The Front Porch

Today, our front porch was cleaned, as I was expecting a guest. The front porch is only a small spot, taking up a square of five feet by five feet. It attracts spiders with their cobby webs, other dead insects and plant debris. It is somewhat dark and not all that inviting. Plants do not grow well in the darkish corner where a large decorative pot is put. This is something that I’ve noted over the years.  The front porch remains a sore spot in our lovely abode, despite the fact that the exterior was resided last year, has a lovely new color, freshness, and a new, more decorative, front door.

Yet, there it remains, a place with nothing really attractive about it. The front porch is not our home’s best feature. We have a great yard, and a good deck. We have a nice patio that barely ever gets used. But, the front porch might as well not even be there.

Favorite Front Porch

My most favorite of front porches was at our house previous to this one. Although we did not spend much time on it, the porch was two-sided, wrapping around one end of our house. I had white wicker furniture on it in the summer months, and enjoyed decorating it in the fall for Halloween. The corner provided a great place for my oldest and a friend  to hide and scare fellow trick or treaters. The porch faced East and got wonderful morning sun. After several years of living there, bright blue morning glories climbed up the spindles, framing the space as if you were in a garden. It was just the place to have my morning cup of tea, read a book while my little ones napped, or watch fellow neighbors take their evening walk. I miss that porch.

Cabin Porch Turned Deck

Our cabin has a huge front porch. Or, rather,  it was meant to be a porch and deck. I guess now it is really just a very large deck. The expanse covers the entire southern and western exposures of our home on a small lake. We were to have a covered porch but that fell through after our builder disappeared with some money we paid him to finish the porch after he finished the house. The decking was finished by my husband who happens to be very handy. First, we had cedar which was hard to maintain since we have been able to spend less and less time there. Now, we have a composite and it is maintenance free. Still, I really think of it as a deck, not truly a porch. No roof exists and one could not stand on it to watch a thunderstorm without becoming truly soaked.

Childhood Porches

Porches of my childhood are also memorable. Each of my grandparents had what is commonly known as a front “stoop”. Really, if I think about it, it is what our house has now. It is just a little landing for visitors to stand when they ring your doorbell, not really a place to sit, decorate, watch, enjoy nature, or visit with friends. The first house my husband and I owned was built in 1912, and had a front stoop.

The house of my days as an adolescent had a covered porch that was longer than it was wide. It led to our double front doors by traversing a few steps. Unfortunately, garter snakes lived in the concrete cracks and bees inhabited the evergreen shrubs that lined the front border of the porch. This space looked great from the road but our family did not really use it as a porch.

Lastly, the porch of my young childhood days holds great memories. It was not a front porch but a space between the garage and house that was completely enclosed, had windows, and a doors – one out the front, one out the back, and one leading into the house. On that porch, my sister and I played dolls, did art projects, warmed up after swimming, and had cool compresses placed on my eyes when allergy season was occurring in full force.

With the landscape around us changing, we have begun to think of the possibility of a move in the future.  I’m pretty sure I want a porch!