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.

Our first house which we lived in for over 30 years had a small screened porch which was screened on a north and east wall. We started using it here in NH as soon as it was warm enough. Both rain and snow came thru the screens. My husband always swept the excess out the door since the porch was over the basement tool area. The amount of rain/snow depends on how the wind blows in your area. I never keep track of weather patterns and in New England they seem to depend on the type of storm we are having. The ceiling fan helped a lot even though the house was on a shady lot and the porch did not get afternoon sun. Our current porch faces east. We will build an additional porch that will be off the new kitchen (currently being totally renovated). It will wrap around the garage that is being built now. My husband wants to put a cot out there for hot evenings. We have a ceiling fan in a livingroom but not in the kitchen/dining area. Although the livingroom has south windows it is much cooler because of the fan. We will put fans on the new porch which will have a dining area and a sitting area. We ALWAYS eat on the porch as long as it's warm enough or not too hot. I have not noticed the furniture getting wet although for bedding purposes keep in mind that on muggy, damp days you might not want to leave bedding on the porch all the time. The cats love the porch BUT we do not let them stay out on the porch at night because we have coyotes in the area. Ours might be high enough off the ground but the old porch that was closer to the ground was a problem for a relative. A bobcat came right thru the screens to get his cat. My husband has seen a screens badly damaged by a hawk that tried to get a small dog (we're in NH). The dog escaped into the house. We can sit on the porch when it rains, you just don't want to be close to the screens.

I recently completed my screened in porch. I contemplated purchasing the Screen Tite system at a big box store and making the screens myself. The materials alone came to over $350 for the 22 screens that I needed. I then priced the 22 screens at a local aluminum shop. Their price was $530. For the difference in price I went with the custom made screens at the local shop. I avoided all of the agravation of cutting the frames and stretching the screens tight. It was money well spent!

Thank you! While I like the inside of the porch, minus the raw wood supports, I do not like the outside. Let me explain. I showed my builder a picture of the following porch. Instead, we got the porch we have. Here is the outside. The cream colored supports are actually wrapped in vinyl capping. The screening is attached to the outside of the supports. Then the vinyl capping is put over it. I think you can buy it at Lowe's or HD, and it comes in different colors. Once again, this was not my choice. I wanted the pretty painted wood supports, and real wood capping. At least we did get the stained and scored concrete (which would have been done in a different color with a cream colored porch). Last fall, my husband and I decided that the back of the house needed some more character, and my husband said that we could have the porch redone, and add a pergola over the patio. We were all set to start this spring. THEN just after Christmas, my daughter came home and announced she was getting married this fall. Because of the economy, we decided that we had better get the wedding paid for, before tackling any other expensive projects. :( Here is the rendering of what we were going to do.