Demifloyd, gorgeous! How do you keep the matress and blankets protected from humidity? We'd like to put a daybed on our porch, but afraid it will get "musty" and damp.

charliedawg, thanks. I have to confess that "view" photo only makes up a small portion of our view right now. It is looking out across our neighbors horse pasture. He cleared all the trees for pasture. If you look directly off the back of our porch (attached to this post), we have woods with winter views only. I think that we will slowly and selectively remove strategic trees over the years. We like the wooded view as much as the mountains.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Our front porch is 16 x 7 and we plan on having a couple of rocking chairs with a table in between and some plants in vividly colored terra cotta pots.

We have two back porches, a 16 x 6 master bedroom porch and a 21 x 12 livingroom porch. They will be connected by a patio that extends into the yard with a pool, outdoor kitchen and fire pit towards the back. The master porch will have a cushioned lounge and the livingroom porch will have a table with chairs and lots of potted plants. We'll also have speakers on both porches.

Here are pics of the porches and my landscape design:

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Thanks so much for the info on the doors, Allison. I really appreciate it . . .

(Demi, your slate looks lovely and your screened porch looks SOOO inviting . . .)

Kelly, your house looks great. Any more pictures?

You're welcome, micahjo.

Thanks Allison.

I'm waiting for the stone to be completed (hopefully by the end of this week) and then I'm going to start a thread showing my progress.

Slowly but surely . . .

Allison,
Thanks so much for the big E- Amish Traders link. I really like the chairs and plan to get 2.

Tragusa3,
Glad you can post now. I loved looking at your view. You know, trees makes me feel so peaceful even if they're just on a forum!

Demifloyd,
Your porch is absolutely perfect. And, OMG, that view is beyond words. I want to come live in your boathouse! Can I? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeeeaze???

Kellyeng,
Looks like your landscape architect did a nice job on your design. Is that a fire pit in the upper right area on the pool decking? And, I'm assuming your outdoor BBQ area is that space just to the right of the table.
Very Nice! What kind of stone will you be using?

Thanks Kats!

Yes, it's a firepit that will be built into the patio. And yes again, we'll have a small outdoor kitchen that includes a built-in grill, single burner and sink. The stone for the patio will be an Oklahoma flagstone. We might decide to do a salt finish concrete with flagstone accents but we haven't decided yet.

Kelleng,

VERY nice!

Kats, sorry for the late reply.
Everyone, I love your porches and your ideas for the beautiful terraces.
Allison, as suspected, the outside of your home is as beautiful as the inside. Nice job!
Demi - OMG - that is beautiful
Kelly - did you do the landscape design yourself? It's really a great use of the space.
Kats- to answer your question, the front door is on the first floor, the living area is on the second floor, the deck is a front deck (it's not built yet, hopefully this next week) that wraps around the front and side of the house. The fire ring will go outside on the extended portion of the deck (not built yet), it will be a fire ring that runs on gas for safety.
I'm not great at explaining things, so please bear with me.

Great post - thanks for asking this question!

This is the view of my front porch. I will have railing at some point. I have purchased 4 white rockers so far. I have a smaller porch section that extends on the other side of the bumped out dining room area. No ideas for that area yet. I am anxious to sit outside in my rocker with my morning coffee.

Here is a link that might be useful:

vfish,
It just sounds so inviting. Can't wait for you to post pics.

dragonfly,
Love the siding on your house. Fits it perfectly. Good going on buying the 4 white rockers. I understand 100% about why you've bought them.
There's just something about porches and rockers....Aughhhhhhh!
:)

We are older than most of you, and we designed our small house to be our "last" house. My wife grew up in the South, and she always wanted a house with this look:

Our front porch is not very useful, other than to offer the house a bit of protection from the elements, AND to give it the style we want.
The railings and balustrades in the above photo are maintenance-free vinyl by Dixie Pacific, which is what we will use. They come with hardware which allows direct-attachment to the columns, and it should be an easy DIY installation. This is what I have for the start of the transformation:

Our side porch will probably be more useful as it will provide a place for our BBQ grille and fish fryer, right outside the kitchen (through French doors).

Hey Vfish, I almost missed your question.

