Create a Comfort Zone

With a little forethought and a day or two's time, you can readily convert a homely porch into an inviting alfresco room. Whether enclosed by screens or wide open to neighborhood sights and sounds, your porch can perform double duty as extra living or dining areas when outfitted with a few inside-outside accessories.

The porches in this story were renovated using inexpensive furnishings, quick-and-easy fabric treatments, and everyday stuff from the house, yard, and garage. Use these ideas to inspire your own porch rejuvenation.

 

Textural furnishings and
breezy window treatments
invite the outdoors in.

These ideas will help you give your indoor/outdoor space the best qualities of both worlds.

Choose neutral colors and textures to keep the focus on the outdoors. Think sisal, jute, wicker, rattan, and bamboo. Find oversize and rustic baskets to hold plants, table linens, or comfy blankets.

Add interest underfoot. Lay down a jute, sisal, or braided rug or a painted canvas floorcloth to warm up and perk up a cement or wood floor. Or, paint or stencil the floor with a sturdy floor paint that's suitable for outdoors.

Blur the line between indoors and out. Place a timeworn table near a window or porch rail and pack it with plants. Use moss-covered concrete garden ornanments, such as satues, urns, and wall plaques, to decorate the space. Bring in a birdbath to hold magazines and seed catalogs, or top it with a piece of glass to make a side table.