allen home interiors
hey, you know, there's nothing quite likea porch for helping you slow down and relax. you know, there's something really charming,something really, really inviting about porches. i don't know what it is. particularly a backporch because i think you can relax and sort of let your hair down, so to speak, on a backporch. and that's why i love this space so much. really, this porch, which runs the lengthof the house, has one of the best views. it looks down into the garden. now, what reallymakes this room work, and it can apply to really any very long room you have, becausewhat you have is a very long space that's divided into three different rooms, if youwill. and the three rooms are really divided by these three identical carpets, or rugs,that i have down on this painted floor. used
a soft green for the floor cover and thenjust used these woven rugs to indicate three different areas of this one room. also, ifyou look at the back of the house there are three sets of french doors that spill outonto this space, onto this rug, which further helps define these three rooms within a room,if you will. so, over here is a place to just kick back, have a drink, enjoy reading orwhatever, just relaxing. i have two wicker chairs here, a wicker sofa across the backand a wicker coffee table. but then encroaching on that space is this piece of furniture,which as been out here for four winters now and it's covered with an indoor/outdoor fabric.and you can see it's just slipcovered. and what we used was a polyurethane to finishoff the wood. there's classic casters on the
bottom of the feet of these love seats. thenthey were just slip-covered. and the springs within them are made of stainless steel, sothere's no problem with rust. so, the moisture that certainly this space gets hasn't hadany effect, really, on the upholstered pieces at all. the same goes for this chair you seehere. now, this middle section serves more as an entertainment space. and what i loveis to mix things that are old and new. for instance, this is an old table that i foundthat actually opens up, you can see, like this, so it makes a really handy bar. so,people can spill outside, they can have a nibble and a drink from here and then on downthe stairs and out into the garden. so, it works really well. what's fun about a spacelike this is really mixing things up. i like
putting different things together. so, youwouldn't put wood against wood against wood against wood. well, that'd be boring. or,look at this little vintage table i picked up and had it powder coated, sort of a creamywhite. perfect for a bowl of apples. but this metal table is then against this upholsteredpiece of furniture. so you see, it's really the contrast of these materials, or the styleof these materials, that really makes a space look very interesting. and if you move overinto this space, this is more of the dining room of the back porch. i have to say, thisspace gets a lot of use. i've had a lot fun dinner parties out here. you can see, ratherthan having chairs it's really a picnic table. so, there's a big table here in the middle,which can actually be pulled out away from
the railing. and everybody can get cozy onthese benches. i've got a few throw pillows on here to cushion across the base, again,it's all about comfort out here. and then there's a pair of tables on either side thatsort of flank or frame this particular space of the room. and then to add to the comfort,i have dimmers on the lanterns here and dimmers on these lights. so, the candle light outhere is magical. and the ceiling fans add just that little extra breeze on those reallywarm afternoons. and since it's just like another room in the house, i like to havefresh fruit out here. i like to have fresh flowers. anything i might have on the inside,i like to move out here. now, there's some really practical aspects of this porch thati think bare pointing out. one is, you can
go down this set of steps, which is centeredon the center part of the porch here, which will take you down into the basement levelwhere wood can be stored and that sort of thing. it's also a way to get on and off theporch. it's completely screened so it cuts back on insects. and if you look closely,right along the bottom rail here, you'll see, actually, a brush. it's almost like the brushthat they use on car washes and things like that. and what that allows us to do is tocome out here and hose down this porch, the ceiling, the screen wire, everything. because,as you know, in the spring we get a lot of pollen. and what those little bristles dois it allows the water to flushed out but it keep insects from coming in. it's a handylittle device that very few people see but
has huge implications in terms of making thisplace feel comfortable. you know, i think some of things that make porches so specialis that, well, it connects us just one step closer to nature. the other is that i thinkwhen we come out on a porch we want to just slow down, take it easy, just relax a littlebit. and if we have friends or relatives over, we might have a really wonderful conversationwith them because the pace has slowed down just a bit. hey, if you're enjoying theseideas on style, check-in regularly. and if you have a memory of a porch that you'd liketo share with me, you know they do conjure up all sorts of nostalgia, let me hear fromyou. make sure you subscribe to ehow home.