My front portal (porch) isn't screened in, although many times I wish it was. It's quite long (approx. 68'x 10') and I have such fun decorating it. I don't have any recent pics, as I'm now in the process of redoing parts. I can sympathize with you on the wind problem, as ours can get pretty windy, too. With that in mind, stick with heavy pieces of furniture. My seat cushions actually get blown off and into the garden beds so I've sewn strong ties on all of them to prevent this. The furniture I use for mine are heavy, wood, easy chairs that I found at garage sales many years ago. I made them all new, thick cushions and sew new covers for them every few years. I have three Old World hanging light fixtures and then two light sconces flanking the French doors at the far end. One word of warning about the lights you choose: birds love, love, love to build nests and perch on them, so keep that in mind when you choose. I'm in the process of buying new sconces that don't provide perfect nesting spots on top of the uplight portions. Until then, the top bulbs are unscrewed for the everyone's safety. I have three seating areas, two of which have end tables with sturdy lamps on them for more cozy lighting. One of these seating areas has a porch swing, and we love sitting there at night watching the lights down in the valley below us. Last Summer we bought a new (old) dining room table and chairs. Because our portal is so long, I put the old table and chairs out there so that we can have our weekend breakfasts outside when the weather is warm. It really comes in handy for parties and is a good spot for card games, too . . . on non-windy afternoons, that is ;^P Here's a couple pics of mine from a few years ago. So, look at these as my Before pics. I'll be posting more whenever I get it all finished. Lynn This is the main seating area for our front portal. The porch swing and table area are to the left of our front door. I've made new slipcovers for all the chairs since I took this pic. Fireplace is a wood-burning kiva (beehive) one. From this angle, you can see the third seating area. It has a built-in adobe banco (bench/sofa) that provides extra seating, gives us a gorgeous view down the valley . . . and keeps visitors from tumbling off the end of the porch and down the hill during parties! I have a rustic coffee table in front of it. Lighting comes from the two wall sconces. I have large throw pillows that I put out there for extra comfort when we entertain.

I think you should decorate in the way that makes you happy. If I lived in Alaska but found joy in a tropical themed room, wonderful! Who cares what the rules are. Personally, not fiddling and cleaning constantly and not replacing faded cushions makes me happy. I don't mind mildly uncomfortable furniture if its looks outweigh the comfort value and will put up with inconvenience to have things look the way I want them. I love twig furniture and with plenty of cushions they are very comfortable. They don't rock and twirl like a manufactured chair, but the joy of seeing them everyday outweighs the maintenance, comfort loss (minimal to me) and more frequent replacement. They don't last forever. For instance, I need to have my vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of the floor pretty much constantly as I vacuum something daily. But I put it away in the closet to appease my aesthetics. I need to get in bed each night, but I make the bed everyday for the joy of looking at it if even for the momentary few seconds before I turn it down again in the evening. I like having a botanical garden on my screened in porch. Lots of color, some money and quite a bit of maintenance. I don't care.

Oh my goodness, I came back from work today and was amazed by all your creativity! I see the advantage of having a strong "end" to the hallway. I checked CL and visited some used furniture stores. I found a table and a small chest that may be possible, but I will hold off for a few days because they are larger than the space really permits. mo13 and patty cakes  Ledges may be the way for me to go if I cannot find a piece of furniture to anchor the space. And yes an assortment of smaller mirrors GumbosoupÂI will tidy the books, but they canÂt ALL go away  because there is no other place in the house! Bookends and painting the shelves are a good idea. My sense that is that multiple small round rugs will feel cluttered (because the hall space isnÂt as long as it looks in the first picture.) calicocat1967Âyes, I like this. Do you have its dimensions? Teacats  thanks for the source for mirrors caminnc  This looks beautiful and I see what you mean about making the end wall dramatic. The challenge is that size of furniture really shouldnÂt be much bigger than 30 inches wide by (an average of ) 10 inches deep. I found a rectangular chest (not as pretty as the one you have) that is 32 by 11 1/8th and has an off-white stone top. It is at a second hand store and could be stained ebony and I could change the hardware to be like the one in your pic. I also found a two tiered demi-lune table that is 13 inches deep at its widest. This still feels too big. ideefixe  My leaning at this point is to tidy up the bookcase. elizgonz ÂWhy thank you. My LR improved dramatically after getting suggestions from the kind folk on this forum. In terms of color, most of the rooms that fall off this yellow "spine" of the house are vividly colored: two red, two dark blue, one teal, and one brown. We are not adverse to vivid color, but were trying to have a more neutral core to the house.

IMO you still need to add knees sticking past the sofa and then see how much walk space you have . IMO a porch can be a bit tighter than a LR for walk space but you still need it .I would probably look for something a bit less deep. What are the measurements of the new sofa especailly the depth.I would look for something like this and put it in that back corner it is only 67" along the short side and only 28" deep front to back It is called othello from Wayfair .