Pretty Porches

It is the time of year that we begin our migration outdoors. The earth has been painted with multiple shades of green that wake our souls. Soon pops of color will emerge through this emerald sea and the gardens will return with great beauty all of the time and energy invested in them.

Tory Burch’s classic porch integrates a formal garden into this outdoor living area. Via Vogue.

This porch’s large open floor plan creates ease of movement.

Living and dining outdoors is relaxing and brings us closer to nature after busy days. My porch is getting ready to again be another living and dining area after a long winter’s rest. So what makes a porch great? First of all comfort and it’s setting within the outdoors. I treat porches as I would any other space in a home. Lighting is one of the most important elements of a great porch. I use chandeliers, lamps, lanterns and of course glorious candlelight. I love to see scattered votives on my dining table for a dinner party.

Pull out your sterling candlesticks, porcelain and magnolia. Outdoor elegance.

Area rugs add color and softness while also defining a large space into different areas. If you have a large porch and want to divide it into designated areas it can easily be done with rugs. Floating furniture pieces helps achieve this division as well.

Floating the furniture on this porch creates defined seating areas.

Suzanne Kasler uses an area rug to define the space between living and dining areas. Hanging lanterns above unite the space while the mirror creates depth.

Suzanne Kasler hangs vertical stripes flanking the fireplace and horizontal on the floor. Nice juxtaposition.

Think about the design just like a room in your home. Comfortable furniture, art, mirrors, end tables, pillows and great accessories. I treat the porch as a union of the interior and the landscape. When selecting fabrics I consider the exterior paints as well as the rooms you walk through to get to the porch. A comment I get often is “I could sit out here forever”. That is what my husband and I wanted to accomplish when we added our porch onto our house. A glass of wine is nice too!

Mixing you,