July 31, 2009
Hello to all our porch loving friends,
The look of our site will be changing soon. We are changing the style to allow for a wider format, better navigation and more room for special highlights. We are continually expanding our content so check back often and feel free to give us your thoughts and ideas as to how we can improve the site for you. We really appreciate all of your contributions; if you haven’t seen our latest updates you are missing out on some extremely beautiful porch ideas.
Won’t be too long and kids will return to school; summers go by just too fast. The transition from summer to autumn is one of the most pleasant times of year. Is there a better way to enjoy the last days of summer anticipating the first days of autumn than on your porch?
Now is the perfect time of year to start planning for a screened porch or 3-season porch - or for adding that porch swing you’ve always wanted or perhaps finding just the right accents for fall.
Our goal is to give you great ideas for porch designs, enclosures, decorating, and entertaining. Let us know if you have suggestions for our site; we want it to be the most informative and enjoyable porch site on the web!
Happy porch sitting from your friends at
www.Front-Porch-Ideas-and-More.com!
Dave and Mary
Bee Balm photo is courtesy of Anna, Flower Garden Girl
Porch Tidbits
Surprise your spouse or loved one with a porch swing. There is just something about swinging on the porch that can slow down the day in this hectic world.Want to prolong your outdoor time? Consider building a three season porch this year! It’s a great investment, it becomes additional living space, and you’ll wonder what took you so long to add it to your home.
We have some great design and decorating ideas for your three season porch and some fantastic 3-season porch pictures! Whether you build from scratch or purchase a kit, three season porches can add value to your home. (We bought a house once just because it had a great screen porch!)
August can be “hot”! One way to cool your porch is with blinds, awnings, or curtains. They offer privacy, protect your furniture from the sun and can add a lot of curb appeal to your porch. They come in various colors and materials and are designed for different purposes. Heavier materials are great if privacy is an issue whereas mosquito curtains can be downright necessary in some locations. Solar shades protect you from UV rays and the ultimate – an outdoor misting system can actually lower the outdoor temperature.
Pretty cool, huh?
General Store
Our featured item this month is bistro sets for your porch. Enjoy a great glass of wine, a cold beer, or play cards with the kids.
Bistro sets fit nicely on almost any porch, can be used to create a privacy area on your porch, and are great for an intimate dinner with your sweetie! We like the one pictured here - it's a mosaic tile bistro set from BistroSets.com.
Your Stories
We’ve been blessed these past weeks with fantastic porch pictures and stories from some wonderful porch lovers. They’ve been kind enough to share their porch world with us; take a moment and check out their porch design and decorating ideas. Do you have a picture of your porch that you'd like to share with us?Michelle, author of Big Black Dog has a beautiful Craftsman Style Farmhouse with an amazing wrap around porch.
Anna, author of Flower Garden Girl has a charming Craftsman Style home and porch - and the prettiest flower garden.
Kimberly author of Bella Della Farm ,came up with an awesome idea of how to utilize her carport in the summer.
Photo courtesy of Michelle of Big Black Dog
Porch maintenance tip
Often times concrete slab porches tend to sink a little over time. You can restore your porch to its original level (applies to stone or brick columns, sidewalks, patios, etc.) with a process called “mud jacking” or concrete leveling.Holes are drilled through the concrete and a “mud” mixture is forced under the slab with pressure raising the level of the concrete. Although not inexpensive, it sure is less expensive than tearing out and rebuilding the porch, walkway, etc.
Porch pooches
Do you have a dog that loves to relax on the porch? Send us your porch pooch photos.
Pictured here is our granddog, Cisco. He lives in Virginia.
Whether you have a dog or cat in your family, snap a picture of them basking on your porch.
Thoughts from the porch steps
Do you realize that in six months it will have been 10 years since we started the year 2000 and we will already be nine years into the 21st century? Seems like only yesterday we were talking about Y2K.If I walked only a quarter mile per day (5 blocks) since the year 2000 I would have walked over 912 miles by the end of this year! Could you walk 912 straight miles starting today? Probably not, but you could one block at a time.
If you started today and built one page of your e-business website (about something you enjoy) per week, this time next year you would have 50 pages or more. That means giving up an hour or two of TV (Dancing with the Stars or Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader – your choice or both) so that you could create enough income to pay the mortgage payment, health insurance premium, monthly grocery bill, car payment, care for a parent , or all of them from then on.
Do yourself and your family a favor. Take a moment and at least check it out. Read about our site progress where we summarize how we developed our site month-by-month.
It takes work but it’s fun and profitable. Don’t need extra money but know someone who really does? Know a stay-at-home mom or dad? Know someone who lost their job and could lose their home? Do them a favor and share this with them. Ten years from now will be here before you know it. What will you achieve in the next 10 years, or 5 years, or by this time next year? Start walking! Start building!
See you next time!
May you take a few moments and put your feet up on your porch swing. See our recipe for delicious homemade cucumber drink. If you like cucumbers, you will love this drink.
We hope you are enjoying summer where you live. Take a little time each day to enjoy your porch! We love hearing from you. See you in September!