It might be a bit more expense, but have you considered a higher porch roof? I know the porch on the front of our house has at least 10' ceilings, so quite a bit of light comes in, and it is east facing. There is a lot you can do to increase light if you think about it carefully. Transoms are a good idea, too. We have a bay-window type of thing in our front room which also helps. It's an old house.

We have clerestory windows in our great room, and I really really like them. We wanted them for several reasons. First, since our great room is so large, we didn't want that entire space to have a ceiling that reaches all the way to the top of the 2d floor. So, we cut the volume toward the exterior of the house, but raised it near the center so that we could look down into the great room from upstairs (something my DH wanted). At the same time, we wanted to bring natural light into the center of the house. So, we added the clerestory windows. I don't have a great picture of it, but here it is when it was under construction:

Another option would be skylights either in your room or on your porch.

Good luck!

If you just stack them on top of windows, they'll only get whatever light is available under the porch roof anyway. The higher porch roof sounds like a good solution.

Our screened porch is on the SE side of our house and has a gable roof. We put two skylights in the East-facing gable. That's been fine to keep the adjoining breakfast room and dining room light even in winter -- and doesn't make the porch hot in summer. I debated having operable skylights, but have not missed having them.

The only cost effective practical solution is to keep the porch off of the south side of the house. I've removed part of a porch roof and even put skylights in them but they seemed a little odd.

We are dealing with this right now; planning a wrap around around south (front) and east sides of house. We are thinking of putting skylights in the porch--I have tried to attach an 'inspiration pic'. I also like the idea of higher ceilings--how would that work though with a two story house?

Here is a link that might be useful:

There are 10' ceilings in my house, so maybe that's why the ceiling of the porch is so high. It definitely does make a huge difference, though, having the porch ceiling high. I'm sure others on this forum can speak specifically on how to raise the ceiling of the porch if you have 8' ceilings inside the home. There must be a way! lol.

Gooddogs, that inspiration pic is so gorgeous, with the flagstone, clerestory windows and other gorgeous windows. I'm drooling on the monitor, lol. Great choice!

I have seen porches with "skylights" at the house windows. It really helps.

Our two front porches are on the NE side and have a 10 foot and 8 foot ceiling.

They get tons of light and I have never thought about the light issue.

Our screen porch is on the SW side and in the mornings the porch is great and shaded but the light into the kitchen is not as bright as I would like. Of course in the summer evenings the sun is blinding! We get great sunsets though!

Here is a pic of the front porches in the a.m.
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gooddogs, that is a really great picture, thanks for sharing it - something to think about for our back porch.

lsst, your house looks gorgeous!!

Okay then, high ceilings are definitely one way to deal with the light issue, I am good with that, think they are lovely on a porch. But...doesn't having a high ceiling compromise the amount of shade you can get under the porch? I mean, the sun has to get at a much higher angle for there to be shade under a porch with high ceilings, which translates into less time with shade under the porch, right? Or do I have that backwards?

I am building in the deep South here guys, so I am walking a fine line trying to balance the very real need to have porches/overhangs for shade to minimize heat gain with my desire for natural light inside (some of my problem would be taken care of with the right kind of insulated windows, I guess). Guess you can't have both light and long hours of shade under the porch, I just want every damn thing, lol. But ah, the skylights are a great idea! Just one or two, though.

Gooddogs, I am still thinking about that inspiration picture you posted above. I think...if my back porch were as big as one section of the porch in the picture (from one set of double posts to the next only, this must be a very wide house in your pic), with one of those skylights, then that would be just enough of a dream porch for me, would not need to change a thing from the way it is pictured.

There is a great example of my dream front porch, it is in a BHG home ideas mag from a few years ago, but it doesn't seem to be online, so I am going to scan it in so you guys can see it, it is so gorgeous. Be back soon with the pic....

You could always compromise between a 10 and 8 foot ceiling and get a 9'. It's difficult to say how much light you'll get because everyone's lot and house is so different. My porch its self is always shaded (it's quite deep, I can measure if you would like to know the deepness), and plus it's in an urban area and the end of my porch is only about 10 feet from the sidewalk. Then there are giant oaks and sweetgums lining the street. It's a fairly filtered light but in summer, even in Cleveland, even a little sun is enough to warm up the bedroom directly upstairs!

I have found that having the deep porch helps because it stays shady but also let's some natural scenery and shaded light in through the window. I will take some pictures tmrw morning.

Another thing you can do to increase interior light while still having your porch is "detach" your garage from your house plans, and instead, attach the garage by a breezeway. If you really think about it, when you attach a garage, 1 out of 4 sides of your home have no windows. if you connect with a breezeway, you can once again have windows on that side. I've seen some nice plans where the breezeway acts pretty much as the mudroom.

Thanks Polkadots!

What a great thread, and just in time as I'm in the planning stages! I want it all as well.. porches, natural light, (but not too much heat - as I'm in FL) lower ceilings, etc!!

sanctuarygirl. looking forward to the photo!

We are in the planning stages, too, and planning a front porch on the eastern side (front) of house, so all of this info is very good food for thought.
Krycek--looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Here are a few pictures. Please overlook the mess...we are just finishing our renovations! :). The room in the picture is the formal living room and those are bay windows or whatever they are called. I find that this helps funnel in quite a bit of light, where one window wouldn't do so. Also, the next picture is from the formal living room going up the stairs. You can see there is a window there letting in a ton of light. So, even with a large front porch, if windows are placed right, you should have a ton of light. Last are pics of the outside so you get a feeling for the height of the porch and the depth. When we build a new house I'd like something very similar. I took the pics in late afternoon so in morning there is quite a bit more light.

the stairs going from the formal living room upstairs, standing in the formal living room:

One issue is that the powder room takes up one side of the formal living room. A good compromise they did was they made the door for the powder room glass instead of solid wood. We are going to put in some blinds though for privacy's sake :).

Hopefully this helps you visualize the whole high-porch/high ceilings/light levels thing. There would certainly be room for clerestories on a 10' ceiling.

I am finally back with some shots of the porches on this house in Maine I wanted to show. It is the front porch of this house that I like a lot, but the facade suits me pretty well, too. In particular, I am very drawn to the way the ceiling of the porch is finished (see pic), the square columns, the simple plank floor, and its width at the front door and at the side porch. Also, the front door is to die for, both the door itself and the windows around it.

The facade of this house is kinda different for a house in the South, being shingle-style and all, but who cares? The New England style is pretty spare looking-no rails, a plain plank floor-but still, it appeals to me and the kind of person I am. The house does have a pretty extensive back porch, but it does not seem quite deep enough for my taste to be used as an outdoor living space.

This is a large house, +3,000 sq ft, with four floors, the ground floor is about 1,600 sq ft, but all I want is a single-story home around 2,500-2,800. Looking at the front elevation, can any of you envision the top floor just lifted off this house? I can. How would you do the gables/dormers with the top floor removed to make the roofline look balanced and considering that there will probably be some kind of vaulted ceiling inside?

Here is a link that might be useful: new england porches

The direction that your windows/porch faces is also going to affect how much light you get. I have a porch with a 12' ceiling off a room with 12' ceilings. Despite there being French doors and an abundance of windows, the room is not particularly bright during the day because it faces East.

I'm constantly tempted to put skylights or solar tubes in that room to get more light, but concerns about roof integrity always scare me away. Anyway, the room is bright enough to sit and read during the day without artificial light, but it's not what I would call a "sunny" room by any means.