I did a sketch of how I wanted the yard to look and a landscape designer took it from there.

willie_nunez,

The white pillars and railing will enrich your brick by giving a nice contrast for it. Can't wait to see the finished product, it should be beautiful! Will you paint your door white too or leave it stained? What do you have planned to go on the porch?

Thanks Kelly,it looks great!

Allison,

I'm about ready to order those Amish Trader rockers you have. So...are they really as comfortable as they look and are they holding up to weather changes like rain or snow?

kats,
Thanks. Yes, we too are waiting for the day when everything is finished, and we believe the house will have that colonial cottage appearance that my wife wants. For the front porch, she'll have the standard assortment of potted plants, plus a couple of rockers, and a small round table with 2 chairs. The stained mahogany will remain until she decides what color she will choose for the shutters. I've got to do the rest of the concrete landing, plus the walkway to the sidewalk. Also, she wants me to fix the flower beds at the base of the porch (she sez she's putting in roses). AND, I've got to put in the sprinklers, before the real grass goes in (St. Augustine),......plus don't forget the 2 trees that the city mandates that we put in the front....????
Right now, I'm getting the motorhome and the boat ready to go fishing (the white perch/kraw-pi are biting), and it's time for another fish fry.

Kats, they are very comfortable. Everyone who has sat in them comments on how comfortable they are. I live in AL - what is snow? ;) The front doesn't get much rain blown but I wouldn't worry about them, even if they were on the back veranda. I only received them a couple of weeks ago so I don't have much to go on for now. They have a coat or two of poly for protection and look like they will wear well.

willie,
Sounds like your wife has a good eye and the area will be quite nice when you get done with the Mrs' honey-do list. Right now though, I'd be sending you to work on that fish fry too! Ummmmm!

Allison,
What is snow??? To funny...ROTFLM ( , ) O

The chairs will sit on our back porch. I could put them on a south-east facing side of the porch so that might help with rain and definitely help with bright hot sun (that's the opposite of snow just in case you didn't know).
If they're as comfy and as hardy as you believe them to be they are a win win purchase. And... oh so pretty!
Thanks

LOL @ (,)! Central Alabama hasn't had one decent snowfall in at least twelve years. We were able to witness tremendous amounts of snow at our house in Colorado. Here's a peak at the back porch.....I miss my horse. :(

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We're sunny California. Here's a peak at a snow fall 2 years ago at my current home. I guess it was a once in 25 year snow fall but it did happen! Our new home elevation is almost 700 feet higher than this one.

I can't top that - we mainly went out in the summertime, although we did see snow in July a few times. Here's a shot of the back of the house. It is in Avon, CO (just west of Vail) in the Wildridge section, top of the mountain and backs up to state owned land. Beaver Creek was straight across the valley. We built the house and owned about eight years before selling two years ago.

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I've been through Avon several times on motorcycle street rides with DH and friends. It's a gorgeous area. How did you ever find the strength to move away from such beauty?

Could it be that the shiver index was too high?

Brrrrr!

Better than 127*(F) that happens sometimes further on down the Colorado River!

Actually, Willie, the few times I was there in Feb it didn't seen that cold. I was never there for the heavy stuff...although I did witness some incredible wind.

Kats, it was a summer place. We closed it up in the winter, but always had the housekeeper check on it every other week. The across the street neighbors were full time residents, so they could keep an eye on things too. I do miss it at times.

Love seeing those beautiful photo's of snow. Down here in LA it snows every 20 years or so and of course not enough to talk about!!

This is the greatest post--so relaxing to even think about. Our big issue is what to do about the ceiling in our 16 x 18 screened porch (must have screens in GA). Porch juts out from the house on all 3 sides and floor is concrete. Humidity plus our advancing age are dictating that we do a ceiling that won't create maintenance problems. So, we're considering one of the James Hardie sheetgoods products. (Can't afford real wood.) Locally we paint them pale blue because it keeps bees from nesting up there when they get in past the screening, which they do.

But we also considered keeping it open to the rafters and just painting or leaving the rafters unpainted; painting the underside of the plywood roof sheathing. Cost is an issue, and that sounds cheaper. BUT, DH says I will obsess about the cobwebs, any bees nests, etc., and they will be too high up for us to get to without a ladder (a dangerous proposition!) He's right. Roof is a gable, opening to the rear of the property. Roof's ridge peak is abou 18 feet.

