The dictionary calls it “a covered structure at the entrance of a building.” But that hardly does justice to the porch.
A porch is the gentle grind of rockers on floorboards, the drone of bees in the zinnias. It’s the easy greeting when a neighbor ambles by. The porch is where our grandparents went to unwind–until they bought one of those fabulous inventions, the automobile.
After World War I, going for a drive was a lot more enticing than rocking in place for hours. Arriving home to houses that were being squeezed increasingly closer together, people found themselves craving privacy, not a porch.
Now we want it all back: the gracious architecture, the nostalgia, the repose. “Pleasures of the Porch: Ideas for Gracious Outdoor Living” by Daria Price Bowman and Maureen LaMarca (Rizzoli, $35) reports a surge since the 1980s in porch construction and renovation–a high-touch antidote, perhaps, to our high-tech lives. No wonder this outdoor room, nearly obliterated by the ranch house, is back in style.
“Pleasures of the Porch” takes a luxuriant look at the subject, spiced with ideas for fabrics, furnishings and the art of entertaining in this hybrid room.
The authors’ first tip: Think of your porch as a fully functioning room, not as an appendage; before building or renovating one, decide what you plan to do there. If you add to the front of the house when what you really want is solitude, you may get a lovely parade of columns around a little-used space.
“If dining is a priority, a porch built close to the kitchen would be ideal,” the authors write. “If privacy and quiet time are priorities, you might want to tuck a smaller porch onto the side of your house or up on a second level off a bedroom.”
Some of the terraces, decks, verandas and loggias in this book seem to float toward ocean views, leaving their houses behind. Others feel like half-indoor sanctuaries, stocked with sofas, side tables, stacks of magazines, even rugs.
Proper outfitting
Don’t treat your porch like a second-class room. Bring out the finery–linens, china, silver, even paperweights for the Sunday paper. If you need an excuse, Bowman and LaMarca write, remember that cloth napkins won’t blow away as easily as paper ones.
Outfit a dining porch, like a dining room, with the biggest table the space can hold. From children’s birthday parties to the sprawl of a jigsaw puzzle, “you’ll revel in the versatility a big table brings,” the authors write.
Determine porch’s use
How you tailor a porch depends on how you plan to use it. For dining or entertaining, Bowman and LaMarca suggest dressing it up, not down; the setting is inherently casual, so the result will be festive, not formal.
Drinks can be served on a butler’s tray, flowers arrayed in vases and candles lighted after twilight. Install a dining table draped with white linen or a summer quilt; weights sewn into the hem will keep the cloth from billowing.
If your porch is a private sanctuary, banish all straight-backed chairs. Invest in a sofa, chaise or hammock that invites head-to-toe reclining, and a low table for drinks and books. Flowering plants will keep this retreat on intimate terms with the garden.
The book’s counsel for an upper-story porch serves just as well downstairs: “Though a view isn’t essential, a comfortable chair and a sense of being far away are.”
Neighbors’ houses can be kept at bay by a vine-covered trellis or curtains of mosquito netting. The mere allusion to privacy on a porch, the authors write, “allows even the most tightly wound workaholic to find refuge.”
Weatherproof acrylic fabric, now made in stripes, florals and solids, can handle sun and rain. On a more sheltered porch, stir in casual fabrics, from faded quilts to mattress ticking. Don’t forget mohair or chenille throws: The porch may be a symbol of summer, but a light blanket extends its season from early spring through the coolness of fall.
