You'll probably get more feedback if you post your plans and elevations... But understand, that if you do, you'll receive very good, very honest, and oftentimes very blunt, comments. Even relating to other aspects of your house. :-)

It also helps to know the dimensions, expected uses, family composition, etc.

Rectangular is better than square in my opinion. Think about what you want to use it for - dining/sitting/conversing/reading/homework (yes in fact my boys love to sit out there any time they can)? Do you need more than one seating area or make it large enough that you can use it for multiple purposes? I wish ours was wider so we could more easily have a relaxing conversational seating area and room for a small table to eat.

edit: ugh the pollen! It's awful but once it done it's done and then you can enjoy it. It's so bad here that we can't open our windows until it's over or we have a nice coating of green all over everything.

Definitely have it set up to mount a TV out there. We had our covered porch set up with speakers in the ceiling for music, but just didn't think to do a TV initially. We just had one wired and installed 2 weeks ago and LOVE it! Awesome for football games.

i really wish i had a spigot on mine i have one about 4 ft from the "door" but inside would be much easier for cleaning i wouldn't be to concerned about the location because even though it's not exactly where you'd like, you can still "decorate" around it

What to put in a screened-in porch depends on how you will use it. Do you have freezing winters and adverse rain or snows? A "hose bibb" is a good idea for plants and for hosing down the deck material, but if you get freezing winters it will need to be a frost-proof hose bibb and you will need a shut off valve. If you have warm summers, a ceiling mounted fan is useful. Lighting should be of a type, and with controls such as a rheostat, which will allow you to use the porch after dark. A tight-fitting screen door with a closer is a must. Design the sills of the screen enclosure to allow rain water and hosed cleaning water to drain to the outside. Will solar gain be an issue for the porch? If so an exterior trellis or arbor may be a useful addition to the exterior of the porch.

Dang! Wish I'd thought of that for ours! Oh well, I'll figure out another way to hose it down when needed.

I agree with zippity - it can be camouflaged and there actually are attractive ones, too. Here's a google image search for decorative hose bibs

If you haven't already, research different screening material, for size of the mesh (to make certain the material will screen out the insects in your area) as well as reflectivity (some materials look more"invisible" than other types).

The hose bib is a good idea, pine pollen is not fun. We usually have to do two washings each spring.

Ceiling fan, yes, one or more depending on porch size.

Our porch is 12' deep and everyone comments how nice it is to have that much space. It's very comfortable to have conversational seating and dining seating, as well as outdoor storage that functions as additional seating, in the space.

Ceiling fans, hose bib, catv connection, elec outlets for starters. We are starting to build our house soon and the above will be included.

Hose spigot is a must - you can also water plants on the porch this way. Yes, ceiling fan, and plugs for lamps. Few things more soothing than reading on the screened porch on a rainy day. If there is a sunny side that would be hot, get toll-up wooden slat blinds for it. Yes, the ARE still made! Skylights are nice if its on the north side of the house.

Pat one end, we added hooks and shelves and had ours also function as a mud room - children were required to come enter this way. We even kept parkas, snow pants and boots out there in the winter - children brought them in to warm up before breakfast and carpool.

Snow ? What's that lol .....

@ Virgil..."Design the sills of the screen enclosure to allow rain water and hosed cleaning water to drain to the outside".

can you be more specific?

i have a suggestion. Use sliding doors rather than in or out swing. Then you can leave the doors open and enjoy the space in the house as well...my architects suggestion.

..."Design the sills of the screen enclosure to allow rain water and hosed cleaning water to drain to the outside".

This can be accomplished by raising the horizontal sill piece (the lower horizontal framing member between the vertical posts which anchors the bottom of the screen mesh) 1/4" above the finish slab or other material. Water can drain or wick out and the bottom of the sill piece will air dry, eliminating wood rot over time.

Of course it's best to use treated lumber for all of the framing, but you still need to allow the water out and framing to air dry.

The type of door to use is really a factor of the architecture. Hard to accommodate sliding doors on period architecture. Probably much more expensive than a hinged door as well.

In my opinion, the most important thing to have for a screened porch is screen. The second thing is to size the openings and construct the structure in a manner so that it may be enclosed and heated at some time in the future.

Big screen porches are a great thing to have, esp. in the southeast. We spend a lot of time on our porch and deck! I think the spigot is a great idea. A frostproof spigot shouldn't need a shut-off, but it's still not a bad idea. Here in SC, our hose bibs never freeze, but they are on their own 'circuit' that can be shut off.

Porches need to be big enough to function well; bigger than a living room, for example. I love a porch swing, and they work better with a high ceiling so that they have a slow, easy motion. The tricky part is designing and placing a porch so that it doesn't block too much light from the interior. Our 12 X 28 porch is in front of the foyer, the stairwell, and the master bath, so that none of the major rooms lose their natural light. Our porch is not screened, and, oddly enough, mosquitoes aren't a problem until well after dark. By the time it's dark, us old-timers are in bed, or close to it.