sacto diane---The background information about haint blue porch ceilings was so interesting. I think SW Atmospheric would look good on our ceiling. moccasinlanding---LOL--I promise not to mix arsenic into the paint, no matter how historically Southern it might have been! We are slightly quirky here in the South, but I will settle on a safer approach to getting rid of spiders. I loved the story, however. slateberry51---Yes, definitely, by all means, I will hold onto the screen door. We know the importance of preserving the bits and pieces of our house. We may actually use that screen door on another exterior entrance to the house, or it might be used on the door to the guest house behind the main house. We bought a matched set of vintage porch furniture that we found on CL this week. The 3-seat metal glider and two metal chairs are in the piecrust pattern. They are rusty but not in bad structural condition. (The pictures are not of our actual set, but they show a set which is identical to ours in pre and post-restored condition.) We are having the set sandblasted and painted in white enamel paint. It will go on the left side of the porch, and the swing and rocking chairs will go on the right side. After all the painting is finished, I will start thinking about colorful cushions to go on the furniture. It has been raining off and on this week. DH did pressure wash the porch, so we will start painting soon. Here is a link that might be useful:

Thank you for your comment. I hadn't thought about the noise of the doors. I'll look into that, and talk to other people who have garages under living space. I think the house, including the porches must be 50 ft long, and the garage will have to be small, maybe 25 by 25, or a little smaller. Not much living space but we will try to make it very nice. I'll get exact dimensions from dh and post them. I'm very eager to have a garage again. You really don't know what you've got til its gone. I am so enjoying the warmth from our pellet boiler, for example, on this minus 10 morning particularly after going without heat this fall in the transition! Kathy

Easy way to find out - I don't hear this mentioned on this site and its one of the most wonderful items you can use in researching your "old" home and town...the sanborn maps! Sanborn maps were done for the whole country for fire insurance purposes and go aways back and were done periodically. They will outline the property, stories on home, shape, porches and structure, i.e. wood, etc. Most states have them online through the state library sites. I've attached our home 1913 American Foursquare from a 1919 map shows current 2 porches one is 1story and the other a 2story D=dwelling, x=shingle roof, 1-2 = stories, yellow=wood frame, etc.

It's all a matter of taste, and I'm not a decorator, However, I think your porch actually looked better before, with the concrete in its natural color and with the shrubs. Since it's painted now, I'd repaint it something closer to natural, maybe a slate grey. I can see something matching the shutters, too. Once your new plantings grow a bit larger, that should balance things out better.