Any ideas about the ceiling's structure, materials, finish?

bj_inatlanta,
First off I have to ask about the bees! I haven't heard about painting the rafters blue for bees. Does it have to be blue or can you do any color? We've painted ours white because our pillars and windows are white.

Now, back to your question....I've been sleep deprived lately so it's hard for me to visualize your room. Could you post a picture? If not, I'll just chime in to say don't think simply because Hardie isn't "real" wood that it's going to be ugly. We're in a very high fire danger area and much of our house had to be built with fire retardant materials. If you look back up to my orginal post it shows our siding which is Hardiplank. I think it looks great! I haven't seen Hardie's rafters (we have wood there) but I do know I like the quality of our Hardiplank siding. I would imagine they make a nice rafter product too.
Really sorry for rambling and hope I'm making some sense to you.

Kats:
Well, it has to be pale, pale blue, sky blue. There has been a paint color called "porch blue"; don't know who made it. Best I can tell, there is no research to back up the bee thing; but there's none to disprove it either. Down here it's been done for ages--ceiling only. Speculation is that bees think it's open sky and therefore don't go up to nest (no place to attach a nest in the sky).

Can't post a picture because the house is still being designed by the architect. It's just 3-sides screen, jutting out from the house. House is brick.

I did find some pictures of the open to the rafters ceilings and DH is exactly right. I would obsess over the dust, spider webs, etc. up on all that uncovered structure. So, my new idea is, budget permitting (would it cost more??), to do a cathedral style ceiling, with one of the Hardie coverings over it. They make some sheet goods that are well suited to humid situations we could use as a substitute for a drywall ceiling. And I think they make a beadboard patterned sheet goods that would go up quickly.

I'm trying to get a spacious feeling. Because the gable's open end faces out toward the yard (you know, on a gable the side that goes up in a peak), with a cathedral ceiling we could screen up into that peak. That's what I'm thinking, unless there's some reason you can't do that. Roof overhangs are 24 inches, but to prevent rain blowing in at that peak we might need to extend that roof more there. Which means a heavier structure than a 24" needs. So, that might blow the idea out of the water.

bj_inatlanta
my new idea is, budget permitting (would it cost more??), to do a cathedral style ceiling, with one of the Hardie coverings over it.

I really like the idea of a cathefral style ceiling on a porch. Could be gorgeous. Is there any way to post the design prints so we could get an idea of the dimensions that way?

We had a cathedral ceiling in the screened porch of our last home. It had T-111 siding which looked nice enough for what we wanted, but is a much inferior product to Hardi-plank or beadbord, I think. If I can find any photos of it, I'll post them for you, but I don't think I have any. Ours wasn't screened on the gable part, but I have seen them that way. I prefer it closed at the top of the gable (and it still seemed very open and airy). I think it might get dirtier if it was screened as well, but I could be wrong about that.

kats: Will do later, but don't even have a design on paper from the architect yet. Truly the early design stages! Trying to think everything through now. This is all so helpful here. (I've been obsessed that I would have to live in the house an architect wants me to live in. It's not like that at all. Everytime I say "change this...could we do that?" she does it. So I get to feed her the ideas.)

hoosiergirl: We could (and budget may dictate it) use the T-111. I was reading in the archives that somebody used it with the grooves facing down, giving some texture, sort of like beadboard has. That must be what you have. It'd be fine with me; we don't stare at the ceiling all day. I'm just looking for the least maintenance here in all this humidity for the next 40 years. That'll take us to age 100.

And I see what you mean about the dirt with the screening up in the open gable end. I'll have to think about that. Not sure how the T-111 would look if I paint it the pale sky blue. Hmmm...

BJ, I found a couple of photos for you. I don't know if they will be much help at all or not, since you can't see very much of the ceiling. But at least it might give you a clue if you'd like it or not. (Please ignore all the paint supplies on the table in the one photo -- we were getting our house ready for the market and that ended up where we kept all the "stuff" while we were touching up, etc.) Oh, and I don't know if you can see it at all or not (probably not), but ours was installed groove side down. Ours was painted the same color as our siding. I've heard of blue porch ceilings in the south, but I've never seen one in person. I imagine it would be fine if that's your preference. Hope this helps!

