I would like to introduce you to our front porch when we first moved in.

 

Lots of charm… along with water damage, peeling paint and super sweet paneling…

Thankfully the porch already had a new roof so the initial water problem was solved but it was time to repair the damage of the fascia and trim.

This was a pretty easy fix.  Even found the matching trim. We were very thankful to find that none of the actual structure was damaged, just rot on the exterior.  (Thanks dear husband for letting me direct you!)

After this I may have gotten a little curious to see what was under that paneling…

woooohooooo there is something there!!

After this I started to realize that at some point a previous owner built up the knee-wall a few inches and chopped off the column bases. The floor has a decent slope to it (which may or may not have been original) – it does appear that they built up this area to correct the slope on the roof but left everything else as is.

We assessed the rest of the porch and noted a few other areas of rot in the floor, large pieces of the sill plate around the porch were also missing. After a couple defeating trips to the lumber yard and salvage warehouse decided it was time to call someone who knew what they were doing.

This week has been much fun see things get repaired. We were very lucky to find little rot in the real porch structure however we did have carpenter ant’s on one side that could have done a lot more damage if it went longer unchecked!

So in the end we are getting a porch “tune-up” everything will be safe and sound, missing pieces replaced, bases on the columns, less dramatic slope to the floor. Everything is looking much much more proportional.

We are happily reusing the beadboard on the wall that was covered up and I found some matching pieces at the salvage warehouse to replace any rotted or broken boards. We just have a couple days of work left!

But now here is the trouble! COLOR TROUBLE!

We will be painting the entire house in another week. The white clapboard wall will become this beautiful blue teal.

The columns and all the trim will pop in the white while the knee-wall will have a fun accent of olive.

That leaves the glorious dark wood bead-board ceiling which get cleaned and a fresh coat of poly. Now about the floor… this is where I need opinions! I work with mega amounts of color all week long in the studio which can leaved me drained when it is time to come home.

I would say 60-70% of the paint is already gone off of the porch floor so it could either be painted again or sanded and stained. I think a classic warm grey floor would be a love option – again I could paint or stain. I could also embrace that mix of old growth fir and new mahogony and stain it a more traditional wood color. My worry is that the dark floor and ceiling could compress the space.

I have never had to maintain an open porch so any suggestions would be appreciated. Since I am sure areas will need to be shoveled in the snow will it be better to stain so there is less risk of chipping? Or will the paint be more resistant? Oh homeownership – do I over think things?

OHHHHHHHHHH! Also Home Depot is having a sale until July 6th – $10 rebate on Behr Paint and stains soooo run! (generally I only see $5 off)

Thank you interwebs people for your help!