All of my childhood houses growing up had porches. Either front or back or both. And they were always big and sprawling. Some had a hot tub connected to them, while others wrapped around 2 or three sides of the house and had more rocking chairs than inhabitants. No matter what they looked like though, to me they were a safe haven. There are many pictures of me on my childhood porches. I am either swinging in the porch swing, or roasting marshmallows, or helping mom water the flowers.
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| Tiny Sara enjoying the porch swing |
To me (and many in the south) the porch is where life happens. And so when I moved away from my childhood homes and went to college, and then to grad school, my porches disappeared. I tried to copy them by renting apartments with balconies. "I will spent all of my time out there on that balcony" I would tell myself. It never happened. Not only was there never enough space to fit more than two people on them, they just felt cold and uninviting no matter how they were decorated. I needed a real porch.
And so after nearly 7 years of apartment living, Chase and I finally were married and had saved up enough money to buy a home together. My three requests were 1) A fenced in yard for Luna, 2) Counter space so I could bake, and 3) A porch. I originally thought that I wanted a front porch with rocking chairs. However, as fate would have it the house that we fell in love with just has a stoop. But boy does it have a back porch. It is reminiscent of my childhood. It has space for many and is shaded on one side during the hottest part of the day.
When we saw the porch for the first time it had a canopy on one side. The sellers left us that canopy, but it was in bad shape. After a couple of hard storms, the canvas ripped to shreds and we were left with just a metal frame. The paint was also beginning to peel in many places.
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| The porch the first time we saw our house |
So last September Chase and I began the porch makeover. We spent too many hours to count painting it a new rich brown color (after having to return a pink can of paint that somehow ended up in our buggy!). We found a new canvas canopy and my parents let us buy a fire pit at a discounted price from their store (score!). We then were able to buy patio furniture that was unassembled and on sale in the dead of winter at Lowes (but maybe we should have splurged on already assembled furniture because that process was a bit crazy). When the spring weather came around we were able to complete our porch with pillows and a new grill cover.
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| New coat of paint and a new table and chairs |
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| A new canopy with a fire pit |
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| Eddison bulbs (my favorite!) |
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| My favorite "room" of the house |
Eight months later and the porch is finally finished, just in time for warm days and cool evenings. As I type this blog I am sitting under the canopy enjoying the view after working a 12 hour shift at the hospital yesterday.
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| Luna loves the porch too! |
I am incredibly thankful for this space of solitude and peace in an otherwise hectic life. I can just imagine all of the memories that will be made on this porch. All of the family gatherings that we will have. All of the meals that will be eaten at the table. The many fires that will warm our cold hands and feet after a long day. And hopefully down the line maybe some small feet will be able to christen this porch of ours. Whatever this life may bring us, I am glad that porches are a thing. So next time you get the chance, put your feet up and stay a while. Trust me, you won't regret that decision.
