dining room inside the house for year round gatherings, the porch will make a great casual eating space that we can use about 3/4 of the year. One other function the porch will have is a lounging area (aka couch) for reading a book or chatting with people or taking a good Sunday afternoon nap. So, porch = mudroom/dinette/sitting room.

Here's a picture where you can see the back porch in relation to the driveway/garage

The design of the porch is next on the list to discuss. The porch that we bought includes the following... badly stained berber carpet, beadboard that was nailed to the walls and ceiling and not painted or finished in any way, a mish-mash of trim pieces nailed to the walls and ceiling to cover the gaps where the beadboard doesn't quite come together, dirty exposed brick, bamboo blinds with lots of holes, and a little teal paint in between the windows and on the doors (plus a ton of junk everywhere).... not the ideal look we're going for here.

Here are a couple of pictures so you can see what I'm talking about...

As you can see, this place screams "makeover needed". So, besides clearing out the junk, we have already ripped out the stained carpet...

...and replaced the trim pieces on the ceiling with basic square pieces that will be painted to match the ceiling paint.

What's to come, you ask? Here's the short list of to-do's: new flooring, PAINT, some furniture, window upgrades, window treatments, and decor. PLUS a new patio outside the porch for more seating and the grill. And the process continues tonight!

So, stay tuned for the latest on this porch and patio project!