Our back porch (not screened) is 12 x 30 with steps at each end, and it's a great size. The 12' wide means it's easy to have a table . . . and still have space to walk around without scootching sideways. My husband's a big griller and has his outdoor kitchen set up on one end (Big Green Egg + lots of toys) and we still have space a-plenty for the table and other seating on the other end. The covered porch is one of the best features of our house. Our new house has a back porch alllll the way across the back of the house, which'll be 34 feet . . . and I'm widening it from 8' to 12' so it'll be essentially the same as what we have now. And we're going with a patio instead of a wooden floor -- less maintenance. We will again NOT go with screens. Our current porch columns were placed /sized so that screens would be inexpensive to install, but we've never wanted them. We do have two ceiling fans out there, and moving air helps a great deal with bugs. We also burn Citronella candles when we're at the table.

If you had 2 old screen doors you could hinge them together and paint the screens with a fun picture. I've read that there is a front and back to a screen and depending on how you paint them, you can see out, but other people can't see in! Plus you'd have a cool outdoor painting in your area. You could try a search over at the Garden Junk forum. They usually have lots of good ideas too. I hope you'll post a pic of whatever you come up with! ~Anj

desert...thank you !! I am really loving the colors in here too..it is a surprise each time I walk in , as is the other room...my eyes are re-opened to the possibilities. Unfortunately it is only the case...the machine was gone when I bought the old table. I refinished the table ..someone had coated it with dark stain and they ruined the veneer. I tore the veneer off and cleaned and cleaned. Wish it did have a machine in it. I don't sew but it would be cool. c this is the dark stuff they had put on it : veneer removed as much as possible and some of the stain removed : all done except cleaning the black metal ( don't have a closeup pic of finished):

For years I struggled with my tiny yard and posted and posted on the landscape forum. I got some help, but mostly what worked was my own trial and error. I made the HUGE mistake of hiring a landscape designer for a plan, she met with me, drew up a plan, and it was pretty much useless and the whole project cost me 3K, and she did a bait and switch on me and said that was just for the "first phase." So I ended up with a patio design that I didn't really want but it was all I could "afford." If I had to do it again, I would have done it in phases, and worked with a patio installer directly instead of a landscape designer. As for plant selection, get some books and use Google, you'll do just as well as a professional if you put your mind to it and are reasonably intelligent. First of all, for keeping in the mulch, you need some type of raised bed/garden wall border. Not something terribly tall, but something. My designers said no, just mounding the mulch would be fine. Poppycock! I used bricks and treated lumber for my bed lining, but you could use rocks or whatever you like. Does not have to be terribly high to be effective. My yard was dead flat, and 6 inch bricks were fine. Would be different if you yard was hilly, they you would need a retaining wall. Get a good landscaping book, should have instructions on how to do either option, and online videos too. Rocks can give you a natural look but are heavy to move around. As for plants, bear in mind that you can move them around just like you do furniture, and tear out something if it doesn't work out. My garden evolved over time. Get SMALL plants. They are much cheaper and will do better in the long run, they can acclimate and will surpass the growth of more expensive larger plants in a very short period of time. Here's an example of a three year's time "before and after" of my yard. I-kid-you-not that it is three years time elapsed. Note the ugly brick that I didn't want and hated and the white brick borders that I also didn't like or want, but were cheap and easily available and something I had to add after the fact. The shape was not very elegant and I fault the designer for that. I paid her specifically to help me figure out how to design a patio and walkway that elegantly went from one angle where the back door was to another angle where you had to walk along the garage to the entrance. What I got was not what I wanted, but I made it work with plantings to disguise its awkwardness. But I didn't get my 3k's worth my any means! The fireglow maple died sadly, and I took out the little Silverbell tree in front of it (in a vain attempt to favor the maple) but thankfully at the end the Musclewood tree on the other side had grown up to provide some shade. The lattice work covered my compost bin, to keep out mice and other critters. The dates on the photos are 2006, 2009, 2013. It's not very elegant, IMHO, and I paid a designer 3K for the work and it ended up being exactly what I pretty much had to do on my own, other than lay the poorly designed patio and walkway. I should have messed around with string and spray paint and I probably would have done better than what I got. I climbed to the second floor and was able to take a picture of the whole yard and print it out and draw on it to get layout ideas.