Front Porch Designs for Colonial Home

by Marie
(NH)

QUESTION: Marie wrote to us about front porch designs for a colonial home.

She writes:
I have a basic two story colonial house with five windows on top and four on the bottom with the door in the middle. Right now we have just the basic builders one step concrete porch which I really don't like at all.

I have one landscaper come out and suggested replacing it with a red brick with concrete slab on top. Or he said a pressure treated wood step and porch would look good and then paint it. He also said we could do granite step and porch.

I don't have a lot of room to work with (about 6 ft. wide by 4 ft. depth).

My house is light beige siding with hunter green shutters and cream trim. I am really confused as to what would look best.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

Marie

ANSWER: Marie, thanks for writing us. The suggestions you've been given are fine. The porch floor/steps are a main component but so are the roof and columns. Those three elements for front porch designs give you the most curb appeal. A picture would really help us but we will give you some suggestions to consider based on the information you provided.

I can't tell from your inquiry if you currently have a roof or pediment over your existing entry.
Also, I'm also not sure why you are limited to the 6x4 foot pad and will address that further down in my reply. My suggestions below will be based on the 6x4 foot pad.

I am going to assume you currently do not have a roof over your entry. You have a few really nice options that will dress up the front of your home.

First, you could opt not to have a roof and install a pediment over the door. These can be as plain or ornate as you like. Pediments tend to draw the eye to the door and will give your home a more formal look.

Another option is to install a porch awning over your entry. There are many styles and colors to choose from and outdoor fabrics (like Sunbrella) tend to last much longer than in previous years. An advantage of an awning is that you do not need columns which will give you added space since your porch is relatively small in size.

A third option is to build a porch roof over your entry. The roof design is important and is often dictated by how much room you have from the top of your front door to the windows above. Local codes will dictate how close your roof can be to those windows.

That distance will dictate whether you can build a gable-style roof or a shed-type roof (see photos below). Depending on where you live, the slope requirements (rise and run) are again, dictated by your local building codes for your area.

Use our photos for design ideas remembering your roof will be significantly smaller in size. You can still have a roof that is quite charming.












Based on the size of your porch, you would want your porch columns to be smaller also. I would investigate using aluminum or wrought iron as they would not overwhelm your porch and you can often have them designed to your specifications.

Now for the porch floor. You have so many options for porch flooring; all of which would probably work fine. Depending on the affect you want to achieve, I would investigate stained or stamped concrete or stone. Since your slab is small, the cost may be well worth it. If you haven't already, check out our porch decking sections - they are packed with information on all types of flooring ideas for your porch.

You state you are limited to the 6x4 foot pad. That is difficult to address without a photo but you may want to see our section on patio ideas for porches - we have lots of ideas for extending a porch just like yours.

Lastly, because you are going to make an investment in your home and one that you really want to make sure satisfies your requirements, I recommend you invest a small amount into 3-D renderings so you will know exactly what your porch will (or would) look like before you build. Here's some examples of such drawings that have been done for others. There is also a link on that page to someone who can do them for you if you'd like.

Feel free to send us a few photos of your home and we might be able to better address your questions.

Hope this helps,

Dave