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Landscape Design Porches & Decks Design Dilemma

Need help with “Porch” planning

last year

While the ice and snow keep us trapped inside for a few more months, I’m planning out some projects for the spring. We just completed construction and moving in during the early Fall, so we haven’t put thought to landscaping or outdoor seating. Long term (a few years) we will be installing a wooden deck at the height of the flashing, but for now, we’ve had the dirt pitch graded away from the house, put down some landscape fabric and several inches of gravel in a border aroudn the house to keep down the mud and weeds, and give us a solid path around the house. I’m looking for options for how to arrange the gravel porch with a small seating area, and a more welcoming entry. The overhand is roughly 7ft for some dimension and each wall of thr bunch out is around 6ft wide.

I’ll be building better stairs with a landing at the top in the Spring as well, these were just to get us through the C of O process. The front hasn’t really been used as an entry, but we’d still like to better decorate it. These photos are from the Fall while I was putting down the stone.

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Comments (5)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
I think I am a bit confused . Do you want a deck or a porch. Why do you not use the front door? &' is not very conducive to having seating maybe a nice swing there and the your real entertainment seating on a god sized deck That deck needs to be well thought out as to use and for sure how you entertain. We have 2200Sq ft of deck it is around the pool all around the sides of the house and across the back is a outdoor itxhen, a large seating area for 12 and an outdoor ding area where we can seat 20. Thisnk very hard about how much deck you need . Work on a nice walkway to the front door too. Good outdoor lighting is a must .
samohtep thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
samohtep
Original Author
last year
Sorry for the confusion.

In the future, we will be installing raised wooden decking as a porch floor, wrapping around the front bumpout.

We don’t use the front as the main entry, because really its just family that visits and we all use the garage to enter the house through the mudroom.

This wouldn’t be for entertaining, just some chairs to sit outside in the shade, or to bring out a cup of coffee in the morning. The front of the house faces north east, so it gets a pretty nice view with the sunrise.

The backyard will have plenty of room for entertaining, but not focusing there yet.

Basically, just thinking about how to use this space. We’ve never had a house with an open porch, so its unfamiliar territory for us!
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I'm far from a pro, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I think the black metal spindles with white horizontal pieces would look nice. By "turned" I mean like you currently have with curvy shapes on the upright (newel posts?). Turned seems to be a style that is not your house. If you were unsure about white vs. wood, maybe it could be installed as wood and then paint later? That said, as other folks have suggested -- a careful and accurate drawing of what you are considering may be very helpful to visualize the overall look. I don't know how to explain it, but maybe its like adding a scarf to an outfit. If you wear it as a belt, it always looks like you're wearing a scarf, as a belt, which is what folks were trying to say about "don't make it look like a backyard deck, stuck on the front of your house." There's lots of options where it can be a handsome deck/front porch, and enhance the appearance of your house as the main entry to your home (and also provide space for sitting out front). Good luck!
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I think you missed my initial questions at the top. I said I need help starting, which means that I don't have a plan yet; I'm trying to develop one. This is our first project for the house besides minor interior changes; I don't know where the right place to start even IS. If you're saying to start with my city building department then that's helpful, but I'm not sure what you mean. I don't know anyone that has hired an engineer for house building. Architects, yes, but why do I need an engineer? Sammy, I appreciate the schematic. I'd be interested in seeing if that would be a good alternative if it would be infeasible to use the slab directly. If it needs footers like Anglophilia did, but it wasn't installed with them, then it may be the best option. Maybe I need to rephrase for those that keep asking about my plans: Has anybody had a screen porch built over a slab (not deck), whether they did it themselves or hired a contractor? What is a good starting point? My plan is that I want a screen porch, and I have a slab. Do I start with the city building department before looking at anything else, or talk to contractors? What kinds of questions should I be ready to ask or answer?
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Christopher CNC
last year
How about you build one small section of deck to cover the front door and one wall of the bumpout. Put the steps on the left side down to the gravel path. That should make using the front door better and have enough space for a little cafe table and two chairs.
simplynatural
last year
last modified: last year
If the front door were used, would people approach from the right in the first photo, or would they approach from the left and walk around the bump-out to get to the door?

If from the right, then the left side of the bump-out wouldn't have to be a walkway and could become a seating area, perhaps with a bench against the house wall and a couple of chairs (I've only shown one) that could be easily moved to either face the sunrise for viewing or face the bench for conversation. Something like this? (Landscaping is just to convey the idea that there will be something there; it's not necessarily a suggestion.)

If approach is from the left, then ignore this!
samohtep
Original Author
last year
ChristopherCNC - That might be worthwhile, I’ll have to think about doing that!

simplynatural - the driveway is on the left side of the house, but I like your idea. i had completely forgotten about the original concept rendering if the house which has a similar arrangement. The path from the driveway to the door was pulled away from the front of the house, beyond the foundation beds. That does help free up that space and provide more seating options.

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