Our porch has exposed ceiling joists and T-111 with grooves facing down to add a little interest. In order for the shingle nails not to show through the bottom it is necessary to add an additional layer of sheathing above the T-111.

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There's an old tradition strated with the Gullahs- In the deep south, they painted the ceilings blue to fool the "evil spirits" so they couldn't hide under the porch roofs and sneak into the house when the door opens.

Some people claim it helps Bees and wasps from making nests in the eaves of the porch.

I have had both blue and white ceilings and have not noticed a difference between the two.

Weve got patios around 2/3s of the house. This one at the back next to the pool is the biggest with a forever view to the west. Eventually, the pillar bases will be faced in quartzite tile and the area at the far left will be a screen porch. The fireplace is also going to have a natural stone veneer.

IÂd like to figure out an attractive way to rig up hooks for a nice big hammock somewhere between a pair of those pillarsÂ

Ok, I think I finally figured out how to post a pic! Here is our back deck. I'll try to get the side deck on also. And, yes the dates on my camera are WAY off - I took these yesterday at our construction site.
Tara

Springbabes, it looks great. What type of material did you use for the ceilings? I like it.

hoosiergirl: thanks for the photos. Looks wonderful. I see several good ceiling ideas here. Just have to get the builder to use his calculator as to costs.

Cottonland,
Your ceiling looks great! What a wonderful place to sit out.... Aughhhh!

Isst,
I really enjoy folklore. Makes me want to paint my ceiling blue just so I can repeat why I did it! We painted ours white to match the pillars. I wonder if I could fudge with the color in the story anyway! I could tell people the "evil spirits" don't like fog! LOL

lorraineal,
OMG! I am speechless with what you've done and how your home is shaping up. That porch is more than perfect (is that possible ??). You've got to post more pics of the inside when you can. I love the look. WOW!

springbabes,
Congrats on learning how to post pictures. Now we all can enjoy your build right along with you!
That deck is going to be an amazing place to sit. Looks like you can see forever! One question, you must be putting stairs from the outside to get to it? If you've got a door upstairs it must be on the side we cannot see but from the pic it doesn't look wide enough for a walk way.

charliedawg - the ceiling is pine boards. DH has been in charge of the deck, I know they went round and round about options and the pine was a nice look and in the middle for price options.

kats - yes, the view is why we bought our lot. We are up on a bluff and you can see for miles. The second picture is the side deck and it does actually wrap around to the first picture. The first pic is the back view of the house and the second in a side view.

Yes, I'm very excited to know how to post pics!

Tara

I used plain ole HardiBoard for everything exterior (except front door), including the porch ceilings. However, my wife insisted on painting the porch ceilings blue (a Southern thing?). No bees, no wasps,....but swallows tried to build a nest there.

Demi, would you mind sharing the size and manufacturer of your gorgeous triple doors with the arched transom? Are they wood, clad?
Thanks to all of you for sharing your beautiful photos and wonderful ideas.

Heres mine,
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Isst,

OMGosh, that is an amazing porch. The stone flooring makes it look like something out of "Gone With the Wind". It's beautiful. Well Done!

I'm so glad that I started researching "porches" to get ideas for our addition - otherwise, I would have missed out on all of these beautiful porches.

Allison - absolutely beautiful verandas! I've seen some photos that you've posted of your gorgeous home, but I don't think I've seen pics of your exterior before.

Demi - I would never want to leave the daybed on your boathouse porch!

WOW! What beautiful porches everyone has! Isst, I LOVE your stone flooring!

I have not a glue what to do with our front porch. The back I think we will have a screened in area and we plan on a deck being built after we move in. At this point I just want to see anything that looks like wood on that slab! LOL!

Again, I love everyones ideas! There are so many talented people on this forum.

Kelly

Demifloyd..... wonderful colors for your stained concrete! I'd like to ask what colors they are exactly?

All the homes posted here are beautiful, but lsst has my dream home.

Terry

Thanks, Juddgirl2. We absolutely love living here.