When our home was built in 1897, the front was for socializing, hence the large, wrap-around porch, or veranda. Initially, we have been focused on transforming the back yard by building a deck, patio and terraced yard. However, we have become increasingly enamored with the front veranda—in fact, during construction, the front porch has been a great place for meetings, doing work, lunch, and just plain old hanging out. And, when it is in the 90s outside, it feels more like the 70s, thanks to the shade and breeze under the enlarged roof.

So we’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what kind of improvements and furniture layout we should consider.

During construction, we want to address electrical outlets, lighting
and potentially speakers. We are planning on installing outlets so that
we can plug in everything from computers for work to blenders for
drinks, and we’d like to have a few more lights down the far end of the
porch for hanging out at night. While we weigh our options with sound
systems, we began to think that speakers on the front (as well as rear)
porch would be great.

The other aspect we’ve been thinking about is furnishings. One
option is to have some wicker-type chairs with a coffee table setup.
Another is to have more of table setup, so that we could work outside,
read the paper, or have a meal. The table could be square or round, and
we could have more of a seating sofa off to the side in all scenarios. [Ed. note: The white plastic one you see above gets a lot of use now—the crew eats breakfast and lunch there every day.]

We’re about to go through these alternatives, additionally keeping in mind
how we balance with the patio and deck in the rear. Any thoughts out
there would be much appreciated!

Original post by Paul Friedberg