Porches and decks are an important extension of your outdoor living space – perhaps even your favourite place to relax and entertain guests.
With the right mix of furnishings, décor and other aesthetics, this can be your family’s favorite place to gather. There are other changes to consider that may make the front, or back, porch a more usable and comfortable space that your family will love.
To help keep them in top shape, you’ll need to do some preventative maintenance and repair.
Common Porch Issues
The most common porch repair is the railing. Whether it’s wood or wrought iron, it can come loose and get wobbly, making it unsafe for your family. Remove the rotten wood or broken metal and replace with new materials. Bolt or screw everything into place so that it’s solid, even if someone were to lean against it. Then repaint the area. If you have smaller areas of rotted wood on the floor, walls or railing, you might be able to repair this with epoxy for wood products. Porch board cracks can be filled with wood epoxy and this product is available in colors.
Why Aren’t You Using Your Porch More?
Write down a list of reasons why you and your family don’t spend more time outside on the front or back porch. Is it too hot, too cold, not enough light? Maybe you have mosquitoes, flies or bees where you live and you need a good solution for that problem. Once you define the problem, you can solve it.
Back Porch Ideas
A back porch can be used for family barbecues or any type of outdoor recreation such as playing ball, swimming, croquet or even a relaxing game of chess. Your back porch can be open on one or two sides to let light and fresh air in or completely open to the world. C
hoose a configuration that will suit your family’s lifestyle. You can also transform the back porch into a lovely solarium, a screened-in sunroom or an outdoor kitchen. Many homeowners are now installing fire pits and fireplaces in their back yard, and this can be a great focal point for the design of your new space.
Enclosed Porch Ideas
An enclosed porch gives you all the beauty of the great outdoors while protecting you from bugs, too much sunlight, pollen and other bothersome things. An enclosed porch can take many forms too, such as a sunroom, an enclosed deck or a patio enclosure. Think about how you will use the space and discover the right solution for your lifestyle.
Design Tips for Success
Homeowners often use wood matchstick blinds or split bamboo curtains for an enclosed porch, but any type of durable fabric is suitable for porch curtains. If the porch is open to the elements, then choose weather-resistant fabrics, but if it’s enclosed, just about any fabric will do. Plants can truly beautify the porch and larger plants can even add shade to the area.